It is fairly uncommon for Goosander to roost overnight at Watergrove. On 21st December 10 Goosander were present at 16:35 hrs, increasing to 18 on 23rd at 16:20 hrs. Today when the mist finally lifted there were 32 on the reservoir at 15:15 hrs, increasing to 35 by 16:20 hrs. This is the highest count he...
A quick visit to Three Sisters this afternoon - 8 Mute Swans inc 1 cygnet, several Pochard including one with a metal ring, 8+ Tufted Duck and 1 Kingfisher.
Westlake - 1 Pink-footed Goose.
Kane
Peter Baron found a dark-morph Arctic Skua sitting on the water at Elton Resr this morning. Just at Peter Turner arrived, it flew off, harried by and harrying Black-headed Gulls. It appeared to go north.
Colin Loughnan rang me today to say he had a dark-bellied Brent Goose on Elton Resr (about 2pm) but it didn't stay - by the time Rob Adderley got there it had gone.
Message from Barry Hulme who is out birding this morning ( what a guy ! ). He saw a Bittern in flight and land in Rammy`s reeds at 09.30.
Merry Christmas everyone !
Early this morning at Crompton Lodges I observed a Greylag goose on the main lake with an orange neck collar on. I think the letters where in black, unfortunately the bird was in the middle of the lake and I didn't have my scope. I Will go back tomorrow and see if I can see it.
As for where it has come from, I...
A dead Leach's Petrel was picked up at Healey Dell NR by a ranger on 11th (photograph on www.wildlifeofrochdale.co.uk. Unfortunately this corpse was discarded and is unretrievable. A study of storm-wrecked Leach's is being carried out nationally(DNA etc), and this bird could have added to this s...
Yesterday at c15.00 hours 46 Pink Feet, disorientated presumably by the misty conditions, landed on a field (grazed by sheep) in Aspull and fed until dusk when they left, unfortunately I was unable to confirm in which direction. They had arrived fron an easterly direction - not unusual here at this t...
GREAT CRESTED GREBE-67,GOOSANDER-1F, TUFTED-86(A BIT LOW EVERYTHING SEEMED VERY TWITCHY TODAY,THE DUCK WERE HARD TO COUNT),TEAL-100+,CORMORANT-48,SHOVELER-27, LITTLE GREBE-5,GREY HERON-8,MALLARD-150+,COOT-100+,GADWALL-4,GOLDEN EYE-17F+4M,LAPWING-150,POCHARD-7,CANADAS-1...
Covering WeBS last weekend.
South Res - Cananda Goose..12, Swan..4, Moorhen..6.
North Side - Coot..5, Little Grebe..2, Mallard..12, Cormarant..3 (on pilons), Moorhen..2, Gadwall..23, Goosander..2 (on Irwell), Snipe..200+, Bullfinch..2, Willow Tit..1.
The number of Snipe was a com...
Great to see the 2 Great Northern Divers. A few other birds of interest were:
Pintail...3, Wigeon...2, Golden Plover...250, Lapwing...200 (in flight to south of tank 3), Pochard...20+, Goldeneye...25+, Tufted Duck...40-50, Great Crested Grebe...30+. -- Edited by The Sweeney at 17:1...
Bit late I know, but I haven't been on the computer for a couple of days so here it is.........
Still atleast 1 Green Sandpiper at Hope Carr on the 18th of December with the Chiffchaff still knocking about, this time in bushes near the perimeter of the filter beds in the sewage farm-lovely! Lots of Pied...
A quick look along moss lane at dusk today produced 7 grey herons sat in a field together, several small flocks of redwing and fieldfare going over north, at least 30 skylarks in the large ploughed field on the south side and over 70 magpies in fields to the north.
The 2 Great Northern Divers were still on no. 2 resr 11:15 - 13:00 hrs
120 + Lapwings & 213 Golden Plover (counted individually!) were roosting on no. 1 resr. Count submitted to BTO website.
Total counts from all 3 resrs. 20 Goldeneye, 10 Pochard, 54 Tufted Duck, 16 Great Crested Grebe, 17 Coot...
12.30 - 16.00
2 G.N.Divers still present. ad.Yellow legged Gull (thanks Roy ),4 Goosander, 3 Wigeon, f Teal, 15+ Goldeneye, Redshank, Shoveler, 83 Golden Plover (more came in later - c200 ). Grey Wagtail.
Heaton Park res (dusk)
20 Lapwing , 31 Goosander, 30+ Goldeneye , 16 Teal, Little Grebe, loads of BHG's but hardly any big gulls and no sign of Iceland gull
Heaton Park Boating lake
Male Shoveler, 4 Pochard and a Goldeneye
Ringley
1st winter Stonechat along the path between the pool to...
89 Pink-footed Geese flew west at 09:40 hrs, just about visible in the mist, which lifted partially for half an hour. Visibility then reduced to 100yds.
A drake Pintail and Kingfisher on Pearson's today, along 12 Goldeneye etc. The drake Pintail flew off and I re-found it on Horrocks Flash (at the back) later.
Looks like there was a small movement of water fowl across the county today. -- Edited by Ian McKerchar at 20:16, 2006-12-29
2 Great Northern Divers still on no 2 this am.
Also a male Common Scoter, 2 female Pintail (am only), 4 Wigeon, 21 Teal on no1 and 13 Pochard on no 3.
adult Yellow-legged Gull on no 1 for c15 minutes around 12.30.
On the way into Bolton this morning there was a flock of 200+ Lapwing above the Boltongate Retail Park area (SD719099). They are often seen on the nearby flat roofs by day.
I suspect this flock feeds by night in the rather wet field at SD705128 as I hear calls early in the morning and sometimes la...
I've just received a call from Brian Hilton (who received a call form somebody else) reporting a sighting of a Red-tailed Hawk, with woodpigeon prey item, around the 12th or 13th green at Sale golf course on the 13th or 14th December. I think it was viewed form the end of Fair...
Green Woodpecker behind cemetery. Around Crompton Lodges ,Kingfisher, Great Spotted Woodpecker, 2 Treecreeper, 4 Bullfinch,+ small flocks of Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch+ siskin. also 8 Goldeneye on river Irwell at Kearsley Park + 34 Cormorants flew out of roost.
A Little Owl roosted all day in a Hawthorn in my garden today and was still there at dusk attracting the attention of at least 5 Blackbirds, Magpie and several smaller species. I lived at this address (Aspull) for 20 years and this is the first appearance of a bird in my garden although they are resident n...
moorhen, coot, mallard, canada geese,greylag, tufted ,b h gull,mute swan, grey heron,g c grebe,lapwing,cormorant,all from towpath, from the hide added pochard,teal,shoveller,wigeon
60+ high flying geese,@14.20 north or north north west, unidentified
Watergrove Reservoir - 08:00 to 08:45 hrs. 23 Lesser Redpoll circling over the plantation by the visitor centre. 7 Goosander (5 males) and 2 Snipe on the pool by the hide.
A total of 4 Goldeneye on Blackstone Edge, Light Hazzles and Warland Resrs.
40 Twite were at the White Holme Resr feeding stati...
),4 Goosander, 3 Wigeon, f Teal, 15+ Goldeneye, Redshank, Shoveler, 83 Golden Plover (more came in later - c200 ). Grey Wagtail.
Heaton Park Boating lake
Male Shoveler, 4 Pochard and a Goldeneye
Ringley
1st winter Stonechat along the path between the pool to...