Willow Tit 2 (unringed) at the VC
Gadwall 52
Tufted Duck 12
Mallard 32
Coot 45
Moorhen 4
Mute Swan 21
Canada Goose 68
Little Grebe 1
Herring Gull 15
Lesser-black Backed Gull 16
Common Gull 17
Black-headed Gull 300

1 Kingfisher
48 Gadwall
2 Little Grebe
5 Goosander
10 Teal
1 Snipe
7 Tufted Duck
1 Buzzard
1 Grey Wagtail
15 Mute Swan
8 Cormorant, 1 eating a huge Perch!

phillipskelly wrote:

---

Water rail - 1 (possibly 2) seen in left hand corner of the Teal pool just after Shannon Llewellyn left.

Excellent, glad they showed themselves.

The only things to add to Phillip's sightings yesterday was a small flock of 5-10 siskin alighting from tree as I approached it, flying off calling, and later a lone redpoll over.

Gulls at the Broad Ees Dole end of the main lake all disturbed by water-sports before I could look them over, but one large one seen briefly in flight looked a possible for yellow-legged gull, though I couldn't relocate for confirmation.

Visitor Centre feeders :
Willow tit - 2 together.
Coal tit - 1 .
Nuthatch - 1.
Plus Great and Blue tits.

Inflow channel :
Grey Heron - 1.

Main Lake :
Gadwall - 29.
Tufted Duck - 7.
Yellow - legged gull - 1.
Black headed gill - c100.
Common gull - 7.
Lesser black back gull - 8.

Broad Ees Dole :
Water rail - 1 (possibly 2) seen in left hand corner of the Teal pool just after Shannon Llewellyn left.
Snipe - 1.
Shoveler duck - 7 .
Grey Heron - 9.
Goosander - 1m.
Little grebe - 1.
Common Buzzard - 2 over several times.

another afternoon visit 2pm til dusk.

main lake,
37 gadwall
4 tufted duck
1 little grebe
7 mute swan
10 cormorant

broad ees dole,
1 water rail, showing very well in front of the lakeside hide.
19 teal
2 shoveler
18 goosander
1 little grebe
3 grey heron
1 kingfisher
1 grey wagtail
2 buzzard
1 great spotted woodpecker

teal pool,
2 water rail, 1 on the far side again & 1 on the left hand side.
12 teal
1 grey wagtail

nice to have a chat with paul heaton.

joel, yes they are different. the old cow field & dry weir is Stretford ees & the old cow field/ ivy green / hardy farm is chorlton ees.

Tim Wilcox wrote:

---

When did the second pool get named teal pool? Late post for Wednesday - 2 Kingfishers chasing each other around

---

 

Since Paul Heaton named it last Wednesday. It's all part of Broad Ees Dole.

Paul the cow field is Stretford Ees, which rightly has it's own thread. Pete Berry's dog flushed Corncrake and Nightjar from there in the early 80's. Also pre 1978 it was in Lancashire, whereas Sale WP was in Cheshire.

Joel, it's all relative. There never were Gadwall or Buzzard around in the 'old days'.

2.30pm til dusk. similar sightings as joels.

main lake,
I managed at least 41 gadwall around the islands
3 little grebe
1 grey heron
6 mute swan
8 cormorants
black headed, lesser black backed, common & herring gulls, no signs of the yellow legged gull.

broad ees dole,
16 teal
11 shoveler
13 goosander
1 little grebe
2 grey wagtail
1 grey heron
2 buzzard
reed bunting, heard

teal pool,
8 teal
1 water rail, showing well out in the open but on the far side of the pool, watched for 20 minutes then again for another 15 minutes after visiting the lakeside hide.

Spent an hour between 1 and 2 this afternoon sheltering from the rain in the Bird Hide, had excellent views of a pair of Kingfisher and a Water Rail.

The Water Rail was visible for most of the time.

Just a couple of points to add

Water Rail breed at the Meadow Pond just over the river on Chorlton Ees. An adult and a very young chick was seen on 17th August 2016 (as posted on the Forum and elsewhere)

A couple of old personal Common Snipe counts from Broad Ees dole

86 on 11th November 1980
90 on 27th December 1987

Team SWP excellent stuff I have been speaking to the Godfather of SWP Pete Hines and he has given me a golden piece of information from the Halcyon days when rangers were in charge of the place .

The pool we now see has just always been part of Broad res Dole and is based on the Indian jheel an idea Paul Jepson got from Bharatpur , cool stuff this , Now bearing in mind if you look at the Map of SWP it doesn't appear on there, the undergrowth has formed a new area , So I feel Teal pool rhythms with jheel , and the Teal that are there look stunning on that pool . so I propose we use Teal pool from now on . ( The Cow field over the river has not has cows in for quite some time ,and we still use cow field for that )

As for the Water Rail along with Buzzard and Raven these are now becoming regular sightings here , rumours of them breeding close by have reached me.

 

Keep Birding 

-- Edited by Paul Heaton on Wednesday 28th of November 2018 08:55:38 AM

Well done Shannon & joel on the water rail sighting. As tim Wilcox mentions in an earlier post I myself managed a sighting of a water rail in the same location on the reed bed pool of broad ees dole on 4th November 2014, not seen one since but have heard them.

