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BACK TO THE MANCHESTER BIRDING WEBSITE HOMEPAGE -> Manchester Birding Forum -> Cheshire and The Wirral -> Winwick
Post Info TOPIC: Winwick
Jonathan Platt


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RE: Winwick
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Barrow Lane - 6.30-7.40am

Since the pair of Whitethroats nesting in the rape failed several weeks ago I haven't seen any on the lane, however, this morning there were at least two flitting around the bisecting hedgerow and the muck heap. I got another surprise when I walked through the bollards - a Grasshopper Warbler was reeling from the rape field. Presumably these warblers are migrants making their way south?

A pair of Grey Partridge have five well grown young, I saw them in flight the other day over the oat field, this morning they were loafing around on the edge of the lane.

There are fantastic numbers of Yellow Wagtails on the lane in the morning, I wasn't particularly early today but there were a dozen on the lane itself with easily as many in the potatoes and the new rape field at the SE end of the lane - the vast majority juveniles. By 7.00am however most of the juveniles had dispersed to wherever they go during the day, though there were still plenty of adults left - I had seven in the same scope view at one point. Several of these are carrying food so hopefully there will be more juveniles to come!

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Geoff Walton


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Three of us spent an hour on the Lane from 7.45pm

Much the same as Nick . Some Yellow Wagtails and Linnets on the Lane as well.
We had some good views though. I guess overall we must have seen around 25 in all.
No Skylarks for me, and single Swallow. I had not seen a Corn Bunting before, so that was nice.

Geoff

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Nick Isherwood


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Had a quick hour down Barrow Lane this evening from 7.45.

At least 15 Yellow Wagtails in and around the potato crop. Difficult to count exactly as birds popped in and out of view. One or two birds feeding on the bare strips of land too. Also of note were at least 3 Corn Buntings singing away, 2 Reed Buntings, several Linnets and Skylarks and a small passage of Swallows And Swifts.



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Jonathan Platt


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Barrow Lane 6.30-7.00am

There was what appeared to be a Channel Wagtail (distant, I only had binocs) on the lane this morning, in with a small, loose flock of five other male Yellow Wags. It was on a strip of bear earth along the south edge of the potato field, many wagtails are gathering here and on a similar strip at the north end at the moment.

Yesterday I counted 26 Yellow Wags leaving the potato field at dawn. I probably missed some as I sat in my car in thick mist for fifteen minutes when I first arrived! I stopped counting after thirty minutes or so as a few wagtails started to fly back in, though there were undoubtably more wagtails in the potaotoes that hadn't yet left.

Early morning or evening are the best times to see the wagtails, a few people have told me they've been during the day and seen very few in the blistering heat.

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Jonathan Platt


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Barrow Lane 6.00-7.00am

A small field at the south end of the lane was drilled last month, consequently the crop is only a few inches high at most (not sure yet what it is?). Up until today I'd seen the odd Skylark on it, but this morning 30-40 birds flushed as I walked along the lane - local birds or from further afield? A male Grey Partridge has taken up residence here too, hopefully he has a mate on eggs nearby. A couple of singing male Yellow Wagtails in the potatoes as usual, but only three or four on the muck heap. Instead, their were five Pied Wagtails, most I've seen here for some time. Large numbers of Linnets in the rape, along with smaller numbers of Goldfinch and Reed Buntings. Usual Corn Buntings rattling keys.

Later, I tried the lime heap down Main Lane again. No less than eleven Yellow Wags around or on the mound (8 juvs, 3 adults) with several others flying around. I walked up the lane towards Kenyon - another pair of Yellow Wags in the barley field.

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Pete Astles


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As Jonathan's post today but quite a few corn buntings about today

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Jonathan Platt


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Barrow Lane - 5.15-6.15am

Half a dozen juvenile Yellow Wagtails on the muck heap again, along with several adults who were flying in, collecting food then presumably flying off to their nests. Difficult to judge how many, most I had at any one time was three adults.

