The Wood Sandpiper has now appeared at 11.20 am after about 2 hours. Also present 1 Redshank 6 Little Ringed Plover 2 Oystercatcher 5 Black- tailed Godwit 10 Common Sandpiper 12 Goosander
Does anyone know if the Wood Sandpiper was on this morning? Just been on and seen Common Sandpiper and Shoveler when lightning appeared to the south west so turned round and went off just in time as the thunderstorm hit!
This afternoon a Wood Sandpiper was on no 1 resr and showing quite well favouring the 2 small islands adjacent to the big island in the NW corner. Also 1 Shoveler, 2 Wigeon, 1 Redshank, 3 Common Sandpipers.
This morning- 3 Shoveler, 2 Gadwall, 3 Pochard, 1 Little Grebe, 1 Ringed Plover (Tundra race bird), c200+ Swifts, c20 Sand Martins but only singles of Swallow and House Martin.
Single Sanderling first thing, couldn't locate later. 2 Arctic Terns dropped in during a rain shower, flew off high NW. 3 Oystercatcher. 1 Willow Warbler. c20 Swift, very low count given the date and conditions.
This morning 3 Whimbrel were commuting between the banks of no 2 and no 3 (for their second day), 2 Common Sandpipers, Oystercatcher, 2 Yellow Wagtails, 3 Wheatears, a singing Lesser Whitethroat on the railway side adjacent to no 2 and a Whitethroat by the covered reservoir.
The summer plumage Slavonian Grebe was still on No.2 reservoir this evening. It was associating with a pair of Great Crested Grebes for most of the time which occasionally tried to chase off, with all three taking flight low over the water a couple of times with the Great Crested Grebes in hot pursuit. The Slavonian even appeared to do a bit of displaying towards one of the Great Cresteds . A GM first for me and a plumage first.
Also: 4 Goosander - 3m, 1f . Also some displaying by the males. 20+ Swift Hundreds of Sand Martins
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Tuesday 2nd of May 2023 09:25:53 PM
-- Edited by Steven Nelson on Tuesday 2nd of May 2023 09:52:00 PM
This morning, 1 Oystercatcher, 1 Ringed Plover, 7 Common Sandpipers, 7 Dunlin, c10 + Swifts, 2 Yellow Wagtails, and 2 Wheatears. Also a new singing Sedge Warbler.
Highlights this morning were a female type Black Redstart in the SE corner of no 1, before moving along the E wall of no 2. Other birds included 14 Teal, a drake Common Scoter, 1 Oystercatcher, 4 Common Sandpipers. 4 Dunlin. 3 Swifts, 2 Yellow Wagtails, a singing Sedge Warbler and 3 Wheatears.
This morning the drake Lesser Scaup remains on no 1. Other birds included a Little Tern, 1 Arctic Tern, and 2 Common Terns. Ten species of wader this morning with Lapwing, 1 Oystercatcher, Little Ringed Plover, 2 Ringed Plovers, 1 Dunlin, 1 Snipe, 2 Whimbrel, 2 Common Sandpipers, 2 Green Sandpipers, and a Greenshank. 2 Shoveler, 4 Ring-necked Parakeets, 1 Swift, c30 House Martins, 5 Yellow Wagtails, 1 White Wagtail, and 7 Wheatears.
Drake Lesser Scaup still on no 1 reservoir this afternoon. Fluctuating numbers of Little Gulls on no 2 as the rain bands came through, peak count of 27 (24 adults) and at least 19 still present when I left 16.40, also 100+ Sand Martin.
-- Edited by Connor Rand on Friday 21st of April 2023 05:38:42 PM
This morning the drake Lesser Scaup remains on no 1, otherwise fairly quiet with the Rock Pipit still on the causeway, 3 Oystercatchers, 2 Little Ringed Plovers and a Common Sandpiper.
Lesser Scaup still present on No1 reser. also 1 Yellow Wagtail 3 Wheatear 2 Common Sandpiper 1 Little Ringed Plover 4 Greylag Goose 5 Teal 3 House Martin c20 Swallow 100+ Sand Martin
This morning’s hightings included 4 Greylag Geese, 8 Teal, 2 male Common Scoters, 4 Little Ringed Plovers, 4 White Wagtails and now 2 Rock Pipits (the smart breeding plumaged littoralis bird for it's 3rd day and a duller individual).
