Thanks to mike for reporting these.

Saw these about 3pm then took a walk down waterworks over the motorway and down barrow lane then back. The waxwings were back at mydleton lane about 4.30 pm so might be there again first thing with luck.

Not much about on the walk flock of around 30 tree sparrows and 2 buzzards on waterworks lane.

Nothing much at all on barrow lane and the farmers were hard at work ploughing the fields which might have had something to do with it.

Waxwings now in Rectory Lane

The Tree Sparrow flock in my garden (which backs onto the field to the east of Waterworks Lane) has now reached 35, my highest garden count.

Cheers David

Jonathan Platt wrote:

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4.00-5.00pm

There were seven male Reed Buntings, three Yellowhammers and five Corn Buntings in the bisecting hedge alongside the stubble this evening, one or two of the Corn Buntings were half-heartedly singing occasionally. A female Stonechat was hunting along the bottom hedge, flitting down to the muck heap to catch an insect every now and then. A Merlin flew in from the direction of Highfield Moss and perched distantly on the plough.

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Your Merlin sighting ties in nicely with the bird I had on Highfield Moss.

Having got a few days off work decided to have a nice walk in excellent weather to day, from Winwick up to parkside farm 1st vist to this site.
Spent about an hour viewing stubble field and hedge opposite farm
lots of chaffinch about 100 or so
3 Brambling 2 male 1 female
6 Yellow Hammers
1 Reed Bunting (male)
2 Corn Buntings
2 Stock Doves
5 Sky Larks

Then I headed along barrow lane towards Winwick lane
30+ Fieldfare in fields to the left a with a few starlings in with them
5 Stock doves again on the left but in next field
2 Crows with these
20 Lapwing far field on left again
1 Buzzard sat on post back of the far Field on left
3 singing Skylarks

Then a walk down sandy brow lane to croft
not a lot seen did find
2 Grey Partridge in small horse paddock on the left, I then
had a walk up lady lane to see if little owl was about no luck with the owl
but decided to find some were to sit and have a bite and drink befor long walk back to Winwick and bus home.
Was glad I did as whilst siting having my drink spotted large BOP flying from my left fairly high across footpath leading to abbey close croft, a quick look with bins soon had me putting the scope on to it
and my 1st thoughts were confirmed It a was female Goshawk heading east northeast I am thinking it was a 1st winter bird
but not sure on that but well happy to have spotted it.
All in all a good day out certainly will be back up that way soon (I have been around croft befor but not up to barrow lane very nice patch)

Four Stonechats on the rough ground opposite Radley Lane, first thing this morning.

Cheers David

A great visit early this morning on my way back from work in lovely conditions

2 Grey Partridge - in field opposite parking spot across from Parkside Farm
2 Brambling - feeding in the flooded stubble, amongst the multitude of Chaffinch in the next field. Also here were 4 Pied Wagtail and several Tree Sparrow.
30+ Fieldfare - in field adjacent to north end of Barrow Lane
8 Corn Bunting - on hedge that dissects Barrow Lane. This is becoming a more reliable spot than the 'Corn Bunting tree'. Also here, 2 male and 1 female Reed Bunting and 20+ Skylark.
No Yellowhammer, but Woodpigeon beyond count

JOHN TYMON wrote:

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Amazing how popular barrow lane has become since these recent postings,normally I am on my own when I call in ,today I couldn't park up as there were about 10 cars already there ,where there are normally none,amazing how rare corn buntings are now,that so many are travelling to see them,if thats what they were looking for :)

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There's been a lot of work going on at Parkside Farm recently John, there's usually half a dozen of their cars parked up at the top of Barrow Lane. I was there this afternoon and saw two birders - Bill from Risley Moss rambling off into the distance, and a guy from Chester called Joe. We counted 14 Corn Buntings, seven in the tree behind Parkside Farm and another seven on a distant hedgerow on the other side of Parkside Road. We also counted three Brambling but the finch flock was very distant, there were probably more. Plenty Yellowhammers around too.

