Recently Active Topics

There is a petition to stop the shooting of Canada Geese at Reddish Vale Country Park. A local farmer says the geese are damaging his fields used for horse grazing. We understand that there is a problem with the numbers of Canada Geese in The Vale, but there are more humane ways of dealing with the probl...

Whilst completing winter atlas on Barton Moss on the 4th February relocated wintering male stonechat on the Barton triangle + Flushed 2 Woodcock.

Not sure if anyone is interested or not, but I've just put up a "freewebs" website containing one photo of every species I've managed to see (where I've managed to get a pic). It's a sort of "best of" and I make no claims of being a good photographer - but I'll keep on trying! [url=...

After introducing the new 'out-of-county' bird photo gallery on the website it appears that it doesn't appear on one users screen when he hits the 'photo galleries' page. Is anyone else experiencing similar problems? I've spoken to a few users and like me, it's fine and dandy for them Let me know if...

while working today at the side of winstanley college on winstanley rd i heard a l s woodpecker calling from the tree line at the side of the m6 called 3 or 4 times then was not heard since but winstanley estates wood is just on the other side of the m6 and is private i will be there either tues or wed to finish t...

These web pages are recommended in this months Birdwatch Magazine. http://geocities.co./Yosemite/4413/sb_quiz.html and http://personal.inet.fi/cool/live/birds the first is a shorebird/wader ID quiz which I thought was quite good, but is mainly just yankee waders. The second i...

Kenworthy Lane Woods, Northendon 27th Jan 07 15 Siskin. A local resident informed me that a Harris Hawk has been coming to roost in this wood recently (I don't know for how long). He gave me a very credible description and it's wearing jesses. I haven't seen one around Chorlton WP for ye...

2.30pm 7 wigeon 4 mute swan (2 ad. 2 juv.) 2 cormorant 2 gc grebe lots of coot, canadas, and tufted reed bunting bullfinch finch flock of about 30 mostly siskin usual birds on feeders

had to change the topic title due to giving john a minor heart attack 2 kestrels hunting in fields side of hey brook on thurs jimmy

A male garganey was on the small pool near top the Dover lock pub at 10am 21st.

The missus has booked our annual getaway and we're off to spain on the Costa Brava at Santa Susanna in late spring. This is a family holiday so I'll be restricted to a couple of hours here and there and I wont have a car either. The resort looks quite small and is surrounded by fields and some woodland so it l...

Fri 11 jan 3.30pm At least 5 Great Crested Grebe, 1 in sum plumage. 4 Cormorant 1 Great Black Backed Gull plus the usual stuff.

What was the closing date for Jan mystery birds? Just gone to send my entry and the results are there. I assumed it was the end of the month but i must admit i don't remember the date. I had them both right as well Honest, i did Cheers Dean.

8 mealy redpolls today in alders by Aspull Civic Hall/Aspull RUFC, Woods Rd, off B5238 Wigan Road, Aspull.

Went to see the Grebe at Barrow Lower Lodge just south of Clitheroe(off the main road at the Macdonalds!)this a.m. Dead easy to find and its been there all week, the 2nd lifer for me in 2 days Cheers Ian

I've been told by my optician that I now need glasses for distance work as well as the reading glasses I already have. He's suggested vari focals but I wondered how these work with bins as I don't want to be lifting my specs every few seconds to use the bins. Any tips from those of you out there who've alre...

can i just draw everyone,s attention to the info on the main website posted by judith cheers geoff

Found an article that led me to an American website, nortbirding.com. interesting id piece on this site. obviously you have to put the www. bit in them northbirding.com/idtraining as its an american site and it has american birds on but its something to do on these dark nights And on that subject a...

yesterday the river roch on the bury/rochdale border was up to with a couple of inches of the top of the bank and today in the city centre the irwell was up higher than i've ever seen it and both rivers are so full of silt that they are the colour of mud, my question is this... how does it effect all the fish etc...

Had a saunter this p.m. around the area near Foxdenton Hall & also some of the local farmland and sections of the Rochdale Canal close by. Plenty of the expected species plus - 3 Siskin, 1 Meadow Pipit, 9+ Mistle Thrush (including a singing bird), 2 Fieldfare, 3 LBB Gull, 1 Common Gull. Biggest su...

Report from my Mum of a possible Common (mealy/arctic?) type Redpoll in the garden today - Off Shay Lane at the Thorley Lane end. There is a stand of alders there which often harbour Siskins and Redpolls if anyone's interested. Just awaiting photos now. Come on mum! Thanks. Henry Cook. P.s. I have to ad...

Does anyone have any experience of using the opticron discovery (8X42 WP PC)seen on ebay for cheaper than shop, i'm interested in getting theese as they are pretty small and compact I already have a pair of nikon actions (8X40) but there not waterproof and pretty clumsy when walking about...

It seem that Greater Manchester may be undergoing something of a Great Black-backed Gull invasion and I'm wondering if anyone else out there has noticed increased numbers at their local patch? I'm particularly interested in those gull spots just outside our county if anyone has any details (or kno...

Birdguides report 98 Marsh Harriers at Stubb Mill, Hickling, Norfolk this morning. I can't recall ever hearing of such a flock in the UK, has anybody else ? Some stats from BTO. British population 201 females in 1998 to 2002. First record from 1544, from fossil evidence. European population size a...

19/01/08 all three reservoirs and wigan golf course am 2 cormorant 2 little grebe 20 b/h gulls 30 mallard 2 canada 6 moorhens 12 blue tit 12 great tit 2 g c grebe 3 mislte thrush 4 robin 12 blackbird 1 g s pecker 1 nuthatch 2/3 calling 20 woodpigeon 6 goldfinch cheers geoff

Rooks 40+ feeding in field just off sale lane tyldesley, between mossley common and mort lane 1130 this morning. behind new housing estate lhs field going towards stonehouse farm.

THANKS AGAIN IAN FOR ANOTHER VERY INTERESTING ARTICLE.ILEARNED A LOT FROM IT,IM SURE EVERYONE ELSE WILLJUST HOPE YOU AND THE OTHER TOURNIMENT LEADERS DON'T START CLAIMING FEMALE GREEN WINGED TEAL,OR ILL BE WANTING PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE -- Edited by JOHN TYMON at 19:26, 2008-01-16

Thought i'd read up about Green Winged Teal. It doesn't seem to be in any of my field guides. Thought it would be in the Collins but no. Unless i've missed it somewhere. Any suggestions? Cheers Dean.

On Friday I observed over 100 hypocolius feeding in an abandoned garden in Jasra. Birds had been initially observed in this area by Dr. Brendan Kavanagh, our resident BTO ringer. On Saturday Howard King, the Bahrain recorder, saw over 300 birds in the same location and today managed to take over 20 ph...

At approx. 11am this morning Dave Broome heard what he is almost certain was a Cetti's Warbler singing, albeit breifly and faintly from the back of Pearsons Flash (Wigan Flashes) by the cemetary. Unfortunately, despite several birders turning up to assist in locating the bird (my thanks to you all f...