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This was posted on the Rossendale Bird Forum and I thought it might be of interest to others. Sorry for taking a while to do so. Ashworth Moor Res and Cheesden 14:00-17:00 46 canada geese (34 of which flew off at 15:00, 25 flew in at 17:00) 7 mallard 3 wigeon 36 goosander 290 black headed gu...

siskin-23(plank lane end),goosander-3m7f,golden eye-18f,3m, redwing -150+, tufted-172, goldfinch-65,great crested grebe-85, wigeon-1m,shoveler-2 pr, teal-25+, cormorant-24, gadwall-6pr,grey heron-3 -- Edited by Ian McKerchar at 19:20, 2006-11-18

Bittern - on Pearsons 08.00. at first perched in reeds at back of flash, then flew across water and into reedbed on canal side. 3 Pintail (1 drk) also on Pearsons briefly. 6 Wigeon on Scotmans 6+ Goldeneye c30 Lesser Redpoll between Moss Bridge and Turners. also with these handfulls of Goldfi...

Buzzard over Mossley Hall. drk Goosander. 4 Wigeon ( 1 drk ). male Blackcap - near canal @ concrete bridge. Water Rail - again under Rosehip outside Horrocks.2 Snipe. 6+ Goldeneye. 4 Redwing. 20 Cormorant., Bar headed Goose. 10 LBBG`s. Pied Wagtail. numbers of Teal, Shoveler, Gadwall, Tufty`s, GCG...

A Peregrine and at least 2 sparrowhawks had the starlings and pigeons in a flap over Eccles town centre this lunchtime. Thats all for now Andy

pair of Mandarin Ducks - River Douglas @ Marylebone Bridge 2 Kestrels Cormorant - fishing on canal Coal Tit - Hall Lane Stock Dove

18 Tufted here - high for this time of year,also 4 Cormorant , 1 Pochard, 2 Great Crested Grebes and 2 Dippers on the river

3 lesser redpoll with goldfinches in plantation, weasel peeping from stone wall near ruin, about 8 brambling feeding near higher slack brook, and a few redwing and fieldfare about. -- Edited by Ian McKerchar at 13:07, 2006-11-21

ad Yellow-legged Gull (resv 1) 3 Redshank (resv 1 then 2) drk Wigeon 78 Tufted Duck 45+ Goosander 3+ Pochard 6 Mute Swan 50 Lapwing

Today whilst at moses gate I noticed that one of the adult breeding swans on the back lake had got fishing line caught around its beak and was struggling to get it off. It needs someone to go up with a swan hook to help catch the bird and release the line. I hope there is someone out there that can organ...

Audenshaw reservoirs 07.20 -09.20 Tufted Duck approximately 68 Mute Swan 6 Goosander 6 Pochard 8 Coot 12 Golden Plover at least 130 flying over Sainsbury's

hi...this sighting is a bit late but better late than never..this is my first post here......we were driving down the M66 which had just about started...on Monday 24th October about 12.40pm when i notice a brownish-greyish bird fly across......i did nt pay attention to it at...

Birdguides reported a House Martin at Castleshaw Reservoirs this pm (just after dinnier-ish), a great record, anyone on the forum have any further info on this bird?

Approachable Pink-Footed Goose feeding with Canadas (1st winter I would say), I will post photograph when I can get my PC working properly think I have a virus. Also a disappointingly low Mute swan count of 61.

Bunting hide 2 Coal Tits 2 Willow Tits Water Rail Teal Hide 4 Goosander Kingfisher Horrock's hide 4 Snipe

Sonia Elsey tells me there were 20 Goosanders at Rhodes Lodges this morning - these birds probably are the ones roosting on Heaton Park Resr.

Male Brambling with Chaffinch flock at rear of pool just past cottage this morning, about 8am

At Watergrove Resr. this morning Steve Atkins had a Chiffchaff showing characteristics of the race 'tristis', including the rather distinctive call (I only say 'showing characteristics' due to the potential difficulty in identifying 'pure' tristis, off Steve description it sounded spot on!)...

2 adult Yellow-legged Gulls in the roost, also 332 Lesser Black-backeds, 1 Great Black-backed and 8 Herring Gulls (didn't count the Commons or BHG's). Also 3 Shoveler, 1 Wigeon, 3 Pochard, c50 Goldeneye and a Redshank.

On David Winnard`s Website, `Wildlife Of Rochdale`, a Red breasted Merganser is on the sightings page for 5 Nov. at Hollingworth Lake. Did anyone catch this or has anyone any info ? Is it still there ?

-- Edited by Ian Woosey at 07:43, 2006-11-08

An early morning visit to Piethorne today was rewarded with excellent close-up sightings of a immature Little Grebe on Ogden Reservoir. This is only the 3rd record for this species in the valley in the last 4 years and apparently only the 4th record here since 1996! ...

The Shag was still at the lake this morning, although it now seems to have deserted the raft and prefers to rest up on one of the speed boats moored off the duck feeding area. The speed boat is now liberally splattered with Shag droppings! Just to confuse matters a lone Cormorant was on the raft. A R...

4 Whoopers – 2 Adults, 2 Juvs - flying low over Crab Tree Lane, Atherton at around 7.30am - Possibly heading for Bee Fold Lane Pond or Pennington Flash. ???

Quick visit to Crompton Lodges this am produced - 1 LBB Gull, 1 female Shoveler, 64 mute swan Inc 2 cygnets and a few goosanders. Also I manage to read the metal ring of a Finnish Black Headed Gull - Details sent to the BTO. Kane

Moss lane area today held a male stonechat, juv merlin and plenty of winter thrushes, skylarks, mipits, finches and buntings (all being harried by the merlin) Hope Carr was very quiet (it has been for about 2 years!!) a few goldcrests, thrushes and half a dozen or so snipe being the highlights.&nbs...

male Common Scoter back on 2 Resv (assuming its the same bird). Nothing of note in the Gull roost.

2 Ravens over Rindle RD. Also 48 Fieldfare on wires. 3 Tree Sparrows further along, numbers of Redwing. Buzzard, 3 Kestrels, a Sparrowhawk and a Snipe over - all Worsley Moss.

Andy Makin had 3265 Fieldfares in 20 flocks this morning, 4th Nov. going W until low cloud came down, then some landed and passage ceased. Also 4 Crossbills still in the conifers just past the Wilderswood car park on Georges Lane. He also had 175 Redwing in 7 flocks, 7 Lesser Redpolls, 1 Br...

The Shag is still present at Hollingworth Lake this am (7am onwards), despite appearing elusive at times, perhaps due to the bird feeding. Also, a White -fronted Goose was present briefly at 8am, then flew towards the Akzo pond area but should realistically, still be in the area. All informatio...

Andy Makin had 4 Crossbills on the path just past Wilderswood car park, Horwich today, down to 20 ft - they then flew E, possibly to Walker Fold Woods. He counted 2552 Fieldfares in 15 flocks flying W over Burnt Edge, and had 3 Bramblings in Tenements Clough off Coal Pit Lane. The Bittern was showing in...