Quick visit to Sunbank Lane shortly before dusk along with Henry Cook.
The conditions seemed perfect tonight, so I decided that I wanted to try for an Owl species of some sort for my Borough year list.
After heading back to the car in semi-darkness and seemingly "Owl-less" with not even a hint of a calling Tawny, suddenly a Little Owl flew onto a fence post only feet away from the car at the roadside, before disapearing off into the surrounding fields.
A patch first and a Manchester Borough lifer at the same time!
Also, a Moorhen roosting in a small pondside tree, a probable Goosander fly-over and 15 or so Pied Wagtails heading to roost.
80 Pink-footed Geese heading SW Lot of bird activity in Sunbank Wood - Coal Tit (not seen this for a while here) Blue,Great and Long-tailed Tits Nuthatch Treecreeper GS Woodpecker Jay
Another tale from Monarch hangar. On Friday on arriving in work at 06.15 their was a Meadow Pipit inside the Hangar with a few spiders in its beak,I opened the Hangar doors and out it flew,Today getting to work at the same time,blieve it or not,another Meadow Pipit in the Hangar,it may have been the same bird that came back I dont know,Again I opened the doors but this time It didnt want to leave,I left the doors open for about an hour untill security told me to close them. I didnt see the bird again so hopfully it got out. I hope it does not come back as its a very dangerous place for a bird.
young Swallow flew into Monarch Hangar window this afternoon,Lay there motionless,had to move it out of Danger, so put it in a cardboard box,It didnt move for over an hour,then took it outside it smelt the fresh winds,flapped its wings,so I launched it and it flew away like a rocket. Made me feel Great.Happy journey home for both of us.
1 Red-legged Partridge 20+ Swallows on the wires Lot of shooting to the south so hundreds of Woodpigeon in the air Chiffchaff Bullfinch - first time I've seen them here
60+ Swallows mainly juvs around Aircraft Hangars this Morning. 2 Willow Warblers on fence and ground next to Fire Station. 4 Linnet back of Monarch Hangar. Kestrel catching something,looked like a Pied Wagtail
Well, I couldn't get a proven non feral UK immature Greater Flamingo past BOURC (due to not being able to prove it hadn't come from a private collection on the Continent, see the full article on the 'county rarity accounts' page on the website) so a mid-summer adult Lesser hasn't a cat in hells chance
No chance it could even go on my Manchester Borough List either unless Ian decides to change the rules??
Well, I couldn't get a proven non feral UK immature Greater Flamingo past BOURC (due to not being able to prove it hadn't come from a private collection on the Continent, see the full article on the 'county rarity accounts' page on the website) so a mid-summer adult Lesser hasn't a cat in hells chance
It seems (according to the Metro news) that a Lesser Flamingo turned up on the grass of the airport on Sunday evening and closed a runway for four hours in Monday due to it strutting around the actual runway!
Thanks to Kane Brides for the 'heads up'.
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Tuesday 5th of July 2011 05:25:14 PM
18/06/2011 - 6-7pm - Sunbank Lane area with Phil Owen:
2 Curlews - bubbling call heard, please stay well clear if walking through the fields as they were pretty flighty tonight 6+ Linnets - including juvs 3 Common Whitethroats 8 Swifts 20+ Swallows - including the first brood on the wing
Quick (and first) visit to Sunbank Lane area this afternoon, whilst passing on M56 -
Hundreds of Swallows. 1 Red-legged Partridge - year first. 3 Buzzards - 1 dropping into trees in distance. 5 or 6 Linnets - including what could have been 3 or 4 juveniles. 2 Curlews. 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker calling in distance from Sunbank Wood. Plenty of Blue Tits, Great Tits, Chaffinch, Greenfinch and Goldfinch with many juveniles of each.