Late post for Monday morning 10:45 - 11:20. Stopped by to do a tiny bit of landscape photography but couldn't resist checking the Broad Ees Dole. With the amount I saw I'm going to have to start patching Sale WP again!

Main lake, from the concrete structure at the most north point:
2 Cormorants
~100 Black-headed gulls
7 Common gulls
3 Lesser black backed gulls
2 Moorhens
2 Coots
2 Mallards

Broad Ees Dole:
8 Shovelers (5 males & 3 females)
20-30 Teal (ran out of time to count them)
1 male Gadwall
some mallards, moorhens and a very large Sparrowhawk being harassed by magpies at the back of the pool.

Unnamed pond next to Broad Ees Dole (I was thinking to myself on the way home that it needed a name, it appears that I'm not alone in that thought!):
4 Teal (2 male & 2 female)
1 Grey heron
But by far the best bird and a patch lifer for me was a Water rail!!! After reading Shannon's post earlier this week I only hoped of seeing one. Feeding right out in the open on the mud, on the left hand side of the pool. Unfortunately someone walking by on their phone managed to scare it and it quickly scuttled back into the reeds and didn't return again in the 5 mins I waited for it.

Cheers Shannon, thank you we do need to name that pool , perhaps Water Rail pool.

 

 

Paul Heaton wrote:

---

Shannon , excellent round up as always , very impressed with your sighting and a tad jealous ...

Water rail , thought I  heard a squeak the other week, but never saw one , I have in my mind that nice pool to the left of Broad Ees Dole , it seem to have lovely stretch of mud and reed perfect for Water Rail, 

I will keep looking 

-- Edited by Paul Heaton on Monday 19th of November 2018 07:00:13 AM

---

Hi Paul,

Sorry for the late reply, been offline all week. It was indeed on that pool (and the second time I've seen one there), feeding along the waterline at the back.

The adult Yellow Legged Gull was on the main lake towards the western end this morning and on Saturday there was a 1st winter Yellow Legged Gull on the bouys just below Deckers car park,but no sign today.Only other thing of interest was a Kingfisher on the Mersey opp Jacksons Boat

Paul Heaton wrote:

---

Shannon , excellent round up as always , very impressed with your sighting and a tad jealous ...

Water rail , thought I  heard a squeak the other week, but never saw one , I have in my mind that nice pool to the left of Broad Ees Dole , it seem to have lovely stretch of mud and reed perfect for Water Rail, 

I will keep looking 

-- Edited by Paul Heaton on Monday 19th of November 2018 07:00:13 AM

---

Steve Burke has seen one on that pool before.

A few hours round here today, from just gone 10 to nearly three. Yellow-legged gull had been seen before I arrived, but had flown by then; the only large gulls on lake that I saw were all lesser black-backed. Nevertheless, an extremely productive and enjoyable few hours, with some excellent other species around:

1 goldcrest
3 willow tit (one on feeder by cafe, pair around outlet channel)
1 treecreeper
2 nuthatch (one seen, one heard)
2 lesser redpoll
1 siskin
6+ goldfinch
2 linnet (a Mersey Valley patch first for me)
1 redwing
2 jay
1 kingfisher (male, two sightings, presumed same bird)
3 moorhen
1 coot
29 gadwall
2 tufted duck
7 or 8 mute swan
3 little grebe
2 grey heron
240+ black-headed gull
7 common gull
5 lesser black-backed gull
1 kestrel
1 sparrowhawk
1 buzzard heard fairly distantly

Broad Ees Dole:

1 water rail
5 moorhen
1 coot
31 teal
4 shoveler
2 little grebe
3 snipe
2 grey heron

Yellow-legged Gull still present 12.10 to 12.28 when flew towards NW corner but lost to view behind trees

Yellow legged gull showing well today , and a couple of birders poaching on my patch

Paul Heaton wrote:

---

Rob excellent find, and great photos, did the WeBs count at weekend it went there then , great record , thanks for the photos 

Keep Birding 

 

---

It will be submitted as a record too Paul, cheers.

Tuesday 13th Nov 2018

- adult Yellow-legged Gull
On main lake this afternoon viewed from near Deckers and then a better view near one of the fishing platforms just passed the sailing club. There was a loud bang from the other side of the lake and a lot of the Gulls were put up including this one and I lost it flying towards the pylon. Cheers for confirmation Ian.

(ps. knock 1 hour off camera time, I do it every time the clocks go back or forward)

Buzzard feeding on mallard today ..

Gulls BH Gull 240 LBB Gull 8 Herring Gull 3 Common Gull 4

Ducks Mallard 38 Gadwall 24 Tufted 5 Teal 18 Shoveler 1

Herons 7 Cormorants 11 Corvids Crows Rook Jackdaw

Woodpigeon 49 Collared Dove 10 Ring Necked Parakeet 5

Blackbird, Song Thrush, Redwing Robins 

Blue tit Great Tit Coal tit Long Tailed tit Willow tit 

Nuthatch, Great spotted woodpecker , Treecreeper

Goldcrest Goldfinch Chaffinch Greenfinch , Dunnocks and Sparrows

Kestrel Buzzard.

Moorhen, Coots, Little grebe .

Nature is ace Keep Birding 

Cold and frosty morning stroll

Raven over the sports centre first thing 

Kingfisher on broad ees dole 

Gadwall count high at least 25+

All the normal stuff you would expect 

 

Keep Birding