Redstart M & F at back of res this afternoon

Good numbers of hirundines around the BT tower this evening

Sand Martin 250
Swallow 200
House martin 50
Swift 1

Yesterday l took my charges to the park and farm, where the Swallows were flying around very low in and out of the cow barn. From the fence you could easily see three young in the nest.

Again we visited and the young have fledged on to the outside of the barn, it was wonderful to see these delightful young birds, being fed and flitting nervously from one barn door to another.

Dunno what the children were doing but the birds were brilliant

Curlew flew west late evening

Greenshank present today -

An Osprey was picked up heading NW from the park this eve at about 19.15 it then carried on up the valley that the M66 runs up

105 Feildfare and 50+ Redwing around the horse paddock at the back of the res this morning. 5 Stock Dove and 10 Displaying Lapwing were in the newly ploughed field also.

19th March
80+ Redwing in trees by Heaton Park tram stop singing away amongst themselves.

-- Edited by Simon Johnson on Saturday 20th of March 2010 09:08:22 AM

Lots of activity in the trees by the St Margarets Road entrance this afternoon

Redwing 30
Blackbird 3
Great Tit 25
Blue Tit 20
Goldfinch 15
Chaffinch 10
and singles of GSW, Nuthatch & Jay

On and around the boating lake - 1.00 - 2.00 pm.

A nice assortment of wildfowl:-

7 Pochard (6 males),
4 Shoveler (2 males),
3 Teal (2 males),
11 Tufted Duck.

No grebes or Goosanders which was a bit of a surprise.

Also 4 Cormorants - 1 caught a decent sized fish and swallowed it but only after a brief skirmish with another Cormorant, that looked like it may have been trying to steal it!
1 Grey Wagtail.
1 Herring Gull.
8 typical Greylag Geese along, with 24 Embden types of various hues.

Really pleased to see a Chiffchaff feeding in silver birch trees with 3 Blue Tits. First time I have seen a wintering Chiffchaff! Strangely enough I had been reading about this species in this mornings section of Nature Notes in The Times. Link if interested is http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/court_and_social/article6955074.ece

In the surrounding woodlands - Treecreeper, Jay and Nuthatch.

Cheers,

Bill.

6 Whooper Swan SE @ 8.05

7.45-11am

Wigeon 3 North (male and 2 female)
Golden Plover south
Lapwing 17 south
Buzzard 2
Redwing 566 SE
Skylark south
Siskin 5 South
Chaffinch 41 SW
Starling 129 W-NW

Vis mig watch
7.25 - 10am - cold

Redwing 498 NW and 114 south
Fieldfare 90 NW
Starling 120 W-NW
Brambling 2 north
Cormorant 2 SW and 1 SE
Siskin 2 SE
Skylark 2 SE
Goldfinch 7 south

Sean Sweeney wrote:

---

Also, I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but Great Crested Grebe numbers have fallen on the boating lake this year. There used to be at least two pairs breeding, but not sure if any were successful this summer? Only two birds seem to be on the water most visits at present, compared to 8-10 in some previous years. They have not moved on to the reservoir either, so not sure if they have moved elsewhere or if a genuine decline in numbers has occurred?

---

Hi Sean,

I visited Heaton Park and the boating lake and on both 23/6 and on 14/7 of this year. On 23/6 there were two pairs of Great Crested Grebes on the boating lake and one adult from one of the pairs was feeding a single three-quarters grown young on that date. Have only visited twice this year, hoping to add some roving records for the 2007 -2011 BTO (and GM breeding!) Atlas project. No grebes - adults or juvs - were seen on 14/7.

Shameless plug to all GM birders! - don't forget that the third year (of four) of the atlas project starts on 1/11/09. So get stuck in!!! To pinch a catchphrase from one of our largest retailers - every little helps!

Best wishes,

Bill.

-- Edited by Bill Myerscough on Monday 12th of October 2009 06:49:38 PM

7.15 - 10.10am
rain stopped play just before 10

Redwing 569 W-SW-S
Fieldfare 5 NW
Song Thrush 2 SW
Mpipit 60 SW
Alba Wag 10 south
Swallow SW
Starling 35 west (several groups seen coming from out east)
Cormorant south
Snipe 2 south
Rook 6 SW (prob local but biggest group have seen here)
Reed Bunt 3 SW
Greenfinch 18 NE
Chaffinch 19 south
Shoveler 2 dropped in before going west

Present in park Peregrine male with prey, 2 spahawk - one chased Grey wag which escaped, flock of 21 Linnet and 13 Mistle Thrush

Vis Mig Watch
6.50 - 12.30 - did leave to go home at 9.15 but things picked up when fog lifted.

Swallow 294 SW
Mpipit 463 SW
Skylark 11 SW
Pinkfeet 37 west
Alba Wag 51 SW-S-SE
Grey Wag 3 south
Lapwing 60 SE
Buzzard 2 SE
Kestrel south - high
Greenfinch 31 NE
Redpoll south

In the Park 50 Swallow and 80 Mpipit blogging about, Green Woodpecker, Kestrel, 33 Mistle thrush and 35 Linnet


-- Edited by Simon Johnson on Sunday 27th of September 2009 07:17:09 PM

Vis Mig Watch
6.50-10.50am - excellent morning.

