Very nice views this evening of the adult male Woodchat Shrike. The bird was flitting around a few large bushes just 50 yards from the car park when I arrived and it showed itself off beautifully in the evening sunlight. Shortly after a tractor coming up the track flushed the bird where it then flew a sho...
Ive not seen a report for a long time of Lesser Spotted Woodpecker in the GM area or just outside,Eg- Dunham Massey,Marbury etc...Over the years I have always chased them,seen a few,but for the last year Ive searched,to no-avail.I know they are declining drastically. but Im afraid to say.I think the...
Whilst on a City centre birding stroll today i saw a shoal of small slender fish in the River Medlock next to the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology where the river goes under Princess Street by Brancaster Road. I've seen the reports that Brown Trout were found in 2018 in a tributary in Clayton. Cou...
We are open today but have some changes to our usual opening hours over Easter. We are closed as usual on Bank Holidays and Sundays, so we are open as normal (10am-5pm) on Saturday 20th and Tuesday 24th April. In between we are closed Good Friday ( 19th), Easter Sunday (21st) and Easter Monday (22nd). Th...
We have just taken in on Commission sale a mint pair of quality binoculars made with German Schott Glass like Zeiss and Leica, but at half the cost of those makes. these are a nicely balanced pair, ideal for birding and the owner only wants £500. They are definitely worth a look and are at a unique price po...
Must admit that I wasn't aware that developers put netting on hedgerows to prevent birds from nesting. Clearly this must be much more cost effective than paying an ecologist to carry out a bird nesting check prior to removal of a hedgerow and avoids the possibility of having to delay a development for...
7.05pm this evening
A distant Marsh Harrier spooked over 200 gulls feeding in the ploughed field alongside the M6 slip road which leads onto the A580. I saw the gulls fly up as I had just turned onto the East Lancs road, I pulled onto the grass verge and saw the Harrier through the cloud of gulls in the di...
If anybody is interested, I have had a reply regarding details of a ringed Cormorant that I saw last week at Pennington Flash. It had a white ring with red inscription reading ZT3. This bird was ringed as a chick on 28/6/13, one of three in the brood, at a colony at the Point of Ayre Gravel Pits, in the far no...
We have on Commission Sale a pair of Nikon Monarch 7 binoculars, they are the 8x30s and are in mint condition, described as 'as new' on our website. They come complete with all accessories and are boxed. They were an unwanted present (all these birders getting optics as presents!! luckier than me!!) s...
Has anybody got any thoughts on the best way to insure cameras and optical equipment when out and about - including overseas? Do people mostly use specification of expensive items on household insurance? Any thoughts/tips would be appreciated.
There is a small area of woodland in Davenport, bounded by Barnfield Road East, the playing fields of what was once Davenport College, and allotments. It was once an orchard, but is now heavily overgrown.
On a brief visit this afternoon, I again found a couple of Fieldfare feeding enterprisingly o...
Both of these great sites are vastly underwatched. I went for an hour this afternoon and found a few good sightings, including a couple of year listers: Grasshopper warbler (another heard) Sedge warbler Whitethroat-6 Blackcap (male) Swallow-10 Grey partridge-2 Kestrel Skylark-15 Reed bunting...
Hi AllGroundwork and the Environment Agency are running a project to Bring the River Irk to Life and are seeking local views on how to improve the area . To this end, they're asking if people can fill out a 2 minute survey via this link.https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/JN2B7/ This is a good chanc...
Is there anyone I can get in touch with who would know whether birds of prey are being kept legally or at least in acceptable conditions? I ask because I came across such a place locally this afternoon which did not seem to fit such criteria, looking both cramped and in a poor state. Thanks,
26-29th March, City break with my wife but did some productive birding early mornings in woods below the observation tower near the castle. Best birds were Firecrest, Hawfinch, Middle Spotted Woodpecker. I can imagine these woods would be even better in May but very pleasant and a fantastic City as...
1 Brown Hawker 1 Common Hawker 1 Common Darter 1 Green-veined White 1 Small Tortoiseshell 1 Comma, a very worn individual which was difficult to identify unless very close. 1 Speckled Wood 1 Marbled Beauty on Ragwort. Even a very common moth is a welcome sight this year.
Following on from the success of this months 'Leica Day' we are pleased to announce that we have arranged for Swarovski to host an In-Store Day in April. The date for your diaries is Saturday April 6th, so not long to wait! There will be refreshments free of charge and the Swarovski Rep will be bringing t...
this past weekend i went to the farne islands on a three day birdwatching trip, got there late friday so not much , saturday went on a boat trip round the islands and an hour on inner farne (good idea to wear a hat ). what an amazing place artic turns every where! coming down and sitting on your head and peckc...
A short walk this morning around Abney Hall Park. Not much today but an excellent site with bags of potential and it's rather a surprise that this hasn't got its own thread already.
Nuthatch 5 at 3 locations
Blackcap 4
Chiffchaff singing loudly
Jay 3
Heron 2
Bullfinch
Cheers, John
We have a Commission Sale Opticron HR66 Scope for sale with an SDL Zoom eyepiece and luxury green stay-on case. This is the newest versions of this scope, the flagship of the Opticron range. It is in excellent condition and is on sale for only £629. At this price and being a good size for travel & tran...
For anyone who isnt aware the Elton area is currently under threat (like a lot of other areas in GM) under the GMSF. On Sunday 17th March there will be a protest walk from Elton High School starting at 1pm which will take a route of 4 miles and end at Elton Sailing club in protest of the proposals. The sailin...
We have taken in on a commission basis a very desirable piece of kit that shouldn't be with us for very long. It's a Swarovski ATS 80 Scope Body with the 25-50x Zoom Eyepiece, a Swarovski stay-on case and is all boxed. The scope kit is the v.2 version, which folk should always check when buying an ATS, and i...
Comes with stay-on case and 30x WF eyepiece. Slight wear on outer rubber on eyepiece (which doesn't affect optical performance), otherwise in excellent condition and a great scope for the money. Please note that this is not the ED model. The only reason for sale is that I also have a Leica telescope an...
Hi folks....has anybody ever visited Stadt Moers Park in Whiston. There is a large pond/ body of water with quite a few water birds visible. It is surrounded by trees and reeds and such and looked like a decent birding venue. I havent been for a while but the last time I visited there was a good number of sp...
