still present this afternoon in corner from main path nr sewage works

still singing and hiding for an hour this afternoon, not seen from the mound

cheers geoff

still present this morning singing often between 8 and 12 but not showing

Present again this morning from 8.10 a.m. singing to right of mound. There was a period of about 20 mins of short bursts of song from the reeds just beyond where the channel disappears behind the clump of trees, then Riggers and I both saw a movement just over the tops of the reeds followed almost at once by a burst of song from along the other channel running diagonally out into the reedbed.(but not a good enough view for a tick).Things went quite until the bird moved off into the centre of the reedbed about 9.10 a.m. at whch point we left.

Nice to meet you Jimmy. Parakeet was last seen cricling over Isherwood Skip Hire at about 12:30pm. Also had 2 Ravens south over Pearsons at about 13:00.


-- Edited by Rob Thorpe at 13:55, 2007-12-30

-- Edited by Rob Thorpe at 13:56, 2007-12-30

still present, showing briefly to rob thorpe this am in south east corner, rob also had a ring-necked parakeet fly east over pearsons at 12:10

All info thanks to rob thorpe

Alan Warford wrote:

---

You have backed up my observations that the Cetti's does circles of the reedbed mainly in a clockwise direction. Can anyone else confirm this ?

---

I refer you to my post on the 30th November in this thread "while i was there the bird certainly did a little circuit of the reedbed", I might not have recognised that it was going clockwise but...

-- Edited by Ian McKerchar at 12:40, 2007-12-28

Mike/Mark

You have backed up my observations that the Cetti's does circles of the reedbed mainly in a clockwise direction. Can anyone else confirm this ?
This means it can be funnelled into the area to the right of small pool by telegraph pole, which is where I saw it.
It then has to cross pool giving 2nd viewing opportunity.

Alan

Thanks Alan. The bird did at least 1 circuit this morning: right of mound, left of mound, towards the sewage works, by the main track & back to right of mound so that pool may be a good place to intercept it.

Still present-but did not show(got a brief view of a bird flying into reedbed but couldnt be sure) Calling about every 20 minutes. Gave up all hope at 1010 when we got washed off 'Mckerchar's Mound' by the heavy rain

23/12/07

Cetti`s showed on a few occasions to several observers this morning, around the Sewage Works/barrier area.

(R.Adderley, B.Fielding, D.Lowe, P.Hammond, I.Woosey)

18/12/07

A half-hearted attempt at a song and a distant call at 14.30 was all that was on offer this afternoon.

called a little later in the afternoon, but not showing, unlike the bittern sulking in the reeds it tried to hide but it was ticked by me as my 200 bird for the county,oh yes no more watching reeds for the rest of this year.
hammy bittern was seen on the other side of the cettis site give us a call for better directions if you want will pm you my mobile.

Cetti's still present this am seen briefly near the mound and heard on and off upto 10.20 then went abit quiet.

Directions for Cetti's Warbler are as follows:


If walking from the canal, take the footpath along the former railway at the north end of Pearson's Flash and when you get near to the sewage works head towards the reedbeds at the back of the Flash. If you are looking from around the sewage works towards the former landfill, there is a broad 'causeway' of land between Pearson's Flash (to your right) and another area of reedbed (to your left) where the Cetti's is wintering. There is a black steel fence and kissing gate along here next to the reedbed. You can view the reedbed from all sides, either from near to the black fence, along a muddy footpath between the reeds and the sewage works (parallel to Ince Brook), or from the sewage works access track, which runs between the reedbed and Wigan Cemetery. Along this track the best viewing spot is roughly opposite the cemetery chapel. Off this track there is an informal route in to the willow scrub at the landfill end of the reedbed, from which there are several vantage points.

Alternatively, off Warrington Road, Lower Ince, take Cemetery Road. At the cemetery entrance the road swings left then right. Carry straight on past the stone yard. Take the first right at the end of the stone yard and park in the vicinity of two metal barriers. Walk through the right hand barrier, along the track next to the stone yard. This takes you along the back of the cemetery and to where I have described above.

