Redhead Smew still present on the river at lunchtime today almost directly below the green footbridge from Ringley to Clifton near where sewage outflow comes in, showing very well. Also Dipper, lots of teal, 7 Goosander, 3 Goldeneye & 4 Gadwall.
Also amazingly a single Whooper Swan on the river behind Kearsley Mill, Prestolee, 50 yards from where we saw 3 on Boxing Day!
A concerted effort to check various parts of the river between Nob End & Giants Seat garden centre, Ringley produced one or two suprises.
At Nob End confluence with the Croal, Coots, Pochard, 10 Tufted, 5 Goldeneye, 10 Goosander, 3 Little Grebe & Lapwing.
At Prestolee, 3 Whooper Swans (2 ad & 1 juv) resting on the ice behind Kearsley mill was a very unusual but welcome sight. Also here another 3 Goldeneye & 4 Goosander.
Lower down between Ringley sewage works/filtration beds & Giants Seat, Kingfisher, Lapwing, 10+ Goldeneye, 5 Goosander, male Shoveler, 10+ Gadwall, 30+ Teal, wonderful views of a woodcock on the ground by the river. Then to top of a good morning the Smew flew upstream & landed right in front of us and proceeded to catch small fish 100 yards west of the garden centre!
Several Goldcrests & Treecreepers also seen & Gadwall & Teal on the filtration beds themselves.
A single Common Sandpiper on the Irwell near the Cliff.
Also on mown sports playing fields on the hairpin bend of the Irwell in this area between Lower Kersal and Higher Broughton and seen amongst the foraging Woodpigeons, corvids and gulls was a single Curlew!
Kingfisher showing well by the UoS sportsground Song Thrush singing by the footbridge between Peel Park & sportsground, also 2 Redwings c10 Goldeneye, c5 Tufted Duck & 1 Little Grebe along river
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Stephen Young found a Green Sandpiper on the Irwell just downstream from Agecroft Bridge yesterday whilst doing BirdAtlas survey work.
Steve
26th January.
Green Sandpiper still showing very well in same location this morning. Also just a few hundred yards from this bird on the Irwell were 2 Little Grebe, 4 Goosander (1m,3f) and 7 Goldeneye together (all females).
Just a shame that the sandpiper was in tetrad SD80A Lower Kersal and not in "mine" SD80B Prestwich, which I surveyed this morning.
November 27th about 9.30 am. Kingfisher from Victoria Bridge, Salford. Fishing from scrub below bridge old tax office side then moved under bridge to old bus station side.
-- Edited by Mike Noon on Friday 27th of November 2009 02:57:02 PM
3 Teal (2 drake), 2 Little Grebe, 2 Grey Wagtail, c50 Tufted Duck, 5 Mute Swans, c20 finches (prob Siskin) on River Irwell between Adelphi building and Castle Irwell
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fairbrother st am all as reported before but the swans had 2 juv (still in brownish moult)who got chased around a lot, a pair of little grebe were on this side of the river for a change but made a hasty retreat as the light changed,the kingfisher was spotted and posed nicley on a shopping trolley for a while.
after a complete dip at burnt edge(fogged out) i retreated to familiar ground, and was treated to three young swallows fresh from the nest being chastised by their parents for sitting within 10ft of me on the railings, a smashing morning well worth the wait.as well 30 footballs on riverall makes and sizes
all ducks and gulls present and correct 2 greywagtail 4 swallows (2 young having practice flights) 1 chiffchaff (mega this side of the river and still chiffchaffing)
back to normal this morning all waterfowl in place,
5 grey wagtail (3 young) 1 kingfisher 1 heron 2 swallow ?? 1 mallard with two ducklings (guess 14 days old) is this unusual also today 40 mistle thrush on the colgate building 15.00
50 b/h gull (probabley some meds and y/leg in there) 2 swallows on telephone lines 4 mute swans 1 mixed flock of birds containing at least 3 song thrush 4 great tit 6 blackbirds 2 robins (locals not happy with the invasion) 12 blue tits 2 greenfinch 6 goldfinch water level still down so hopes of waders still high cheers geoff
fairbrother st 7.00 usual suspects all present, 1 kingfisher 2 greywagtail 2 swallows water level has dropped by 2 ft exposing all the debris that the birds normally forage between,its not a pretty sit
fairbrother st, 7.30am 12 mallard 4 cormorant 4 coot 1 mute swan 1 little grebe 1 sparrowhawk 1 kingfisher 2 blckbird 2 wren 2 swallow the sparrow hawk didn,t see the kingfisher,i,m pretty sure the kingfisher is a resident somewhere between clippers quay and harry ramsdens,hopfully there are more than one.of note no canada geese present,the swallows appear to be feeding another brood,but its hard to confirm as nest is inaccesable. cheers geoff
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Monday 11th of February 2019 06:24:26 PM