Sightings from this morning included 9 Teal, 5 Wigeon, 5 Pochard, Water Rail, 1 Little Grebe, 1 Curlew. 1 Little Ringed Plover, c80 Sand Martins, a couple of Swallows, 1 littoralis type Rock Pipit, and 6 White Wagtails. Also a marked passage of Common Gulls with c300+ through.
red-head Smew - came and landed obligingly near the female Goosander for a few minutes enabling a size comparison
Goosander - 1M 1F but not near each other (argument?)
Oystercatcher - 2
Goldeneye - between 5 & 10, more F than M
Sand Martins - 100's, not surprising with the amount of flies around which were a bit of a pain
White Wagtails - at least 4, but with a load of Pied Wagtails (and a couple of Grey) always moving around so difficult to be sure whether there were more (at least the White's were clearly different, grey backs, very neatly demarcated black bib). At one point several Pieds mobbed a crow, the Whites did not join in.
And the bonus whilst walking along Audenshaw Road back to the car, a female Sparrowhawk just sitting on the reservoir wall looking down at the road
Early morning up to 9am today, 23 Teal, 27 Wigeon, 8 Shoveler, 3 Pochard, 1 redhead Smew, 1 Water Rail, 2 Oystercatchers, 1 Swallow, just 4 Sand Martins and 7 White Wagtails.
This afternoon, drake Garganey on no 1, 4 Shoveler, redhead Smew, 1 Water Rail in NE corner of no 1, 2 Oystercatchers, 35 Sand Martins, 2 White Wagtails, 1 Yellow Wagtail, 1 Rock Pipit, and 1 Wheatear.
Redhead Smew still on number 1. 3 drake Common Scoter on number 2. 10 Sand Martin, 2 Chiffchaff, 10 Reed Bunting, 7 Meadow Pipit, many Goldeneye,Teal and Great Crested Grebe, 2 Oystercatcher, Lapwing, Sparrowhawk, 3 Grey Wagtail.
This morning- 18 Teal, 23 Wigeon, 19 Pochard, 1 male Common Scoter, redhead Smew, 1 Little Grebe, 2 Oystercatchers, 6 Lapwings, 1 Curlew, 5 Sand Martins, c15 each of Skylarks and Meadow Pipits and 4 Reed Buntings.
From 09:45-11:45
Redhead Smew still on number 1, Peregrine falcon through, 28 Goldeneye with some displaying, 24 Teal, 7 Pochard, 7 Goosander, Reed Bunting, Meadow Pit, Grey Wagtail, 30+ Great Crested Grebe with many displaying, distant Common Buzzard
Mid-morning to mid-afternoon today saw 36 Teal, 1 drake Pintail, 2 Gadwall, 6 Pochard, c30 Goldeneye, and 2 Goosander. A 1st winter Caspian Gull lingering on no 3, still present early afternoon initially feeding on a dead fish, also occasionally getting on the grass banking on no 3 adjacent to the motorway. The redhead Smew was still present on no 1.
Redhead Smew still on no 3 reservoir this morning and drake Pintail still on no 1 reservoir. Other birds included 21 Teal, 11 Pochard, c20+ Goldeneye, 1 Goosander and 9 Lapwings
This morning the redhead Smew was still on no 3, also the 1st winter Caspian Gull lingering on no 3 all morning. Other birds included 48 Teal, 12 Shoveler, 12 Goldeneye, 1 Goosander and 34 Lapwings.
This afternoon, c20 Teal, 10 Shoveler, 7 Pochard, c15 Goldeneye, redhead Smew initially on no 2 then on no 1, 38 Goosander, 63 Lapwings, 84 Snipe and 1 Jack Snipe. A count of 114 Snipe and 7 Jack Snipe was made this morning all roosting on what is left of the large island on no 1 and easily scoped from the path without any disturbance. There were probably more of both species this afternoon but many were asleep tightly packed and partially obscured.