Elsewhere on the reserve 3 Grey Heron; 1 Jay; 2 Mute Swans; 1 Female Goosander, about 50 Tufted Duck with a few Teal & Gadwall - all on or around the main lake.
At least a dozen Tree Sparrow in the hawthorns along Pennington Brook regularly crossing over to garden feeders.
Another 4 Siskin, 2 Bullfinch, 5 Linnet, Male Pheasant, Mistle Thrush & a flushed Woodcock seen in various other areas.
Saturday am.
19 x Tree Sparrow
3 x Brambling
40+ Siskin
2 x Willow Tit
1 x Green Sandpiper
10 x Greenfinch
1 x Great Spotted Woodpecker
3 x Goosander
120+ Pied Wagtail
4 x Meadow Pipit
Wigeon pair on main lake Goosander 4 Water Rail 2 heard Willow Tit 2 at 53.483480, -2.516562 & 53.484681, -2.531981 Cetti's Warbler 3, 2 singing, another seen and heard calling Tree Sparrow flock of 25 in hedgerow along Pennington Brook Brambling 1 Pennington Brook Redpoll 2 Siskin 45
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Great to meet Phil
3 x Brambling
22 x Tree Sparrow
1 x Woodcock
7 x Siskin
1 x Water Rail
2 x Mistle Thrush
12 x Shoveler
3 x Goosander
32 x Gadwall
3 x Grey Wagtail
70+ Pied Wagtail
-- Edited by Keith Williams on Sunday 16th of January 2022 08:03:02 AM
I had an hour's walk around the site this morning. It was good to meet Keith Williams (thanks for telling me a lot about the site that I didn't know). Birds of note were 1 or 2 vocal Cetti's warbler at the lagoons, 1 grey wagtail and good numbers of pied wagtail on the sewage works and a mixed finch flock at the UU Training Centre including 1 brambling, 3 siskin, 2 greenfinch and 10+ chaffinch.
Pintail 6 (2 male, 4 female) alighted from the main pool and flew west at 11.20 Shoveler 18 Gadwall 20 Goosander 2 Pink-footed Geese 6 over south at 11.36 Willow Tit 2 together 53.483993, -2.513191
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Afternoon walk, of note:
1 x Snipe
1 x Woodcock
3 x Grey Wagtail
75+ Pied Wagtail
6 x Meadow Pipit
3 x Bullfinch
32+ Siskin
3 x Tree Sparrow
5 x Shoveler
6 x Gadwall
26 x Teal
Blackcap near the bridge over the river.
Chiffchaff x 3 near Blyths bramble
Shoveler x 19 on no 8 lagoon
Pochard x 1 on no 8 lagoon
Only birds of note, no blast from a Cettis.
Morning mooch 8.15am - 11am, 47 species including:-
2 x Tree Sparrow
Little Grebe with chick
Willow Tit family party
2 x Sparrowhawk
2 x Bullfinch
1 x Oystercatcher
5 x Chiffchaff
6 x Blackcap
4 x Willow Warbler
3 x Cetti's Warbler
2 x Sedge Warbler
2 x Reed Warbler
11 x Common Whitethroat
Excellent 'swarm' of feeding hirundines over the filtration beds within the sewage works this afternoon, obviously a good hatch of insects, with 180 Swallow, 220 House Martin, 30 Sand Martin, 110 Swift and also c80 Jackdaw and plenty of Black-headed Gulls joining in.
2 singing Cetti's warblers
5+ Tree Sparrow
Nice to see a healthy looking population of a variety of young birds emerging too.
Ruddy shelduck still present early afternoon, calling a lot and chasing off the drake of a pair of shelduck. I'm not sure if the female shelduck is impressed or not, she seems to be sticking to her mate but the new guy is pretty persistent and a lot bigger.
I've started a thread on the status of ruddy shelduck on the birding discussion forum.
Also raven over, Cetti's warbler singing 2 goosander (m&f) and 8 tufted ducks.
-- Edited by colin davies on Thursday 13th of May 2021 03:49:49 PM
5 x Cetti's Warbler
2 x Sedge Warbler
1 x Reed Warbler
5 x Blackcap
9 x Chiffchaff
8 x Whitethroat
5 x Reed Bunting
4 x Shelduck
4 x Tree Sparrow
24 x Gadwall
33 x Tufted Duck
Late post for Saturday - 48 species amble including:-
2 x Common Whitethroat - first of the year
2 x Willow Warbler
3 x Blackcap
2 x Cetti's Warbler
12 x Chiffchaff
32 x Gadwall
23 Tufted Duck
2 x Teal
2 x Shelduck
5 x Tree Sparrow
3 x Oystercatcher
Willow Tit x 1
Tree Sparrow x 4
Willow Warbler - 1st of the year, in the same tree as last year
Blackcap x 3
Cetti's Warbler x 1
Oystercatcher x 3
Mediterranean Gull x 2
House Martin x 3 (very early in the morning).