Pintail 3 south (eclipse drake & 2 fem/imm)
Meadow Pipit 542 S-SW
Skylark 9 SW (single flock)
Swallow 80 south
House Martin 120+ S-SE
Reed Bunt 16 SW
Grey Wag 2 south
Pied Wag 12 south
Siskin 3 SW
Linnet 13
Goldfinch 25 south
Woodpigeon 29 south
Redpoll 8 NW
Snipe west
Song Thrush 3 soutp

Also good raptor Passage
Hobby (juv) SW, Peregrine SW, Kestrel 2 (together) south + 1 present and a Spahawk South.

Elsewhere in park - Chiffchaff - still singing, Green , 3 GSW, Nuthatch and 40 Goldfinch

-- Edited by Simon Johnson on Friday 25th of September 2009 12:29:34 PM

Vis Mig watch 6.30-10am

Meadow Pipit 216 S-SW
Skylark 11 south one flock
Siskin SW
Swallow 28 south
Houe Martin 35 south
Grey Wag 10 south
Pied Wag 15 E-SE
Lawping 10 NW
Rook 2 SW
Linnet 15 south
Goldfinch 12 south
Reed Bunt 3 south
Cormorant 3 SE
Mistle Thrush 11 North
Song Thrush 2 south plus another 3 drop in from the north
Jay 16 SW - these were high birds coming down the valley from near Ramsbottom in flocks of 5,4,3,2 and 2 singles

Also Wheatear, Green Woodpecker, Chiffchaff, GSW, Nuthatch and Tree Creeper in park

Vis Mig Watch 6.30-8am

Mpipit 62 = 38 NW + 24 SW
Swallow 1 East + 5 SW
House Sparrow 3 high NE
Grey Wag 5 west
Reed Bunting 5 south
Siskin SW
Greenfinch 18 north

Kingfisher, 5 Teal, Goldeneye, Garden Warbler and White Wag in Park

-- Edited by Simon Johnson on Friday 11th of September 2009 09:00:50 PM

visible Migration watch 6.30-8am

Windy, sunshine and showers

Common Tern Juv flew south east @ 7.30am
Dunlin west @ 7.50am
Pied Wag 5 south

Lots of hirundines moving and again this evening being held up by the showers so feeding up and then powering south west when clearing.

Swallow 289 south west + another 100 present
House Martin 31 south west + another 20+ present
Sand Martin 47 south west + another 20+ Present

14th July.

The second season of official recording for the BTO and GM breeding atlases is coming to an end on the last day of July - thought would try and spend at bit of time wandering around the general area to see what was about. Maybe a touch late in the season to pick up much but....

2 separate family parties of Chiffchaffs were the highlight. The fledged young have a very distinctive begging/contact call (not unlike the flight calls of Siskin but shorter, sharper and less nasal and "whiny" in tone - 1 party had at least 3 juvs and the other party a minimum of 1 juv.
Adult male Chaffinch feeding 1 begging juvenile.
Terrific views of a recently fledged young Jay.
Juvenile Goldcrest.

Other confirmed breeders - Wren, Moorhen, Swallow, Greenfinch, Long-tailed Tit, Magpie, Carrion Crow and Robin.

On the boating lake - I know they are not the most popular of birds but two pairs of Embden Geese have bred - the first three goslings are now almost full grown but today there was one very cute, small gosling trailing after all of the adult birds and pleading to be fed - it got all of the attention (if not all of the bread!) from the assorted bread chuckers!

Cheers,

Bill.

GSW 4
Spahawk 3 inc pair displaying
Siskin NE
Mpipit 66 North
Cormorant North

Heaton Park early am

20+ Redpoll Flock containing what i believe were 1st winter Mealies at least 3 of them.
They were giving cracking views as they fed on the ground.

Would be good for any photographers out there to try and get to grips with them!
They were at the top of the hill were the horse paddock is between the tram stop entrance and the horticultral centre. There was also a noisey 250+ flock of Redwing in this area.



Also caught the back end of a flock of swans fly over heaton Park tram stop betwen 5-6 of them. But they went over the houses before getting a good look,

Vis Mig Watch 6.45-8am (very cold)

Redwing 311 several high groups sw-w-nw
Fieldfare 168 5 groups sw-w-nw
Chaffinch 18 N
Greenfinch 6 N
Woodpigeon 30 N
Starling 57 w & n
Lawping 76 east
Spahawk 2 s & 1 w

Had a quick look tonighht in this monsoon but didnt have much luck as most of the paths in the park were underwater and the roads were even worse. Water was pupming out from some under ground pipes along St Margarets Rd from within Heaton Park res and the raod was under about 10 inch of water and if carried on looked as though it could flood the houses!