Spotted Crake heard late yesterday evening from within the reedbed at Horrocks Flash in the farthest E/NE corner as viewed from canal footpath.
This morning the bird has been seen on several occasions very briefly on muddy edges in the same area (VERY roughly at ///camp.first.swing) but viewing is very restricted, rather distant and a telescope probably essential.
A wander today 2pm/4pm,from the canal near st James church,to moss bridge and back,several Cetti’s warblers calling in different locations, reed warbler 3 or 4 seen in the reeds near Pearson's flash, lesser black backed gull, black headed gull, cormorant, sparrowhawk, mallard, canada goose, long tailed tit, blue tit, great tit, reed bunting ,teal ,tufted duck ,coot, moorhen, buzzard over, robin ,2 at least 2 common tern,and 3 swifts
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Saturday 29th of April 2023 09:46:28 PM
A wander today 11 30 -13 30 from locks and to moss bridge and back, on westwood flash just a couple of tufted duck, on Pearson's flash cormorant, lesser black backed gull and black headed gull, goldeneye, coot, mallard, moorhen, tufted duck, robin in the bushes between the canal and Pearson's flash,goldfinch, siskin,lesser redpoll on alders on the corner of Pearson's, long tailed tit also in a few places,blue tit, great tit too.I went to the feeding station/screen behind the school and have to report that the tree that carried the existing feeders has now fallen. However the feeder nearest to metal entrance was active with blue tit, great tit ,long tailed tit, and 1 willow tit,jay also seen in nearby trees ,blackbird a few in this area,back along the canal,Canada goose,mallard on canal, scotmans flash goosander female, tufted duck, coot,canada goose, mute swan, great crested grebe, cormorant, pochard, 2 Cetti’s warbler calling this visit.
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Tuesday 14th of March 2023 04:15:24 PM
Mon 13-Mar-23: Lunchtime visit, during which it rained continually. Visibility wasn't great, so I may have missed a few things. Certainly didn't find any Willow Tits.
Afternoon excursion, willow tit on feeder nearest to school also a few at bryn marsh bench (feeders nearby) great spotted woodpecker, 2 raven again ,bullfinch, long tailed tit, coal tit plus usual suspects.also cettis warbler calling in 3 locations
-- Edited by David Hughes on Tuesday 24th of January 2023 03:15:15 PM
Pink-footed Goose 147 over NW in 2 skeins Gadwall 66 Wigeon 33 (two flocks flying around of 13 and 20) Teal 3 Tufted Duck 210 Goldeneye 29 Goosander 8 Little Grebe 4 Great Crested Grebe 1 Coot 177 Willow Tit 1 Colour ringed bird, by the school, at 53.524171, -2.635863. Red over blue on left leg, green over silver on right.
Bittern: Flying over Scotsman's to the right hand side reeds and showing well there.
Red-crested Pochard: Surprised to see it on the canal at the bridge at Westwood Road with mallards etc. Strange white base to it's bill and limp looking leg. Very tame.
A fruitless search for the red crested pochard today but was more than made up for by bittern flying to south west corner,1 willow tit and one goldcrest.
-- Edited by David Hughes on Wednesday 14th of December 2022 02:15:27 PM
Yesterday 11/12 30, short walk to Pearson's from the lock,on westwood flash shoveller, little grebe ,coot ,mute swan ,teal ,goosander ,on Pearson's flash, snipe ,teal, goldeneye, black headed gull, lesser black backed gull, gadwall, cormorant, reed bunting , bullfinch, long tailed tit, tutted duck, mallard ,coot, party of about 10 little grebe,.
Looks like a Lesser Black Back gull unfortunately, mantle too dark for Yellow Legged gull,sun can "bleach out" LBB mantle and make them look paler than they really are.
82 Mute Swan, 2 Common Tern, and a small but steady flow of Lesser Black-backed Gulls coming in from the north stopping briefly then moving off south, at Scotmans Flash this late morning.
Sunday sunny and warm,blackcap singing, willow warbler singing, wren seen,kingfisher,tufted duck,gadwall,mallard,mute swan ,greylag with young,Canada goode,blackbird, robin,lesser black backed gull, black headed gull, coot, great crested grebe, sedge warbler singing but hidden,a couple of sand martin over scotmans flash,cormorant, cettis warbler both vocal and active by moss bridge i saw 3 ,one from 5 mtrs
This evening a short walk to moss bridge and back to poolstock lock,blackbird, song thrush ,long tailed tit, mute swan, coot,cettis warbler in 3 locations, blue tit,cormorant, tufted duck ,mallard,goldeneye, kingfisher, black headed gull, lesser black backed gull, kestrel,canada goose,great crested grebe, a steady stream of sand martins ,with swallow amongst them i counted at least 20 swallow, and a single reed bunting.
