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Loads of finches in Bunting hide,one male Brambling, NO Firecrest, but Chiffchaff below new hide@1330pm

marbury park and neumanns flash= plenty of great spotteds, two greens and cripling views of a fem lesser spotted feeding, then sat preening in the sun for a good few minutes (no camera!). also- redwings, bullfinches, kingfishers, courting black swans, nuthatches, raven curlew, dabchicks, treec...

Have received a report of a female Scaup at Blackleach Resr Dec 30th, seen by 2 reliable observers, per voluntary warden. This is probably the bird displaced from Ringley sewage works by the ice in mid month.

First visit to Piethorne & first birdwatching outing anywhere since early December. On Ogden - 27 Goosander (12 males). - 6 Great Crested Grebe. - 10 Cormorants. In 2007 I regularly chatted with the baliff of the angling club that fishes Ogden Res. Spoke to him this morning and he said th...

8 Pochard, 10 Goosander, Little Grebe, Kingfisher, 2 Sparrowhawk, 3 Great Spotted Woodpecker, Black Swan.

to all interesed, my self and jimmy meadows will be combing the vast waters of the wigan flashes(still hoping to recruit a couple of other wigganers)on new years day and will combine our results over a pie and pint somewhere int middle of the flashes,to establish a list of birds present. we think a targ...

From the Dee-Estuary website CATTLE EGRET - Neston, just off A540 - PLEASE follow these instructions, park in Clayhill Industrial Estate which is on road to Neston (B5135) just off A540 (where the double set of traffic lights is), walk back to A540 and walk north past Aldi traffic lights, about 150...

Has anyone else noticed a mini invasion of Blackbirds? Whilst winter thrushes seem to be thin on the ground, Timperley seems to have been playing host to a large number of presumably migrant Blackbirds. My garden (which is not much bigger than a big back yard), has had a maximum count of 7, my siste...

had a raven over house at 14.55 heading n/w the things you when you least expect them

5 Mealy Redpolls were on Victoria Fields, Bickershaw today, with 2 Lesser Redpolls and c40 Goldfinch and a few siskins. Map reference is at SD 624025 All info thanks to Dave Broome

Dave Broome found 3 Mealy Redpolls today at Fairhurst Lane Reclaimation site today (an almost annual spot for them), this is off Delfhaven Court, Standish, Wigan way!

Peter Alker (Pennington Flash head ranger) phoned me this morning to let me know an observer had seen what was probably a Cattle Egret on the flooded golf course at Pennington Flash, around 10:15ish. The bird was with gulls and wasn't much larger than a Black-headed in it's 'hunched-up' position, th...

Congratulations to Paul Hammond today on seeing his 170th species in the County this year, keep going mate the end is in sight. No doubt possibly one or two County Yearlisters from years goneby are now anxiously checking their rearview mirrors as Paul's hand hovers over his right indicator switch....

1.1.2008 Driving to Bolton, on the A580 slip road / M61 I wished I'd had a camera with me as there was a buzzard and 3 magpies all sitting on a fencepost. It would have made a great picture. They were all within 3 feet of each other.

Ian Woosey found an female/immature Long-tailed Duck on High Rid Reservoir, Bolton at approximately 3pm this afternoon. The bird was still present at the time of this post atleast. To access the resr, turn off the A6402 Old Kiln Lane onto Old Hall Lane, the reservoir is along the side of the road and is...

spotted by my sister today about 12.30. apparently she disturbed it on the path towards the farm, near the cow field, then it flew over viridor and 'caught something'. close views apparently.

A happy New Year to all birders in Greater Manchester and may it be as bird-filled as 2007 has been. I shall be very happy to receive your 2007 records - there is a form on the Records page of this website which you can download, with tabs for species and sites, so you can cut and paste, to save typing. Pleas...

spotted hunting along the dual carriageway between the roundabout at chequerbent on the a6 and junction 5 of the m61. it was working the rough grassy area between the central reservation barriers which is quite wide in parts , as i drove along side it veered away to the right over the hedge into field ne...

at least 6 bullfinch and what looks like a bulls nest from this year. bare trees now revealing a few goldfinch and mistle thrush nests too. also 2 g.s.woods, a small flock of siskins, a sparrowhawk, redwings, plenty of jays and singing blue + great tits. kingfisher sill on rochdale canal with pied + gre...

13 Pink footed Geese flying low over Linnyshaw moss, may have been grounded, they then flew east at 7.40am. 4 Mute Swan, 10 Mallard, 30 Tufted Duck,4 Great crested Grebe,1 Cormorant, 1 Grey Heron, 2 Kestrel, 50+ Coot, 300+ Woodpigeon moving north, 40+ Fieldfare, 100+ Redwing,two flocks of 25 = 20 Lon...

Does anybody know if the long eared owls still roost at Pennington, been told there have a winter roost there. I did go down there the other week but no joy after spending hours serching the trees from most of the hides.

Does any body know if the Juv Whooper that was frequenting Pennington Flash in late October/early November has been putting in an apearance every now and again. A Juv Whooper flew into Rammies today at 1215hrs(27/12/07) and showed well in front of Horrocks Hide. It seems more advanced than the one pr...

I'm not much for listing, but given the superb coverage that Gtr Mcr is getting at the moment, I wonder how many someone could rack up if they were to spend the day listing, moving from site to site but with the local site watchers on each site using mobiles to update on what's about, staking out the tricki...

Had not time for birding for last few weeks but a couple of decent sightings in my garden over the last few day. 19/12 1 Fieldfare ( Life Tick ) 24/12 1 Treecreeper ( Garden Tick ) in a mixed flock of tits & finches 24/12 Lesser Spot WP Good Views at top of trees on other side of the field at the back of my hou...

2 Whooper Swans flew low west over Astley today at 10:00am, roughly following the A580/Bridgewater Canal (?) and surely heading for Pennington

Just looked out of kitchen window to see a Great Spot feeding on the ground on apples Id just put out for blackbirds. Only posting this because Ive never seen this behaviour before, is it common?. Its now on the peanuts which is much more like it!!. Cheers Ian

to one and all,cheers for keeping the gm birding band alive and kicking best wishes to all, geoff(and family)

The GM Fire Brigade at Eccles rescued a Mallard from the canal at Eccles on Thursday, which was stuck in the ice. They took it back to the fire station and kept it warm whilst they waited for the RSPCA to pick it up. During that time it laid an egg!! Sadly the egg was smashed, and the bird ended up at Three Owls...

John Butterworth had a redhead Smew on the Mersey at Banky Meadow with 4 Goldeneye at the hairpin bend on 18th. Sorry about the late posting, but I am living partly at my mother's due to her illness, and can only get to my emails intermittently at present.

I carried out the Atlas TTV at Watergrove (SD91E) this morning and in addition to the commoner species were the following: Pochard 2 - my first here since 2003! Goosander - 4 Woodcock -1 Little Owl - 1 Stonechat - 1 Siskin -20 Lesser Redpoll -30 6 Pintail (2 males) were in the middle of the resr j...