A (very fortunate) member of the public in the Moss Side area of Manchester has had a male Black Redstart visiting her garden to take mealworms since the New Year. The bird has been photographed and I will hopefully be publishing them on the galleries once permission is granted (they are cracking!). A...
A Brambling in my garden this morning was a nice surprise. Mean while in Atherton Woods - 1 Green Woodpecker, 2 Great Spotted, Several Nuthatch, Goldcrest and tit species. 1 Buzzard & 1 Tawny Owl.
8 Grey Partridge on Bee Fold Lane, several Yellowhammer and Reed Bunting. A Pochard on Beef...
I have been working in the south west and on Wednesday they had the heaviest air frost I have ever seen when I got to my car in the morning there was no ice on windows but all the plants and trees looked like those silver artificial christmas trees of old. They had crystal spikes over an inch(25mm!!) long. I...
Reports for yesterday and today are being posted on the Durham bird Club Forum concerning a scatter of 34 dead birds being picked up in just a 2 mile sample section of coast from Roker (N. Sunderland) to Whitburn. Along the Durham coast as a whole the picture could involve many hundreds.
Apart from a c...
For those who may not know about this scheme, it is run by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, a government department based at Lancaster university. Corpses of all owls and predatory birds (raptors, also kingfisher) are sent in by members of the public and analysed for all the various pesticides t...
Why does the BTO feel the need to produce a new logo every few years - this is the 3rd in my relatively short membership (about 20 years I suppose). The RSPB doesn't do this. Don't care for this latest effort, especially the colours. And the ring recovery site doesn't work any more (www.ring.ac) - instea...
I am hoping that we can raise the birding profile of Hollingworth Lake with Rochdale council as a result of this grebe. For several years recently (at least 10!) birders have been trying to get a boom laid across the entrance to the nature reserve pool, as there are regular encroachments by rowing boat...
THERE MUST HAVE BEEN 80 TO 100 PIED WAGS ON A TOWN CTR ADJACENT CAR PARK ABOUT 4.00 PM TODAY. IVE SEEN FLOCKS OF MAYBE HALF A DOZEN BUT NEVER THIS MANY. CAN ANYONE OFFER AN EXPLANATION. I CAN ONLY THINK THEY WHERE GROUPING FOR A MASS CUDDLE LATER IN THIS FREEZING WEATHER, ANY COMMENTS, REGARDS TO ALL MIKE
My wife and I went to Kenya in August 2007; the wife is brilliant at research and picked out a tour of Kenyan reserves that covered all the habitats on offer. We did at one time consider a dedicated birding trip but chose to go on a more open safari type holiday and we'd pick the birds up on the way, that consi...
Just a quickie though unfortunately both necessary and important.
It has come to light (thanks to certain site regulars) that a recent Jack Snipe site at Werneth Low has suffered unacceptable disturbance. There is no particular evidence that it was actually a birder involved but someone clim...
Cold Weather and birds (copied from BTO website)
To minimize disturbance to waterbirds in frozen conditions there is a call for voluntary restraint from wildfowling after 7 days and a statutory suspension after 14 days. When it is cold we also need to minimise other disturbance, including bi...
One of the best spots in this area has to be Etherow Country Park and the CWT site yet everyone I speak to seems to think it could be managed better so what can be done and who do we approach ?
good tip
use feeders with big holes in ,normally for seed and put loose nuts in,dont use cage feeders that make the birds work for the food,let them just come in and take loose nuts,much kinder in this weather,and use sunflower without the shells,its easier for them to feed.
On my way home from work at dinner a bird flew right in front of the windscreen and landed on the pavement at the side of the road. As I looked more closely it was a snipe!! I stopped to get out of the car and check was it ok but in my mirror I saw it fly off. It was on turton road in Bolton which cam be a very busy road...
A simple question with no simple answer? every morning i break the ice out the garden bird bath and restock with fresh water, is there any tricks or tips we can do to keep our bird baths with unfrozen water for the birds to drink or is it just a case of keep replacing with fresh every morning?
With Christmas fast approaching I was thinking of getting the missus to get me a camera/lens carrying bag. Can anyone recommend a good and reasonably priced one?
Cheers
Live in Wythenshawe and had the following in and around garden
7 blackbirds
1 mistle thrush
3 coal tit
2 great tits
8 blue tits
2 dunnock
1 robin
1 wren
20-25 house sparrows
in a tree at back of house 1 heron
I have had a leusistic(?) Robin on my feeders for the last few days,loves the crumbled fat balls.Seen him Friday,Saturday and Sunday. White patches on head and breast.
I was at Wigan flashes today monday 29th november and was told by a bloke I was talking to that in the last two weeks he has seen a flock of over 10,000 starlings going to roost in the reedbeds that are behind the school the reedbeds are also very close to the bird feeders, & today I managed to get some dec...
I have really enjoyed the Waxwings portrayed on the Gr. Man. Gallery of late.
I notice Mr. Rigby has submitted a superb shot of one taken in Oldham on: -wait for it... 29th November 2010.
Mark, I hope you haven't been using that Tardis in your year listing endeavours; that would be outside the stan...
I am sure you all know this but for those who dont there is a current plethora of birding programmes on BBC4 my sky plus box is overheating with the strain of it all. Born to be wild and birding Britannia on tonight back to back.
A packet of tuc biscuits (1/5th of packet to be precise) and a cup of yorkshire...
At 9.30 I looked out of my window and saw 2 Wawing o on the top of a tall tree in the park area at the back of Grappenhall Community Centre in Bellhouse Lane. They flew towards the community centre and were in a tall silver birch in the community centre Car park at 10.am when I left.
4.15pm
Golf course, Denton, Manchester (seen from M60 between Ashton/Denton).
Approx 1000 starlings swarming around with other small flocks joining them.
Wished I could have stopped & watched- never seen this phenomenon so close to Manchester
Rae
I was alerted to the reopening of commercial cockling off Leasowe today by the deeestuary website run by Richard Smith.
Not a handful of cocklers, which was my initial impression on hearing the news, but 250+ present (and 450 permits issued in total). This is a disgrace in my opinion, totally unsus...
If anyone,like me, has an interest in WinterHill and the surounding area. Have a look at this guys website. There's a FREE book to download "Winter Hill Scrapbook" It's full of fascinating facts about the history/wildlife/mines/plane crashes...UFOs of Winter Hill.
www.d.lane.b...
Pomona Docks, on Salford Quays, is currently being monitored for Site of Biological Importance status, & if it attains this status, it would be given certain legal protections
To assess Pomona formally, we require as many wildlife records as possible, therefore we would be very appreciati...