On my way to work I drove down Main Lane (farm track off Winwick Lane) and found more Yellow Wagtails. Five juveniles were perched up around a lime mound (always seems to attract wags, can only presume insects are easy pickings on them?) with several more birds flying around the area.

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Jonathan Platt


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Barrow Lane - 6.15-7.00am

At least six juvenile Yellow Wagtails on the muck heap this morning, and another four on the lane towards Parkside Road. Several adults about too, including three males singing from the potato field. Flock of 50+ Linnets feeding on the rape field along with a similar number of Tree Sparrows, though the flock is more fragmented. Plenty of juvenile Skylarks around but the adults aren't singing as much as a month ago. Several Corn Buntings singing too.

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Jonathan Platt


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barrow Lane
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Barrow Lane - 6.30-7.00am

A juvenile Yellow Wagtail was on the muck heap this morning, the first I've seen this year. I'm pretty sure this is probably the only juv. fledged by the pair that nested in the rape field. The Yellow Wagtails have now turned their attention to the potato field as the rape is probably too thick to nest in now. Two males were singing and squabbling here this morning, a little later I saw another male (or the same?) fly by with food in it's beak. The juvenile Tree Sparrow gang has increased to 20+, though the flock has fragmented somewhat since last week.

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Jonathan Platt


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A Skylark perched up on the oil-seed rape yesterday evening and gave a perfect mimic of a Yellow Wagtail's flight call, it certainly had me fooled for a few minutes! Three Curlew flying north were unusual for this time of year.

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Jonathan Platt


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Things may not be quite as gloomy as first they appeared last week on Barrow Lane. Visited yesterday evening, there were two Yellow Wagtails on the muck heap. Better still, a little further down the lane I spotted a female with food in her beak sitting atop the rape. A female Yellowhammer was foraging along the lane and flew off with a beakful of insects, and two juvenile Tree Sparrows were on the muck heap. This morning, though I heard several Yellow Wags I didn't see any in the rain. However, the Common Whitethroat was once more singing from it's usual bush, also saw three Reed Buntings (not seen since spraying), several Corn Buntings and a host of Skylarks.

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Nick Isherwood


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RE: Winwick
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JOHN TYMON wrote:

Nick Isherwood wrote:

Two Yellow Wagtails down Barrow Lane this evening. Probably same two birds that have been seen a lot lately. No other signs of any other Yellow Wagtails but it didn't help with some Petrolheads revving their cars just the other side of the barrier. They were also screaming up and down the lane on a miniature motorbike too.

Other notables were :

3 Corn Buntings
2 Reed Buntings
Several Skylarks singing and going about their business.
Several young Tree Sparrows flitting about around the rape.




I am starting to wonder is anywhere free of yobs these days ,I spent the weekend leaving places that used to be quiet retreats, that were full of groups with either motorbikes, beer bottles or just generally being aggressive to people ,god help us in 10 years. :(



I know what you mean John. Every time I go out birding these days I feel as if I've got one eye on the birds and the other looking out for yobs and idiots.

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JOHN TYMON


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Nick Isherwood wrote:

Two Yellow Wagtails down Barrow Lane this evening. Probably same two birds that have been seen a lot lately. No other signs of any other Yellow Wagtails but it didn't help with some Petrolheads revving their cars just the other side of the barrier. They were also screaming up and down the lane on a miniature motorbike too.

Other notables were :

3 Corn Buntings
2 Reed Buntings
Several Skylarks singing and going about their business.
Several young Tree Sparrows flitting about around the rape.




I am starting to wonder is anywhere free of yobs these days ,I spent the weekend leaving places that used to be quiet retreats, that were full of groups with either motorbikes, beer bottles or just generally being aggressive to people ,god help us in 10 years. :(

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Nick Isherwood


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Two Yellow Wagtails down Barrow Lane this evening. Probably same two birds that have been seen a lot lately. No other signs of any other Yellow Wagtails but it didn't help with some Petrolheads revving their cars just the other side of the barrier. They were also screaming up and down the lane on a miniature motorbike too.

Other notables were :

3 Corn Buntings
2 Reed Buntings
Several Skylarks singing and going about their business.
Several young Tree Sparrows flitting about around the rape.


