1 Dunlin; looked very good indeed for the race arctica which would possibly be the first reported occurrence of this race in the county (desperately poor and very heavily cropped phones coped image attached, doesn't do the bird justice!)
Little Woolden Moss: 1 Sedge Warbler - singing and in display flight 1 Blackcap - singing 1 Whitethroat 6 Ringed Plover 1 Curlew - having a good bath! 1 Yellow Wagtail - male c.80+ Swift - mostly swooping low over the trees (loads of midges around) 2 Sand Martin 1 Swallow 2 Meadow Pipit 1 Reed Bunting 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
Irlam Moss: f16 (newly ploughed) 2 Yellow Wagtail (m & f) 1 Wheatear (f) 6 Linnet 1 Oystercatcher 2 Skylark A few Lapwing including 1 quite well grown chick 1 Kestrel
At Little Woolden Moss today sightings by myself and Dave Steel included 11 Ringed Plover, 2 Common Gull, 1 Wheatear, 1 Sedge Warbler and at least 140 Swift moving through
Also today the Channel Wagtail was showing well with a male Yellow Wagtail in field 16 on Irlam Moss. Simon Johnson and I also had 2 Hobbies around the mosses today.
Little Woolden Moss 12.30ish to 3.30pm. Ringed Plover - 2. Oystercatcher - 2 (never moved all day). Wheatear - 1. Yellow Wagtail - 2. Curlew - 3 (one over , 2 dropped in). Common Buzzard - 1 (low over). Perigine - 1. Swift - 2. Hobby - 1 ( Great views , up to 10 mins less than 200m. away ). Nice to meet fellow birder Anthony who spotted the hobby and Peregrine first.
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Friday 5th of May 2017 05:26:45 PM
Early visit so that sun was behind me on the wader pool (0545-0700)
Wood Sandpiper still there and showing well.
First sedge warbler and common whitethroat of the year for me also.
2 x dunlin 6 x ringed plover 4 x canada geese 2 x lapwing 10+ wheatear 1 x kestrel 1 x yellowhammer singing 6 x whitethroat including one that wasn't singing like a normal bird, but making a mewling sound, and every time it vocalised it's front neck feathers opened up. At first I thought it was something special, so I took a photo of it, but it's flight was like a whitethroat and it seemed to be associated with another. 1 x yellow wagtail. Willow warbler all over, but strangely no chiffchaff
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Wednesday 3rd of May 2017 12:17:43 PM
wood sandpiper was still showing well at 7.45pm but with the setting sun straight in front of me I still managed an ok pic, eventually. 6 dunlin 1 curlew
Day spent around here today; nice day for it, and extremely productive. Usual route around Irlam Moss taken, and then onto Little Woolden.
Irlam Moss:
8 chiffchaff 6 willow warbler 4 blackcap 15 whitethroat Goldfinch, greenfinch, chaffinch 35 linnet 1 reed bunting heard singing 6 yellowhammer 4 house martin (first of the year) c10 swallow 7 wheatear 6 pied wagtail 6+ yellow wagtail c15 skylark 7 song thrush 3+ mistle thrush 2 jay 80+ lapwing (including a few chicks) 5 oystercatcher 1 curlew 1 or 2 kestrel 1 buzzard
Little Woolden Moss:
10+ willow warbler 1 blackcap heard singing 2 whitethroat 5+ linnet 2+ reed bunting 3 yellowhammer 2 swallow 4 wheatear 1 meadow pipit 5+ pied wagtail 5 yellow wagtail (beautiful views of these both here and on Irlam Moss) 1 skylark 3 ringed plover 15+ lapwing (mainly adjacent fields; a couple of chicks) 6 dunlin 1 wood sandpiper (a first, and nice to get one here on an off-chance visit, after coming specifically the last couple of years and missing out) 1 oystercatcher 2 curlew 1 kestrel 3 buzzard
Little Woolden Moss: 1 Wood Sandpiper showed really well close to path until it was flushed by a female Sparrowhawk at 16.04. It flew off high NE with the 6 Dunlin. Possibly could have gone to Croxden? The Sparrowhawk was chased away by a Carrion Crow. 1 'Channel' Wagtail at far western edge of reserve and nearby fields. It eventually showed well a couple of times after a bit of a wait. 2 male Yellow Wagtail and 1 female also here. Also: 2 Teal - pair 2 Gadwall-pair 2 Oystercatcher 2 Curlew 5 Ringed Plover 4 Wheatear 14 Lesser Black-backed Gulls 1 Herring Gull
Little Woolden Moss today 3pm - 4.30pm.
Channel Wagtail is still visible in fields West of the reserve, though it took some finding!
Two Curlew, several Wheatears, Lapwings including chicks, Pied Wagtails and Meadow Pipits in the same field.
3 pm. Cuckoo on little woolden moss. Also Yellow Wagtail, Curlew, Dunlin and Ringed Plover. Walking along the path near the main entrance a meadow pipit was displaying frantically near the path. As we approach a cuckoo came up out the grass and landed in a nearby tree giving good views. Chris
Hi Ian Can you see the Channel Wagtail from the reserve?
If you take the southern footpath as far south-west as you can go (to where the moss is still being milled for peat) it bears sharply to the north along the edge of the moss itself. To the west of this path immediately as you turn sharply is a grassy field (separated from the moss by a deep ditch!), partly ploughed and the bird favours this field though can be elusive and mobile. A telescope would be ideally required to get anything like good views.
The bird has been present since at least the 23rd April when Dave Steel first found it and looks fairly settled.
In the general 'Chat Moss' area today a total of 13 Yellow Wagtails, also included a handsome male Channel Wagtail just west of Little Wooden Moss which has been present for a few days now. Also 18 Buzzards around the area.
On Little Wooden Moss itself this morning:
11 White Wagtail
2 Dunlin
1 Tree Pipit over
7 Wheatear (just west of the reserve itself)
(phonescoped female Yellow Wagtail on Little Wooden Moss)
07.30 - 11.30 Rindle Road, the SSSI, and walked down to Little Woolden Moss and back. The cold wind was certainly keeping everything a bit hunkered down.
North of the Railway:
Wheatear 6 in unnumbered ploughed field between Rindle Hedge and SSSI White Wagtail 2 (same location) Kestrel 2 Buzzard 1 Whitethroat 4 Lapwing 5 Blackcap - several Willow Warbler - plentiful Mistle Thrush - several
South of the Railway:
Whimbrel 3 in Field 62 (highly cropped pictures) Wheatear 3 (same location) Whitethroat 3 Lapwing several Mistle Thrush several