Info taken from a Dave Broome post.



-- Edited by Ian McKerchar at 18:58, 2007-12-14

cettis only started singing today about 11.30 not asound before and not much after left about 1.30
no sightings of it and the bird was very quiet today for some reason when it did finally find its voice it was at the right hand side of the mound and then moved back into the reed bed without showing itself but on the good side saw a bittern 1st for the county

cetti's singing well this morning from centre of reedbed then after about a hour it came out and into the trees on the right hand side of the mound where it was doing its contact call seen briefly by allan rimmer who i was with but not by me as usual then it went back into the reeds but couldnt stop long today so back again tomorrow for another stint jimmy

Rather suprisingly, the Cetti's showed quite well today for myself and Geoff Hargreaves from around 12:30 (ish) to just after 2pm. Viewing from the 'mound' in the woods along the reedbed it began calling it's very distinctive, loud, sharp and rather mettalic 'chick' (my interpretation) call which it readily rolls into a rattle and it showed itself 4 times in 40 minutes.

After calling for the first time roughly in between the middle of the reedbed and ourselves on the mound, it somehow managed to get round us and appreared calling, 20 feet from us to the left of the mound in amongst the short yellow grass, giving some excellent views, it then covered 20 feet to our right without being seen and appeared right infront of us, then flew across the channel into the reedbed and disappeared. After calling some more on and off it re-appeared flying right past us low across the channel following the edge of the reeds, landed out of view called and gave it's only burst of song at very close range. This went on with the bird moving around infront of us without managing to be seen by us most of the time such is the speed with which it moved through the reeds. Also throughout our observations (and on subsequently checking those of others) it never appeared above a foot from the ground or water, keeping extremely low at all times.

After these sightings I am happier to believe there is only one Cetti's present, the manner in which it moves, extremely low to the ground, very quickly thorugh reeds without making then move and sway and the overall elusive nature of the bird can easily account for the distances it covers in such short times without being seen (as frustrating as that is). Clearly the best option to see the bird is a dry, windless day (it has been calling as has been seen well over the past 3 days now), standing on top of the mound, keeping very quiet and listening for it's call (and perhaps song, although if calling I have a feeling the bird is moving around more) but be aware of the speed with which it can travel and keep a close eye on the channel and area of reeds immediately all around the mound.

Seen very well today by it's original finder Dave Broome, fairly close to the embankment and well enough to be 99% sure it wasn't ringed.

Recent discussion (with Rob Adderley) have made us wonder if 2 birds aren't accounting for these sightings, the male singing away from the centre of the reedbed and another (female?) creeping around the edges and getting seen by those very fortunate few? Whilst this will be very difficult to prove, observers who have seen the bird have mentioned that after seeing it, it appeared to quickly move back to the centre of the reedbed across the open water (to continue singing) but has never been seen to do so. Observers visiting the site should therefore be mindful of the singing bird in the centre of the reedbed and perhaps another 'chacking' (or similar noises) and creeping around the edges, perhaps we'll get lucky and see one whilst hearing the other sing, it's as good as we can get to currently prove the existence of two birds.

After discussion with others on their lists it seems I should not add cettis therefore I cannot claim it as 199.:however with absolute bewilderment I could claim barnacle goose ( that apparently are all poo anyway) as my 199, but do not want a bracket tick on my list, so back out into the marshes watching reeds reeds seeing shadows of warblers and hoping for that elusive bittern
keep birding

sorry paul, forgot to mention you were there as well

just back from the reed bed, did hour and half reed watch cetti,s still hiding from view only heard it once

cheers geoff

Cetti's still singing well this morning and a Bittern over the same reedbed at 08:40am.

Info thanks to Brian Fielding.

It was singing occasionally 1245-1300 on Wednesday (5th Dec).

It's been mentioned in the local press http://www.wigantoday.net/wigan-news/Cetti39s-Warbler-arrives-in-Wigan.3556162.jp