Amazing how popular barrow lane has become since these recent postings,normally I am on my own when I call in ,today I couldn't park up as there were about 10 cars already there ,where there are normally none,amazing how rare corn buntings are now,that so many are travelling to see them,if thats what they were looking for :)

Waxwings -4 opposite the entrance to waterworks lane in winwick ,outside the shop
:)

Pete Astles wrote:

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What I propose is in Lancashire and merseysde we have Newton park header that covers barrow lane the fields by Kenyon farm west of winwick lane hermitage and the hermitsge woods and the land within parkside and the felds from hermitage to winwick.

It's a huge area with many public footpaths.

So all that area except highfield moss and winwick.

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I can see what you mean Pete, but if Ian's quite happy to leave as is then, personally, I am too. I only mentioned it as I felt a tad guilty about sticking Barrow Lane in the Winwick thread in the first place! There must be other threads where the problem of boundaries occurs (Horwich Moors springs to mind) and they seem to manage okay.

Rather than call it winwick and environs why not call it Newton park ?

That's its real name you can see it on multi map.

That would encompass barrow lane and hermitage and even the old parkside colliery land which although private land stil contains huge numbers of wildlife just we can't go there even though many do everyday. But it could cover everywhere other than highfield moss and winwick itself. That would seem to be a good catch all and if members wanted to find it they could see it in the map.

What do you think ?

I think its best not to get caught up in the potential confusion of out of county boundaries and given, for the purposes of this forum that sightings don't form any official records anyway, that these posts are fine in this thread

I'm happy to make this thread 'Winwick and environs' though

Yesterday there were 18 Corn Buntings, 34+ Yellowhammers, 200+ Chaffinches and 3 Bramblings here.

Higher level stewardship is being applied to the land by the farmer from Woodhead Farm who owns or leases the land. The patch opposite Parkside Farm was left for weeds and is now mostly Fat Hen. The Chaffinch flock is often feeding in here unseen - it also roves around a bit. There is also a 1 acre plot of uncut Barley (out of sight) behind the Corn Bunting tree which is attracting the birds here too. Consequently large numbers of finches and buntings can be present in the area but out of sight.

Just a reminder that this land is technically in Newton-Le-Willows - the Cheshire border is just the other side of Woodhead Farm.

-- Edited by Mike Baron on Wednesday 13th of February 2013 08:56:52 PM

Parkside Farm mixed finch and Bunting flock this afternoon 199 Chaffinches 9 Bramblings 22 Yellowhammers 8 Reed Buntings 6 Corn Buntings counts conservative Waterworks Lane 75+ Tree Sparrows 5 Yellowhammers 3 Grey Partridges Stock Dove

Waterworks Lane

50+ Tree Sparrow with a few Chaffinch and Greenfinch, in hedge near to old lay by
Buzzard, sat on a fence post
Jay, flew over field adjacent

Sadly no Yellowhammer or Grey Partridge which were my target birds.

Barrow Lane

120 Fieldfare on stubble field with a sprinkling of Starlings amongst them
7 Golden Plover also
A single Skylark singing in the gloom overhead

Sadly no Corn Bunting - my other target bird!

Ho hum

Checked our Waterworks Lane and the adjacent fields for an hour or so before lunch. Highlights were c.65 Tree Sparrows, 12 Yellowhammers, c.245 Fieldfares, 51 Redwings, 1 Mistle Thrush, 48 Chaffinches, 3 Common Buzzards and 1 Kestrel.

Cheers David

8.00-9.00am

More Yellowhammers around today but they were spread out on stubbles both sides of Parkside Road, also many more Chaffinches with at least two Brambling. In the lone tree to the east of Parkside Farm I counted 17 Corn Buntings.

