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My son has started an slight intrest in birding and has expressed an intrest in having a pair of bins. Can anybody surgest a make and model with a price around £100. I dont want to spend to much at first as he may loose intrest.

Just received my comp. copy of this today. (3rd edition) I wrote the bit on Greater Manchester this time, so if there are any mistakes blame me! (It's 18 months since I did it, though) Space was limited but hope I got all the major sites in. Helm, £16.99 ISBN 978-0-7136-6421-8

2 Stock Doves 2 Grey Wagtail Chiffchaffs but no hirundines or willow warblers seen

I've been a read-only user of this forum for some while and thought I'd wait until I had something decent to post before taking the plunge. Yesterday, 5th April, at Poynton Pool I had an Osprey flying north and directly overhead (see avatar which was taken at the time by a co-birder). An excellent rew...

What's happening to Rooks in Rochdale? I passed 2 rookeries today - Kiln Lane at Milnrow (1 nest) - admittedly I whizzed past in the car so could have missed some - there were 6 here in 2006, and Nutters at Wolstenholme Hall Norden - only 9 here, though possibly 3 more singletons in other parts of the groun...

Yesterday over 1200 LBBG's flew north over Skitters Wood, Ashton-in-Makerfield, in the early afternoon. There are movements on a daily basis over here, directly north-south. Moore Landfill is directly south of Skitters. Yesterday over 99% of the gulls were adult. Though I probably missed s...

Quick nip round the park on my lunchbreak today, 12.30 -1.00 Cormorant -6 Great Crested Grebe 1 Grey Heron 1 Mute Swan - 3 Egyptian Goose - very tame individual, followed me all around the lake Canada Goose c150 Mallard Tufted Duck c30 Moorhen Coot c25 B H Gull c100 Common Gull c30 Meadow...

2 pr of jackdaws nest building in chimney pots on wigan lane this morning dont think the home owners know out about it though

A breeding plumaged Black-necked Grebe was on Audenshaw No.1 this morning. Nothing much else, but the first House Martin was present on Tuesday 1st April.

Chiffchaff singing in trees behind Dartington Road this morning Les

trafford road bridge,coot,moorhen,bh gull,mistle thrush,mallard,8 cormorant,30+wigeon,heron, large flock of geese very high going east no idea what they were, the wigeon flew off when a rower disturbed them,ok for a ten minute twitch before work

pr grey wagtails on brook at bottom end nr to mill st lots of disturbance with kids though so they will find it hard to breed there

2 singing Chiffchaff, 3 or 4 singing Reed Bunting, Grey Heron, Bullfinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch and Chaffinch.

one chiffchaff singing last last between Stalybridge and Heyrod

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/page/item/epeng001.shtml?src=ip_potpw

**Blackcap** - singing and seen @ 9:35am. Info thanks to Terry Thorpe

Blackcap - singing and seen @ 9:35am. Info thanks to Terry Thorpe

At least 45 Wagtails were on the Asda carpark opposite the Trafford centre at 8.30pm tonight .Mainly Pied but also 6 Grey wagtails present.

raptor fest!! 1 Peregrine chasing hillside feral pigeons and Lapwings. 3 Buzzards. As per yesterday drifted off southeastwards towards Shoretop farm 8+ Sand Martins entering nest holes. 1 Kestrel 2 Lapwings Also on the canal at Nob End 1 Sparrowhawk edit: also a Weasel at the locks where the canal s...

Chiffchaffs arrived Friday

Ian. Putting this on via my new phone couldn't find thread sorry... Visitor Centre Highlights Teal m & f Water Park Only highlight was Cormorant with near complete white head and legs. Sinensis ? Broad Ees Dole 2 pairs Shoveler 3 pairs Tufted Duck 1 pairs Gadwall 4 Lapwings 24 Go...

3 Buzzards 4 Sand Martins spring is here also Gs woodpecker drumming nr my house and heron landed on next door shed roof thinking it was a pond!

just seen on a website that s/africa has had 5 days of incessant rain and the swallows are grounde both by the rain and lack of insects to eat hopefully the swallows that come back to england have already set off otherwise their could be a lack of swallows this summer

This year the RSPB and the South Pennines Twite Group will be coordinating one of the most extensive surveys of Twite in the South Pennines. There are seven sites to be surveyed within Greater Manchester and luckily all but one site has been allocated to volunteer surveyors. However, I'm keen to recr...

Crompton Lodges: Black Swan trying to get familiar with a dark immature Mute Swan. 1 Chiffchaff singing Vats waste: 1 Stonechat Darcy Lever gravel pits: 2 Chiffchaffs singing

Anyone thinking of forking out for new top end bins might want to hold on to their cash a little bit longer (unles you want the discontinued Leicas that is). Nikon are due to release the new EDG (edge) bins in summer. They've gone down the line of Swaro's EL design and as far as aesthetics go they look the...

30 Gadwall on pool on North side this afternoon (highest count I've ever had in the Mersey valley area)

Hi all, I'm doing the usual drive over to my Mum's at Lowestoft, Suffolk over Easter & feel the need to go for one or two detours enroute & back again. Any suggestions of top birding sites? We usually travel down A17 to Kings Lynn & then A47 across to Norwich, etc, but pretty flexible. The on...

apart from the obvious nest-building activities of magpies, rooks and crows; almost complete mistle thrush nest at daisy nook, long tailed tit taking feathers into brambles at marbury park, black swan on nest at haydns pool, wood pigeon on nest at neumanns flash and blackbird on eggs on rochdale ca...

Really enjoyed the autumn trip to spurn. Anyone up for another Spurn invasion this spring

I was in North Wales this week-end and despite the weather saw a few nice birds. At Beddmannarch Bay in Angelsey were 4 Slavonian Grebes and 67 pale-bellied Brent Geese along with lots of waders including grey plover, knot, dunlin. At Pensarn were the 7 Snow Buntings along with a Red-throated Diver, a...