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Lawrence Hindley


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2 yellow Wagtail possibly holding territory in Asparagus field opposite Kenyon hall farm.
I was picking the asparagus at the time so did not have my binoculars to check for other subspecies.
At least 2 Corn Bunting heard and a number of singing Skylark.
1 Grey Partridge
2 lapwing

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L Hindley
JOHN TYMON


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JOHN TYMON wrote:

JOHN TYMON wrote:

Barrow Lane
4-5pm
Yellow Wagtail-4 (no sign of either the Blue Headed from yesterday ,or the Black Headed Mega from the day before)
corn Bunting-1
smile




Same today



The farmer sprayed the rape fields either side of the lane the other day,now it seems the whitethroat and the breeding yellow wagtail have gone or moved.Its a shame that lovely fields become deserts for insects in the summer.cry

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Jonathan Platt


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Dolly's Bridge off Winwick Lane - 8.15-8.50pm

Two Corn Buntings flushed off a small area of bare earth by the footpath that runs towards Main Lane. Amazingly, just a minute later, by the hedge at the end of the field a much larger flock of Corn Buntings flushed, I counted them twice as they curved in an arc around me back towards Winwick Lane - 18 or 19 birds! I realise Corn Buntings are late nesters (peak egg-laying in late June), so perhaps it's not so surprising, particularly with such a late spring.

Later, I stood on Dolly's Bridge itself and counted 28 Long-tailed tits cross Winwick Lane, most of them bandit-masked juveniles. There were still at least half a dozen tits still in the trees of the railway embankment when the original birds started to return, so I gave up counting. A flock of well over thirty birds in all.

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JOHN TYMON


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JOHN TYMON wrote:

Barrow Lane
4-5pm
Yellow Wagtail-4 (no sign of either the Blue Headed from yesterday ,or the Black Headed Mega from the day before)
corn Bunting-1
smile




Same today

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JOHN TYMON


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Barrow Lane
4-5pm
Yellow Wagtail-4 (no sign of either the Blue Headed from yesterday ,or the Black Headed Mega from the day before)
corn Bunting-1
smile

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Jonathan Platt


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No sign of either wags after John left, but two Hobbies put in a brief appearance.

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Jonathan Platt


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That's a good suggestion John as the Black-headed Wagtail doesn't seem to be feeding in the immediate area, I know several birders looked for it yesterday.

No sign of the Black-headed Wagtail this morning, though there were 6-8 Yellow Wags knocking about the rape, plus the resident pair. There's been at least one male singing from the barley field at the south end of the lane, they're a beggar to see in there though as the barley's only a few inches tall so the Wags tend to sing from the ground rather than perching on the top of the barley.

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JOHN TYMON


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Barrow lane
2-3.30
Yellow Wagtail-7 or 8
Blue headed Wagtail-1 male-it was near the concrete bollards. (Black headed and Blue headed in the same field in 2 days ,that must be a good record :)
skylarks
linnet
Buzzard
smile



-- Edited by JOHN TYMON on Friday 31st of May 2013 05:28:01 PM

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JOHN TYMON


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Be worth a look at Houghton green pool for anyone passing to go to try and see the black headed wagtail as the edges of the pool are suitable for feeding and last week there were yellow wagtails on the north bank,and its only a short way from barrow lane as the crow flies,and the edges were full of insects last weekend.It must be going somewhere local in the daytime to feed,assuming its not paired up with a female normal yellow wagtail somewhere.
cheers John

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Jonathan Platt


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Barrow Lane
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Bumped into Kev Brown on the lane. Only the resident pair of Yellow Wagtails in the rape until around 8.20pm when at least half a dozen birds flew in, including the Black-headed. It landed briefly on top of the rape then took off and landed in a hollow in the field it had frequented yesterday. It didn't show again, neither did any of the other wags that had flown in.