-- Edited by David Hughes on Saturday 9th of April 2022 08:31:45 PM
1pm-3pm,carrion crow ,song thrush, blackbird, woodpigeon, chaffinch,goldfinch ,coal tit ,great tit, magpie,blue tit,long tailed tit ,reed bunting, jay,robin,skylark high singing, meadow pipit, wren, dunnock ,stonechat male in same field as reported previously,.Bryn marsh viewpoint gave gadwall,coot,tufted duck,mallard and kingfisher obligingly gave a great view
-- Edited by David Hughes on Wednesday 16th of March 2022 03:27:40 PM
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Wednesday 16th of March 2022 04:34:02 PM
1 Stonechat (female) was in the northern corner of the field which borders the south-west of Bryn Marsh, at around 8am. A surprisingly rare bird here, and a long-awaited Wigan Flashes tick for me!
Also of interest, 8 Whooper Swan flew north over Scotmans Flash at around 9am.
A wander round today in the cold and dry, from the feeders to moss bridge and around past ochre flash, goldcrest in a few locations roughly a dozen,treecreeper,bullfinch, robin ,song thrush,blackbird, coal tit ,willow tit,great tit,blue tit,dunnock, jay,magpie,chaffinch ,mixed flock goldfinch redpoll siskin feeding on alder tree,Reed bunting ,kingfisher ,coot,Canada goose, mute swan ,cormorant, gadwall, mallard,black headed gull.
Wednesday, 19th January 2022. 11:30 - 16:15 hrs. Sunny but cold northerly wind.
Plank Lane Bridge car park - along towpath of Leigh branch of Leeds/Liverpool canal - Dover Lock - Platt Bridge - Horrock's Flash - Pearson's Flash - Scotsman's Flash - Westwood Flash - and return.
Willow Tit (2) feeding on bird table someone has kindly put up on canal towpath between Platt Bridge and Horrock's Flash. Goldeneye (5) Goosander (10) 7M and 3F Shoveler (6) Teal (5) Gadwall (30) Redwing (2) Buzzard (3) Kestrel (1) Jay (3) Grey Heron (2) Collared Dove (2) Tufted Duck (c60) Black-Headed Gull (c150) Lesser Black-Backed Gull (1) Mute Swan (30) Cormorant (3) Robin (3) Chaffinch (2) Blue Tit (3) Great Tit (4) Blackbird (5) Mallard (c50) Magpie (7) Woodpigeon (15) Canada Geese (10) House Sparrow (8) Coot (c250) Moorhen (3)
Started at the woods between canal and westwood flash, great spotted woodpecker,siskin 1,cettis warbler 1 calling,2 robins very close together, paired up maybe?goldfinch, onward to Pearson's flash, gadwall, goldeneye ,coot, lesser black backed gull ,2 Cetti’s warblers singing in the reeds between the flash and the canal, moorhen, tufted duck,distant kestrel, carrion crow.Scotmans flash goosander,goldeneye, coot,cormorant, lesser black backed gull, mute swan ,black headed gull tufted duck ,gadwall,Wigan rovers pitch had 2 mistle thrush and a few blackbirds,along with a small charm of goldfinch.
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Monday 3rd of January 2022 05:06:34 PM
Adult Mediterranean Gull on Scotmans Flash at 13:30
Cettis Warbler - 1 singing south end of Scotmans Flash and 1 singing at Pearsons Flash
1 Shoveler Pearsons Flash
Singles of Siskin and Redpoll
-- Edited by dave broome on Friday 31st of December 2021 05:27:09 PM
A minimum of 3 Cettis Warbler at Bryn Marsh this morning Other birds there included: Peregrine 1 immature Water Rail min 4 Shoveler 2 Snipe 3 Great Spotted Woodpecker 1 Jay 2 Willow Tit 1 Linnet 1 over Gadwall 2 (plus 26 on Ochre Flash)
Ive been the area today,this is a general report for the area,dozens of Canada geese, 2 swallow, 1 swift ,reed bunting, reed warbler, tufted duck, dozens of mute swan ,2 common tern, 20 or so lesser black backed gull ,mallard, sedge warbler, 11 scoter on scotmans@13:10,only blackbirds singing today, cormorant over,dunnock,