The set aside to the west of the sewage works behind The Raven pub had 180 Linnet this morning in one flock,also several hundred Chaffinch,25+ Reed Bunting a few Yellowhammer and a single Brambling.On the sewage work tanks there were good numbers of Pied Wagtails and 2 Grey Wagtails with a few Fieldfare over.

-- Edited by pete berry on Wednesday 9th of January 2019 11:30:53 AM

They arrest them young these days *sigh*

Pink footed Geese - 70 east & then c150 back west

Swallows - 10 circling overhead & feeding

Chiffchaff - singing this morning

Common Buzzard - 5 circling overhead inc a white (from below) looking bird

Raven - 2 circling high overhead

Mixed tit/warbler flock - an amazing sight of over 100 hundred individuals moving quickly through trees at bottom of garden. First realised it was a sizeable flock 3 days ago, so when I heard them coming through today actually stopped & counted them!! A rough count was:

Long Tailed tits - 20+

Blue Tits 35+

Great Tit - 25+

Warblers - at least 10 but no chance of ID

Plus others among the jumble of birds!

A chilly walk up Withington Avenue to set aside & then to surrounding area & woodland.

Brambling - 30 in set aside & hedgerows with the following also flitting around the same area
Linnet - 6+
Yellowhammer - 4 (1m/3f)
Corn Bunting - 3
Reed Bunting - 3
Tree Sparrow - 2
Goldfinch - 8

Mistle Thrush - pair on adjacent fields
Nuthatch - 2 pair in woods
Long tailed Tit - pair building nest, very late & indicative of recent cold weather?

Hi Nige

its in my garden.

Otherwise you can usually see brambling, reed bunting, yellowhammer & tree sparrow at the far end of Withington Avenue (off north side of warrington road) on the set aside

Regards
Rob

The bird table has been of particular interest this winter so far. Just before Christmas and every day since the following have been appearing daily at the feeders

Brambling - up to 9 most days. Started with a single bird in December & then gradually increased since. Previous record was of a pair appearing briefly in the garden in 2011!
Siskin - 5 max to date. Normally only ever get the odd single bird in early spring as it passes through.
Bullfinch - up to 7 most days. Again only ever use to get the odd pair on rare occasions but now are regulars every day & sometimes on & off most of the day.
Goldfinch - 25 max to date but they do appear every year in good numbers.

In contrast

Greenfinch - only 2 records this winter, a single & then 2 briefly last week.
Chaffinch - between 2 - 6 some days

Bent lane and footpaths going out east & back again.

Kestrel - 2, looking to pair up with a lot of calling in flight from the female

Buzzard - 2

Pied Wagtail - 60, all around the horse paddock areas

Lapwing - 200 on muddy fields

Black headed Gulls - 150 with lapwing

Fieldfare - 50+ moving around the area

House Sparrow - 30+ in hedgerow along lane

Pink footed Geese - ca300. The flock was in a hollow on the east side of Holcroft lane and not easily seen from the road which is probably why they have been there mostly, since I last reported them on 31st December 2017. I must remember to take my scope
next time in case of anything else amongst them!

Pied Wagtail - 15 in sewage works
Kestrel - 1
Grey partridge - 2
Chaffinch - 20

Pink footed Geese - 300+ Hunkered down & resting in a depression in the field on the south side of the footpath leading to Crow Wood. The flock was not visible from Holcroft lane & there could have been more but not easy to see/count in the hollow!

Hi John

They continued to fly around the area for some 15' after being put up from local fields to the east by a light aircraft which kept circling the area during that time!

There's a large area of set-aside is just to the west of Glazebury Sewage Works,the strip of set-aside is at least 500m long and holds at least 1000 finches,mainly Chaffinch,but good numbers of Brambling in with them and smaller numbers of Reed Buntings etc.There were also approx. 500 Pink Footed Geese flying about just to the south,undoubtedly the birds that are frequenting the nearby mosses.To access this area park in road behind the Raven and walk south keeping the sewage works on your lhs.

100 + 150 + 150 Pink-footed Geese heading SE at dawn; probably over GM by the time they went out of sight

-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Sunday 12th of November 2017 05:45:48 PM

Pink footed geese - a single skein of 180 flying high to the east this morning
Peregrine Falcon - female low overhead & dropping down towards Silver Lane pools

A pleasant walk over farmland to the north of Withington Avenue this morning. At various intervals along the hedgerow.

Tree Sparrow - 30 -35 in single flock, my best count here for a while
Yellowhammer - 6
Reed Bunting - 10
Goldfinch - 20
Greenfinch - 2

Mistle Thrush - 2

Long tailed tit - 12
Nuthatch - 2 with tit flock

Woodpigeon - 200+ in single flock
Great spotted woodpecker - 1 near railway

Golden Plover - single bird circling & calling & eventually left south

y'day (4th Jan) N of Withington Ave, before railway underpass

2 big flocks of buntings: ~60 Yellowhammers, ~30 Reed Buntings, Chaffinches but no Bramblings or rare buntings. Also sev Redwings flying around

Pink footed geese - 250 flew west this afternoon. Again although not seen, quite a few also seem to come off local fields & went out east

c100 Lapwing around Franks Farm, Holcroft Lane this afternoon.

Originally posted today by Rob Smith:

Bent Lane - 15th December at dusk

An impressive 90+ House Sparrows into roost along hedgerow but no Tree Sparrows among them. Usually less than half of these here during the day.

30+ Pied Wagtail took off from the horse paddocks & headed south - roosting in Birchwood somewhere perhaps?

35 Pinkfooted geese flew S Culcheth then Risley at 09:20
12 Cormorants flew S Culcheth then Risley at 09:25

~110 Pinkfooted geese flew SE over Culcheth into GM at 09:40

-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Tuesday 10th of November 2015 12:03:59 PM

Originally posted today by John Watson:

~140 Pink-footed Geese going West over Culcheth 11:05 Friday 9 Oct

Finally caught up with a Corn Bunting on the wires outside Frank's Farm entrance yesterday morning around 7:30am after two previous unsuccessful visits. I also saw some Skylarks and Linnets, and four Grey Partridges which flew low over Holcroft Lane.

Originally posted by Dave Tennant today: -

A good number of swallow feeding low around shaw street playing fields culcheth this am, also great spotted woodpecker over.

Three Corn Buntings on the telephone wires down Holcroft Lane this evening. Also a family of Kestrels nearer to Glazebrook.

This afternoon:

2 Oystercatchers over together
At least 4 Buzzards riding the thermals (2 pairs)
A pair of kestrels hunting
A pair of pied wagtails
Sparrowhawk
A raven - very high up and riding the thermals
Lapwing displaying