Sand Martin/Swallow x mixed flock of approx. 100 bird
Little Grebe x 3 (different pools)
Greylag x 4
Shelduck x 2
Tufted Duck x 21
Gadwall x 22
Teal x 4
Swallow through at 8.30am.
3 x Cetti's singing
2 x Blackcap (m&f)
1 x Greylag
3 x Oystercatcher
1 x Linnet
38 x Gadwall
26 x Tufted Duck
13 x Chiffchaff
8 x Jay
Saturday am, 46 species including.
2 x drake Shoveler
40 x Tufted Duck
19 x Gadwall
1 x long staying female Pochard
7 x Goosander
Definitely 3 but up to 6 Oystercatcher
At least 1000 Black headed Gulls, most Ive seen on here. All lifted with a great racket and would not resettle, no idea why.
2 x Buzzard
2 x singing Cettis Warbler
7 x Chiffchaff
4 x Little Grebe
8 x Tree Sparrow
Couple of hours late afternoon when the weather picked up :- of note
Only 1 of the resident 4 Mute Swans today on main pool.
Also 2 Oystercatcher on the island, 2M + 2F Goosander, a few Teal & Gadwall plus a Buzzard very low over back pool with a Cetti's Warbler singing nearby.
Never seen as many Long-Tailed Tits - they were everywhere, at least 50 seen unless the same gang were following me around!
Also seen M & F Bullfinch, Goldfinch, Tree Sparrows, 15 Linnet & a Grey Wagtail on Pennington Brook plus a Pheasant heard.
Quite a few singing Chiffchaffs dotted around the site also.
-- Edited by Lez Fairclough on Tuesday 16th of March 2021 10:27:06 PM
But it is a gem of a site when you get to know it, has given me 90 species since lockdown, not bad for a run down little looked after site just a stones throw from Leigh Town Centre.
Late post for Saturday am, 48 species incl. First singing Chiffchaff of the year though at least one has been present over winter. 2 x Oystercatcher 3 x Goosander 6 x Tree Sparrow 2 x Grey Wagtail 1 x Meadow Pipit 1 x Pochard 37 x Tufted Duck 1 x Water Rail flushed from the path 3 x Cetti's Warbler in full voice
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Sunday 7th of March 2021 08:12:29 PM
Unfortunately, this site merely hangs on to its ‘nature reserve’ title for prosterity only, it is no longer, nor has been for years now, any form of nature reserve.
9-11 this morning. First time here for me. The whole site needs tidying up considering it's a nature reserve... plenty of cans, plastic and general rubbish. However I heard my first Chiffchaff of the year and saw 2 male and 3 female Goosander on the main lake along with plenty of Tufted Ducks. Around the site saw several Bullfinch and plenty of Long Tailed Tits.Also 2 Oystercatcher over site.
Late post for Saturday morning, 46 bird walk including :-
2 x Green Sandpiper flushed by UU workers in the sewage works.
1 x Oystercatcher, returning, last seen on site 18/07/20.
26 x Gadwall, numbers continue to swell
30 x Tufted Duck.
2 x Male Reed Bunting on post.
6 x Tree Sparrow.
9 x Bullfinch seen throughout the site.
51 bird morning including:-
Bullfinch x 6
Buzzard x 2
Gadwall x 26
Goldcrest x 1
Grey Wagtail x 2 (sewage works and river).
Kingfisher x 1
Little Grebe x 3
Meadow Pipit x 1
Pochard x 2
Raven x 2
Redwing x 3
Reed Bunting x 2 (singing males).
Shoveler x 2
Treecreeper x 1
Tree Sparrow x 2 (gardens hadn't been fed).
Tufted Duck x 36
Whooper Swan x 2 (flyover towards Little Woolden)
15 Tree Sparrows present along the western edge by the Pennington Brook today, 2 Willow Tit, 2 Bullfinch (1 singing) and 3 Goosander on the main lake. Plenty of birds singing, especially Dunnock and Great Tit, around the site. Also, around 500 Black-headed Gulls feeding on the filter beds in the works.