A stroll round the park from 16:00 - 19:30 produced nothing much of note;

2 Treecreepers
2 Grey Wagtails
9m Mandarin (1 female seen though that was outside the park)
4 Nuthatch
1 Juv Great Spotted Woodpecker
1 Grey Heron
1 Tawny Owl
4m + 2f Tufted Duck

And all the usual bit's and bob's.

No sight or sound of the Wood Warbler today.

The Wood Warbler was still singing merrily after 12:30pm.

I walked down through Ernocroft Woods to the hide for a while and then back (about 11:20 to 13:00). Chiffchaffs heard in the woods on the way down and from across the river but no Willow Warblers. Saw a female blackcap but didn't hear any singing.

Grey Wagtail just down from the weir. Male reed bunting seen briefly from the hide. Lone buzzard overhead from there too.

Saw a single male mandarin on the river behind the pump house thing when I had the briefest of looks. Single male tufted duck seen from the hide as well.

Jay visited the feeding station area; great spotted woodpecker heard calling from across the river to the left somewhere. Numerous nuthatches around but treecreepers didn't put in an appearance.

-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Sunday 20th of May 2012 11:19:39 PM

Wood warbler very vocal and showing well still at 4.45pm in Ernocroft wood.

Also seen 4.45pm - 7pm

Mandarin (several m & f in different locations)
Nuthatch (4)
Goldcrest (3)
Chiffchaff (several heard)
Blackcap (2)
Jay
long-tailed tit
Grey wagtail (by the weir)
Grey Heron

I had a good around look for any flycatchers but no luck.

Cheers,

Steve.

Nick Hilton wrote:

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Liam Langley wrote:

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Hi everyone. Im thinking of visiting for the Warbler tomorrow but I'm not overly familiar with the site. Could anyone give me some directions from the car park to the area the bird's in? Any help would be really appreciated.

Liam - go on the Manchester Birding Website Homepage, look under County Birding Sites and Map, find Etherow and you will find a map to Ernocroft. Good luck

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Hi Liam,

From the car park head to your right & follow the path past the sailing club building alonside the lake & just keep walking for about 15 minutes until you reach the weir.
Turn right across the bridge & the track into Ernocroft woods is directly in front of you.

Hi Keith, thanks very much for the directions . Hopefully its still about tomorrow. Il try and dodge the joggers.

Hi everyone. Im thinking of visiting for the Warbler tomorrow but I'm not overly familiar with the site. Could anyone give me some directions from the car park to the area the bird's in? Any help would be really appreciated.

Liam

07.00 - 10.00

Wood Warbler still singing
11 Blackcaps (all singing males)
6 Chiffchaffs (but no Willow Warblers)
2 Treecreepers
4 Nuthatches (2 nests)
3 Great spotted Woodpeckers
1 Green Woodpecker
1 female Mandarin with 7 ducklings (Keg Pool) and 2 male Mandarins on nearby river
2 Mute Swans (1 colour ringed BLUE ZP4)
Uncounted Wrens (about 1 every 50 yards), Robins, Tits or Thrushes
No Flycatchers or Redstarts and NO PEOPLE - never saw a soul in 3 hours!

Cheers, John

Called in today from 16:00 - 20:00

1 Wood Warbler
2m + 1f Great Spotted Woodpecker
1 Green Woodpecker seen near Keg pool
6 Nuthatch
3 Treecreeper
2m + 2f Mandarin
2m + 1f Tufted Duck
1 Buzzard
1 Grey Wagtail
Good numbers of Swift, Swallow and House Martin
Usual Tit's and Finches


No Flycatchers seen unfortunately.

Wood Warbler still showing well in Ernocroft Wood 1400 hours. No need to leave the path.

Cheers

Tony

wood warbler showing really well at 8.30 am

Anyone visiting the site for the Wood Warbler should please be particularly considerate when viewing the bird and not attempt to get too close etc.

Sunday 13th May 6am

A nice early morning with plenty of Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps in good voice.
Dipper close to the weir and several Bullfinches around.
Green Woodpecker heard. Egyptian Goose on Keg pool and two feisty Mute Swans that weren't too happy to see me.
Lots of the usuals too.

13:00-16:00...

40+ swifts over river / Keg Pool area.
Common buzzard.
On a slightly worrying note,we saw a male mandarin, on" the front line",amongst the "bread munchers", down by the cafe

Cheers Chris

-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Saturday 12th of May 2012 06:29:18 PM

John Rayner wrote:

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Hi Mark,

A Spotted Flycatcher was seen on 3rd May near Sunny Corner - may well be your bird.

Cheers, John

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Ah good to know I'm not the only one who's seen it.

Cheers John

Mark

Now I'm back home I can post the other sightings,


2m +1f Great Spotted Woodpecker
1 Goldcrest
3 Nuthatch
1 Treecreeper
3 Song Thrush seen plenty more heard
Lots of Chiffchaff heard but none seen
6 Lapwing
1 Kingfisher
About half a dozen Blackcaps
2 Buzzards
4m +2f Tufted Ducks
And 1 Spotted Flycatcher seen by Keg Pool on the river side.

I appreciate how this looks, I've yet to post 10 times and have already posted 2 birds a lot of people have been hoping to see at Etherow for years. I'm sure Tony Mossman and Dave Evans would vouch for my sincerity (if asked) though my Id'ing I guess will only be confirmed by someone seeing the bird.

Common Sandpiper viewed from the hide at 10:30. I'm rubbish at waders but this one was determined to show off as many field marks as it could so I have no doubts.