2 Grey Partridge still there - keeping low in the wind Swift & Swallow zooming along the hedges Common Whitethroat Starlings amongst the cows (and big bull !) 2 House Sparrows by duck pond
errrrr...... well, 99.99% - they could of course have been red-legged partridge's wearing orange masks. For guide they were to the west side of the field about 10 metres from the hedge, a third of the way out across the field, though I guess they may have moved by now. One kept crouched low down (maybe a stealth partridge) the other very upright - must have been either on guard duty or had left his periscope at home.
I too had only seen red legged (partridge) there before actually.
Had a quick look around on te hway home from work last week - 2 Grey Partridge in the first field on the corner (by the pull over spot next to the tree)
Dodging the showers with Phil Owen this afternoon round Sunbank Lane
Mallard with young on pool in Sunbank Wood Swift, Swallow, House Martin Pied Wagtail GS Woodpecker Lesser Whitethroat Common Whitethroat Chiffchaff Blackcap Jay
Pleasant walk this afternoon with my brother Dave and the 2 dogs:
1 Lesser Whitethroat still singing away amongst the usuals.
Apparently there are still some Tree Sparrows just about hanging on in the area,according to the farmer who I had a good chat with and who seemed to know his stuff.
I'll keep searching the patch!!
Afterwards over to The Romper for a nice afternoon pint
-- Edited by Phil Owen on Saturday 21st of May 2011 11:12:07 PM
2 Red-legged Partridge Pied Wagtail (no Yellow ) 10 Swift 12 House Martin 10 Swallow No sight or sound of Cuckoo Linnet (pair) Lesser Whitethroat - Cotterill Clough House Sparrows hiding in hedge pretending to be Tree Sparrows
Had a walk around all Hangars this afternoon observing the Starlings and Swallows, Found 8 Starling nests and 4 Swallow nests in the process of being built. Also Magpie nest being attacked by a Crow,Magpies could do nothing about it.
While doing my Daily feed to my group of Starlings 20+,the one with a silver ring on its right leg turned up again,it was limping as though the ring was causing pain,The ring was low down resting on the foot.
-- Edited by Charles Coutts on Thursday 12th of May 2011 07:59:14 PM
11/05/2011 - Did my Breeding Bird Survey tetrad of Sunbank Wood upto Sunbank Lane and round to Cotterill Clough and a few other out of tetrad spots. The Cuckoo was still present, singing briefly from Cotterill Clough, no sign of Phil's Yellow Wagtail though, also seen were:
1 Yellow Wagtail (finally managed to locate the bird feeding amongst the cattle after hearing it several times on arrival, a site tick which I have been keeping my eye out for) 2 Pied Wagtails 6 House Martins 4 Swifts 1 Linnet 4 House Sparrows
06:45 2 Oystercathers again landing on Servisair roof staying 5 minutes before flying off; Does anyone know why they do this,No sign of them nesting anywhere.
19/04/11 1600hrs - 18-00hrs R2 Tunnel and environs
1 willow warbler 4 grey wagtail 3 gold finch chiffchaff (double figures, sounds like a different one every 50yards as there is so many) 1 kestrel (m) 3 skylark 2 oyster catchers 2 resident buzzard (circling above R2 about 50ft from the ground. At 1730hrs, they were nearly taken out by the incoming Belgian prop plane, don't know how they weren't.
2 Ravens flew over, flew across from Styal area,loud cronkin to each other,then caught the thermals around Sunbank Wood area and had a good glide around at 16:30
4 Oystercatchers circling Airport at 07:30,flew off towards Knutsford 2 Ostercatchers,the local ones flew in from Cargo area and landed on Servisair roof again at 09:30,but only stayed a few minutes before heading over runway towards Styal
birds seen from the Viewing Park, now known as Runways, I think.
Buzzard 1 Swallow 2 quickly through north. Sand Martin 2 separate singles as above. Oystercatcher 2 in front of viewing mound for a short while. Linnets. Starlings. Pied Wagtail 1 Kestrel 1f etc.