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KEV BROWN


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RE: Winwick
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Thanks to the keen eyes of Jonathan Platt spotting it as it flew into Barrow Lane - the Black-headed Wagtail showed briefly at 8:20pm, only allowing us to scope it for 5 seconds before it disappeared into the rapeseed to roost! Fabulous bird.
Nice to finally put a name to the face Jonathan after all the times we have met in the field.
Also:-
Approx 6 Yellow Wagtails
1-2 Corn Buntings
1 Buzzard


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colin davies


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I called in on my way home from work at about 17:30. Two Yellow Wagtails, 2 Corn Buntings and a few Tree Sparrows, but no Black-headed Wagtail. Worth the stop though, nice selection of birds. I hope it reappears, they're great birds.



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Nick Isherwood


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John Williams wrote:


Yes it was indeed Nick, nice to meet you mate.




And you too John. Nice to put a name to a face.

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John Williams


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Yes it was indeed Nick, nice to meet you mate.

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John Williams
Nick Isherwood


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A quick hour late afternoon. Pretty much the same as Johns previous post. With the additions of 2 Buzzards, 2 Grey Partridges and reasonable numbers of Swifts moving through plus one House Martin. Several Tree Sparrows knocking about towards the farm too. Was that you I was talking to John when I arrived?

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John Williams


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Early P.M

A quick look along the lane looking for Jonathan's Black Headed Wagtail.

3 female Yellow Wagtails, 3 Corn Buntings, 1 Yellowhammer, 1 Reed Bunting, 1 Buzzard, 6 Lapwings and lots of Skylarks.

The Yellow Wagtails were usually flitting around the tops of Rape plants.

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Jonathan Platt


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Barrow Lane
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No sign of the Black-headed Wagtail this morning between 5.30-7.00am, though 6-8 Yellow Wagtails knocking about. There were at least twice that many yesterday evening so I'll try again this evening in case it's coming in to roost in the rape. Very dodgy digiscoped pic here:

https://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x154/saluki_j/Wildlife_2012/BH-Wag1_zps737a8c0e.jpg

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Jonathan Platt


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I found what looks like a Black-headed wagtail on the lane this evening around 8.00pm. It was still there at 9.00pm when I left. From Parkside Road walk down the lane, it was frequenting the area of rape between the first and the second small Hawthorn on the left. I've taken some digiscoped pics but the damned thing was facing into the wind all the time and all I've got is it's back! One pic may be okay though, I'll have a look tomorrow.

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Jonathan Platt


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Six Yellow Wagtails on the lane this morning - four in the oil-seed rape, two flying over the potato field. Three Corn Buntings singing - two from the bisecting hedge, one from the rape.

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DavidBowman


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Still six Wheatears this morning, Corn Bunting and Yellow Wagtails still looking settled, 7 singing Skylarks and 2 pairs of Grey Partridge.

Cheers David

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Jonathan Platt


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Barrow Lane
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Five singing Corn Buntings around the rape field to the NE of the lane this morning, with at least three (maybe five) Yellow Wagtails in the same field. Six Wheatear on the newly-planted potato field.

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Mike Baron


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The floods off Delph Lane are starting to dry up. The farmer came charging round, convinced I was trying to nick his horses. I must look a bit dodgy! After a more amiable chat, he commented he is looking to drain the floods permanently. The presence of a Schedule 1 species was pointed out to him. Also:

3 Redshanks
4 Oystercatchers
2 White Wagtails
2 Yellow Wagtails

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JOHN TYMON


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Barrow Lane
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PM
Wheatear-6
Yellow wagtail-1 pair
smile

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Jonathan Platt


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Seven Wheatear, including one Greenland-type male, mostly around the bottom hedge this morning. The Corn Buntings have taken to singing from the rapidly-growing rape and are more difficult to spot now, but there were at least three males there today. Four Golden Plover were by the bottom hedge, there were twenty one there on Wednesday. They're very difficult to spot but can usually be found on the old, grassy-covered plough by the hedgerow. A male Yellow Wagtail was also present on Wednesday, as was a flock of 100+ Linnets feeding over by the green cabin, still there this morning.

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Brian Baird


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A male Wheatear was present this afternoon in the ploughed field along Waterworks Lane.