Mark Walsh wrote:

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15:40 - 18:00

1 Chiffchaff seen lots heard
3 Nuthatch (2 seen at the hide)
1 Treecreeper (again the hide)
3 Lapwing one of which was displaying
1 Dipper
3m + 1f Mandarin
1m + 1f Blackcap
Lots of Swallows over the main lake
5 Cormorants in the usual tree
Usual Tits and Finches

Heard 1 Green Woodpecker
Heard 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker
Heard 1 Tawny Owl which was then located - Debated whether to put this one down as it seems a bit much to post a Pied Flycatcher and 2 Tawny owls in my first 4 posts, but then this is a record of birds seen so down it goes.

Also when going to the hide you might want to be careful as there are 2 Canada geese that seem to have taken up residence close to the path where it turns parallel to the river before getting to the board walk. They are rather aggressive and it may be best if your heading that way to have some seed so as to distract them on your way past (then don't forget you'll need some for the return journey).
Can't guarantee that it will work especially as it didn't for me, but then I did throw part of my flapjack bought from the cafe rather than seed.

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hi mark,i had the pleasure off bumping into the 2 canada geese on sunday,they actually just hissed at me & walked away. maybe they did not like the look off you or i must off been to scary for them
well done on the pied flycatcher last friday,as you can see from my post no signs off any on my visit on sunday & welcome to the forum mark

2.45-7pm

at least 5 buzzards,3 in the air at once.
2 sparrowhawks
1 dipper
2 grey wagtails
2 great spotted woodpeckers
6 treecreepers
4 nuthatches
3 jays
2 bullfinches
2 lapwings over
several mandarins around
several swallows & house martins over

keg pool..

1 egyptian goose
1 little grebe
10 tufted ducks 6m 4f
1 willow warbler,the only one seen & heard on my walk around

plenty off blackcaps & chiffchaffs around
green woodpecker (heard only)
plus all usual birds around.

A cold 30min stroll around the main lake 6.45-7.15pm let me see my first Swallows and swifts of the year

3 Swallows hunting low

a group of about 8 Swifts fairly high up displayed for about 3 mins, and then moved on.

I have in the past just lingered but while out this afternoon I saw something I believe a few might be interested in.

I got to the park at about 4pm and headed out past the main pools where there was nothing out of the usual, walking then along the path between the river and canal I saw 1m and 1f Goosander on the canal a bird I haven't seen here for a couple of months.
I then headed up past the weir and on to the hide, it must have been about 4:30 when I was walking to the door of the hide, after 10 minutes sat down I saw out the left hand side 1 male Pied Flycatcher about 20 meters from the hide, I watched it for a good few minutes while it flitted between branches before flying to the other side of the river where I lost it.

Other birds of note:

2 Kingfisher sightings one around Keg pool, the other by the canal on the way back
3 Chiffchaff seen, more heard
4 or 5 Song Thrush seen
12m + 7f Mandarin
1 Grey Wagtail
Lots of Swallows over the main pool
1 Lapwing seen from sunny corner


Other birds from the hide;

Blue Tit
Great Tit
Coal Tit
Long Tailed Tit
Treecreeper
Nuthatch
Blackcap across the river

Sadly I didn't see any Dipper's nor Great Spotted Woodpecker's, still Iv'e seen plenty of these in the past at Etherow but never a Flycatcher so I'm still rather pleased.


Mark





-- Edited by Mark Walsh on Friday 20th of April 2012 09:43:36 PM

Like so many sites in the east of the county, Etherow is a sad relic of what it once was. In one case, Vic blames the not-so-unbelievable act of the wardens in finishing one species off, but I'm as inclined to think that birds ebb away from less than prime habitat like we have in Greater Manchester when they start to struggle in the country as a whole. Vic has not even mentioned lesser spotted woodpecker, which is a much missed species in the area as a whole.

On the willow/marsh tit thing. I have seen both in the park, but was not living in the area until 1986 when the willow just hung on. I saw them on the bird table outside the wardens cottage a couple of times, whilst the flock of 3 marsh tits I was lucky to witness were probably just passing through.

You've got to keep going to the place though, because it did turn up a firecrest one spring and there was my 'pallid' swift on 21st March 2010. One year (early 90's, but I'd have to check), I even swore I heard a Bonelli's warbler singing, but thought 'you wouldn't get one round here, would you?' We all know what happened last summer in Derbyshire now, don't we!!!!

Keep on lookin'

Phil Panton wrote:

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Are Redstart still breeding there Vic ?
Haven't seen any on site for a few years now

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Hi Vic/Phil,

If you have any info one way or the other it may be better to answer by 'Private Mail'. Egg collectors probably scour these forums.

Cheers, John

Willow Tits were regular breeders up to the 1980s. There are also records from Etherow CP of Marsh Tits in the late 1970s but I think that they were probably wrongly identified.
Wood Warblers were more or less annual in small numbers until a few years ago. I did find 3 breeding pairs in the early 1990s. Around that time there were records from a number of sites along the Etherow valley. Sadly just as they appeared to becoming well established they crashed to almost nothing in the space of 2 years. This was also the case for a number of sites just over the border into Derbyshire. A pair bred at Etherow successfully 2 or 3 years ago but this appeared to be a one off as I have not seen a Wood Warbler anywhere in the region for the past 2 years despite visiting at least 10 sites where they were recorded in past years. It would appear that the decline is due to something in their wintering quarters.
Tree Sparrows were also regular breeders at Etherow CP into the early 1980s.
We have also lost Yellowhammers, Cuckoos, Spotted Flycatchers and sadly in the past couple of years Pied Flycatchers. Garden Warblers appear to have ceased breeding at Etherow CP - the last site where they bred was unbelievably destroyed by the wardens 2 winters ago.