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Excellent butterfly spotting today with 6 species seen:- 1 brimstone, 11 peacock (maybe numbers on the mend?), 7 comma, 6 small tortoiseshell, and year firsts 2 male orange tip and 2 small white. -- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Friday 29th of March 2019 11:06:20 PM

Signs of migration seen from the Aviation Viewing Park at Manchester Airport, Wednesday, 3rd October. 5 Swallows heading the correct way viz. south. Meadow Pipits and Pied Wagtails about. 3 Redwings. 1 Wheatear. Also a Sparrowhawk upsetting the Starlings. A group of 15 LT Tits. Phil Greenwood. --...

Small tortoise weakly fluttering in my garden this afternoon -- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Monday 3rd of March 2014 06:06:05 PM

I've been searching for bugs and other flora and fauna in the area in 2011 will update fully once season ends The area is basically Spenmoor, Res, Canal, Hinds, Lower Hinds, Radcliffe Marl Pits, Radcliffe Cen, Swan Lodge, Warth Fold Railway, Dip. Many of these are SBI or Site of Biological importance...

On Sunday I visited the Wirral for a spot of birding. Called in at Crosby early am - a lone adult Bar-tailed Godwit was the best find, plenty of Dunlin. Driving down the M53 mid morning there were 10 Buzzards in the air together, 1m up road of J4. A Hobby was with them briefly. Buzzard 11 was on a fence po...

Thought I'd start a separate thread for this area, as it is apart from Gorse Hall and is almost at the point where Hyde, Dukinfield and Stalybridge meet. At Broadbent Fold Farm there were 25 Linnet feeding around the horse paddocks, with another near the summit of Hough Hill. My hifhest ever count here...

MM- Marsh Harrier ,KIngfisher from Ron Barker hide. ruff and 2 green sand pipers from swanlink hide.Plus all the usual stuff. MS- Glossy ibis, curlew,pied wag, 4 snipe,2 common sandpipers,1 avocet,3 little egret,100s godwits and lapwings all from sandgrounders hide. 5 ruff,100s godwits and lap...

Just returned after a week in this historic area. History, volcanoes, scenery were the purpose of the trip, but a few decent birds were seen during the week, and what follows is a brief list of some of the key species people may be interested in, and where they were seen. Blue Rock Thrush: singing male in...

Present this afternoon, 23rd August 2009 Greenshank 7 Common Sandpiper Info thanks to Phil Rhodes

this am 2 grey wagtails 2 little grebe arley woods 1 dipper looked to be on territory yes it was on gm side -- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Tuesday 22nd of September 2009 01:08:56 PM

I have swapped out my old original scopac for a new one. It only has one zipped pocket, not the multiple pockets like more recent versions. Its still perfectly useable but the material on the pocket is wearing a bit thin. Free to anyone who wants it if you can collect from Ashton in Makerfield or I can post...

A wander down the perimeter of Eccles Sewage Works was interesting with over a 100 Pied Wagtails feeding on and around the sewage beds,also at least 150 Black Headed Gulls ,2 Herring gulls and a few Jackdaws also feeding on the beds.On the adjacent Ship Canal there were another 50 plus Black Headed Gul...

Odonata : Broad-bodied Chaser (1 male) Southern Hawker Brown Hawker - all at the meadow pond where reed has been cleared. Also Common Darter Blue-tailed Damselfly -- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Wednesday 5th of September 2012 04:21:03 PM

4 Swans, 25 Canada geese, 2 Great Crested Grebe, Lapwing on a roof top, 3 Common Whitethroat, 2 Chiffchaff, 8 Willow Warbler, 5 Willow Tits adults and young, Rook flying over, 20+ House Sparrow, 3 Reed Bunting.

Originally posted today by Keith Williams: Late post for Saturday, 25-30 Yellowhammer in the field between Dean's Farm and Old Carr House viewed from Carr Lane.

Small Tortoiseshell on the wing this afternoon in fields by M56.

Four hours gulling today with Pete Berry and 'our Jack' in perfect weather conditions (for grey hue assessment ) and probably over 20,000 large gulls in the area (including Arpley Tip) with a very large proportion coming and going through Richmond Bank in that time. 2 Iceland Gulls- the usual 2nd win...

Wed 13th: A Green Sandpiper calling over the south end of the park, late morning. I was at work, inspecting land at nearby Greenslate Farm, so didn't have opportunity to follow it up, but it seemed to be flying off west

Mon 12th Mar. Lightshaw Hall Flash ; 2 Pintail (pr.) 7 Wigeon 4 Shelduck 5 Redshank 2 Oystercatcher 5 Gadwall 2 Snipe - Dover Basin m. Kestrel Sparrowhawk 28 Linnet & 11 Fieldfare - Viridor Wood 2 Grey Wagtail & Mute Swan (7DED) - L&L Canal -- Edited by Ian McKerchar at 14:45, 2007-07-17 --...

30/10 c80 Pinkfeet over east at 10.30am 1 Siskin drake Gadwall -- Edited by Ian McKerchar at 14:45, 2007-07-17

Just a reminder to all users of the forum that any Greater Manchester county rarities found and posted on here should be submitted to the County Rarity Committee via the County Bird Recorder. This has always been a stipulation of posting such birds (as in the forum guidelines) and if you’re not sure wh...

The Kentish Plover was showing well this morning

Bound copies of British Birds 2005 to 2023 free to good home. Buyer must collect from Timperley.

Had a mooch around the large pool west of Moat Lane at lunch. Stunning views of a juvenile Cuckoo - the bird flew right past me and landed in the top of a low-growing Hawthorne bush nearby. I watched for 5 mins or so as it tried to beat to death a large, fat, bright green caterpillar! The Cuckoo eventually...

I am not what you would call a keen photographer - in fact I forget my camera as often as I take it. As such I only have fairly basic gear - a canon DSLR and a 70-300 zoom is my standard kit. But I am thinking of upgrading to something a bit better - probably mirrorless. So, my question is, am I better sticking wi...

goldfinch,magpie,robin,wren,blackbird,kestrel,chaffinch,swallows,wood

Had a bit of a Rochdale Bird Race with Paul Cliff, highlights included; Wigeon - 2 on Ogden Res, 3 on Hollingworth Lake Goldeneye - 1 on Hollingworth Lake Little Owl - 1 at Birlte Lesser Redpoll - 2 Rochdale Golf Course the cold snap hampered our efforts with Tufted Duck and Little Grebe not seen,...

20/11/07 early morning Ring-necked Parakeet (fem) - perched up near the Obelisk, quite happily chuckling and talking away to itself. With no leaves on the trees this was the best views I`ve ever had of this species. 11 Nuthatches. 2 Goldcrests. 3 Coal Tits. 3 G.S.Woodpecker. 2 Kestrel. Teal. 12 Gadw...

Monthly visit to family No sign yet of any real summer visitors, but lots of singing males and birds paired up-even the visiting lesser black-backs were flying round in pairs. 2's ( or multiples thereof) of the following: Blue Tit Great Tit Mistle Thrush Blackbird Carrion Crow Rook Magpi...

Thought I'd start a site report thread for one of my local patches, and today is as good a day as any because after nearly twenty years of trying up here, I found my first RING OUZEL. A superb male, it was up by the road to Rowarth on the south side just after the bridleway track, but soon did a vanishing act. A...