Late afternoon walk out of the garden, across the field to Waterworks Lane, down the Lane and back. Nothing out of the ordinary but c.80 Tree Sparrows still present (20 feeding in the garden), 10 Yellowhammers, 25 Blackbirds, 13 Redwings, 3 Mistle Thrushes, 2 Common Buzzards, 2 Kestrels, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 1 Jay, 33 Chaffinches and 1 Pheasant.

Cheers David

Went for an afternoon walk from the garden, around the field at the back, which is immediately to the east of Waterworks Lane, then down the lane and back. Highlights were a male Peregrine trying to catch a Starling, c.80 Tree Sparrows, 5 Yellowhammers, 4 Reed Buntings, 3 Grey Partridges and a calling Nuthatch. Totals included:

Peregrine 1
Buzzard 3
Kestrel 2
Sparrowhawk 2
Tree Sparrow c80
House Sparrow 38
Yellowhammer 5
Reed Bunting 4
Grey Partridge 3
Nuthatch 1
Robin 14
Blackbird 36
Greenfinch 25
Song Thrush 2
Chaffinch 40
Wren 3
Jackdaw 14
Coal Tit 2
Collared Dove 25
Woodpigeon 150
Starling 73
Pied Wagtail 4
Great Tit 9
Blue Tit 13
Dunnock 2
Carrion Crow 6
Magpie 9

Cheers David

Got back last night from a week away, just in time to meet the snow Got up early this morning to find the feeders iin the garden almost empty, so refilled them, scattered a bit of ground seed and went off to Tescos with Em. When we got back the garden was heaving with birds. Spent a great couple of hours watching the following, all scoffing away:

Tree Sparrow 18
Brambling 3
Fieldfare 8
Redwing 3
Song Thrush 1
Blackbird 11
House Sparrow 14
Greenfinch 25
Chaffinch 35
Goldfinch 8
Coal Tit 1
Collared Dove 9
Wood Pigeon 2
Great Tit 3
Blue Tit 7
Wren 1
Robin 2
Dunnock 2
Sparrowhawk 1
Starling 6
Magpie 2

Cheers David

Time for another BTO Thrush Survey, covering the fields at Arbury, Peel Hall and the Radley Plantation. Two Siskins and 3 Goldcrests were noted along with 9 Blackbirds, 16 Redwings, 6 Song Thushes (all singing), 13 Fieldfares and 7 Mistle Thushes.

Cheers David

That's a really good record, Mike, I'll have to go and enjoy them myself when I get a minute.

Cheers David

Hi Mike, not bumped into you for a bit. Yes, the lane is jumping with birds at the moment - good to see some stubble fields being left for the winter! Had half-a-dozen Peregrine sightings, too, since I moved in Febuary 2011, along with regular Merlins last winter - they may have had a poor breeding season, along with a lot of other raptors.

Cheers David

A short but very productive walk out of the garden, across the field to Waterworks Lane, down the lane and back. I knew it was going to be good when 2 Snipe and 3 Meadow Pipits got up within thirty yards of leaving the garden The garden itself held 10 Blackbirds, 40 Chaffinches, 35 Greenfinches, 13 House Sparrows and 10 Collared Doves., though the Bramblings and Redwings seem to have moved on. Over at Waterworks Lane, 3 Grey Partridge and 3 Yellowhammers were with about 60 Tree Sparrows and a few Chaffinches. The stubbles immediately to the east of the lane were alive with birds. A mixed flock of Starlings and Linnets was moving around, with roughly 170 of the former and 55 of the latter. At the far end of the field a sizeable thrush flock was feeding nervously. When they flushed they were mainly Fieldfare (c.60) with maybe 15 Redwing and a similar number of Skylarks amongst them. Four Mistle Thrushes, 2 Song Thrushes and another 15 Blackbirds were encountered further down the lane. As for raptors, 2 each of Sparrowhawk, Kestrel and Buzzard was good but I'd expect a Merlin soon if the bird numbers hold up. They seem to be in short supply so far this winter. has anyone come across one in the Winwick area yet this winter?

Cheers David