Also one Green Sandpiper, two Redshank, two Oystercatchers and one Little Ringed Plover were in the flooded paddock at Delph Lane.



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Brian Baird


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A Green Sandpiper was flushed from Sankey Brook along Alder Lane behind the Fiddle pub

-- Edited by Brian Baird on Wednesday 17th of April 2013 08:18:51 PM

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Jonathan Platt


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Barrow Lane
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6.30-7.15am

A flock of sixteen Golden Plover on the potato field to the NE of the lane contained several fabulously summered-up males. Four Corn Buntings were singing around the bisecting hedge. A Redshank called several times from somewhere, try as I might I couldn't find it - the lane is not blessed with typical Redshank habitat so I presume it must have been in flight. Likewise, a Yellow Wagtail's explosive flight call was heard, but this bird too remained unseen. A large dead tabby feral cat lay in the field beside the layby, presumably the result of a late-night visit from lurcher men looking for foxes.

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Nick Isherwood


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A nice selection of waders on show this afternoon on the muddy pools in the horse paddock by Delph Lane.

At least nine Ringed or Little Ringed Plovers. Only had binoculars and views were a little obscured by trees but there were definitely at least two Little Ringed Plovers. Also two Redshanks, two Green Sandpipers an Oystercatcher and a Lapwing.

Worth keeping an eye on this location.

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Lawrence Hindley


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Barrow Lane


4 Corn Buntings singing on the bisecting hedge at 8.30am.
3 reed buntings
5+ Skylark
2 Lapwing

It was a glorious morning and the Buntings were out in force both here and Highfield Moss

Lawrence

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Jonathan Platt


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Barrow Lane
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Three Corn Bunting males singing from the NE section of the bisecting hedge this morning, with another singing from an isolated short length of the bottom hedge to the N. It's interesting that this particular part of the bisecting hedge is far and away the most popular spot in the entire area for the males to sing from. Yesterday the birds had appeared to have flocked up a little again, with six in the trees around Oven Back Farm and four on the stubble.

Other birds included a fly-by Grey Wagtail over Oven Back Farm, two Grey Partridge, seven Golden Plover in the oil-seed rape behind Parkside Road Farm and my first two Linnets of the year on the Lane. Two Brown Hares were also present.

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Jonathan Platt


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Winter temporarily returned this morning as the Corn Buntings were in a flock of nine, although one of them was singing. Another male was singing from the bottom hedge. Three Yellowhammers were also in the bisecting hedge.

The hedgerow by the Winwick Lane entrance to Barrow Lane has been covered in netting for twenty yards on either side of the entrance, I noticed some more netting opposite the entrance to Main Lane too. I presume this is to prevent birds nesting in the hedgerow, but I wonder what they're planning to do?

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Pete Astles


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Nice views of two corn buntings on the hedge in middle barrow lane today out in the sun. Good numbers of yellowhammer and reed bunting alongside them. Fields were full of skylarks.

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Nick Isherwood


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Green Sandpiper present on the flooded horse paddock off Delph Lane this afternoon. Spotted it from the van as I drove past and pulled up for a better look. Several Pied Wagtails also present.

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Jonathan Platt


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Barrow Lane
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6.45-7.20am

Five Corn Buntings perched on the bisecting hedge, looked like three males serenading a couple of females. Another male was singing from the bottom hedge. The bisecting hedge also held three Yellowhammers and a couple of Reed buntings. A single Golden Plover rose from the plough to the west of the lane, 100+ Fieldfare fed on the muck-strewn stubble and two Curlew flew NE as I walked back to my car.

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DavidBowman


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RE: Winwick
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A quiet day at home today after a busy one yesterday. It paid off though, delivering a second garden tick for the week After adding Brambling and Common Snipe earlier in the winter, and Waxwing on Tuesday, I finally managed to find Siskins on the feeders. That's now 76 species in or from the garden since February 2011. Wonder what's next? Not much common stuff left to get, so it could be a struggle!

Cheers David

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Pete Astles


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Back and too all day I think they are roosting at mydleton lane tonight so might be same position tomorrow.



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