11.25 -13.30

Bottom Res:
Canada Goose 2
Embden Goose 3
Mallard 8 (all males)

Top Res:
Mallard 1
Coot 2
Little Grebe 2

21 other species inc:
Willow Warbler 6 s
Chiffchaff 2 s
Blackcap 1 s
Swift a low level screaming party of 5
Jay 2
Mistle Thrush 1 juv
Great Spotted Woddpecker 1

Mike Chorley wrote:

---

13.30 -15.30

Top res:
Phesant (1 heard)

---

Was that a peasant or a pheasant that you heard, Mike?

Given that the top res appeared birdless when I got there 1 of ANYTHING was a good count!

I think the birds had figured out that it was warmer UNDER the water than on top of it. I'll have to head up there again when the icy blast in the wind tunnel has subsided to a mere gale and check again. Brrr

A blood-chilling Webs 12.35 -14.00

Bottom Reservoir:
Embden Goose 3
Canada Goose 3
Mooorhen 3
Mallard 10 (7 of which were males)

Top Reservoir:
Coot 2
Tufted Duck 4 (2 each m& f)
and, back from their winter hols at Lake Suttill
Little Grebe 2

plus:

Jackdaw 12
Woodpigeon 6 (minimum)
Carrion Crow 2
Magpie 3 to 5
Black-headed Gull 1(!) over
Lesser Black-backed Gull 12 along the edge of the valley
Goldfinch 3(heard only)
Greenfinch 1 display flight
Blue Tit 5 (minimum)
Great Tit 3 (minimum)
Mistle Thrush Pair
Fieldfare, c20 feeding in one of the top horse paddocks with
Starling c12
Robin 1
Blackbird 5 (4m)
Song Thrush 1
Wren 1
Siskin 1m





-- Edited by Mike Chorley on Sunday 10th of March 2013 03:56:58 PM

11.00
Water Rail

Sunday 16th December 11.35 - 13.55 (Webs)

Bottom Res (50% iced over):
Moorhen 1 Adult, 3 juv
Mallard 13
Embden Goose 3
Common Gull 2
Black-headed Gull 171

Top Res (25% iced over)
Moorhen 1
Black-headed Gull 60

Blue Tit 8
Robin 4
Magpie 6
Chaffinch 6
Goldfinch 24 mostly in larches along waterworks Road
Wood Pigeon 6
Jackdaw 3
Lesser Black-backed Gull 8 over in 1's and 2's
Great Tit 7
Coal Tit 3
Carrion Crow 3
Wren 2
Long-tailed Tit 5
Sparrowhawk 1
Great Spotted Woodpecker 1

11.25 - 13.30

Bottom Res:
Mallard 32
Embden Goose 3
Moorhen 2 juveniles, plus 3rd in the outflow to Golden Steps.
Black-headed Gull 32
Common Gull 1

Top Res:
Moorhen 2 adult
Coot 1 adult
Little Grebe 1 juvenile (looks like the others have decamped to Lake Suttill for the winter)

Magpie 10
Jackdaw 6 (minimum)
Woodpigeon 10
Carrion Crow 8 plus 2 overhead mobbing
Common Buzzard 1
Great Black-backed Gull 1 overhead
Lesser Black-backed Gull 10 overhead, mostly heading for High Moor Tip
Robin 8
Jay 1
Blue Tit 3 seen (several more heard)
Great Tit 2
Great Spotted Woodpecker 1 heard
Long-tailed Tit party heard doing a circuit of the site
Mistle Thrush 2
Meadow Pipit c20 in the western horse paddocks
Goldfinch 20
Chaffinch 2
Blackbird 1
Wren 2

-- Edited by Mike Chorley on Friday 16th of November 2012 08:42:16 PM

Sunday Sept 30th. 13.05 - 14.30

Very Quite

Bottom Res:
Mallard 28
Embden Goose 3
(later 2 juvenile Moorhen and 1 juvenile Grey Wagtail on the Golden Steps)

Top Res:
Tufted Duck 1m
Little Grebe 2
Coot 2

Best of the usuals:
Sparrowhawk 1f
Meadow Pipit 1 over (heard only 'invis'? mig)

11.35 - 13.05 A soggy slog in prolonged precipitation At least the Frog was probably enjoying the weather

Bottom res:
Mallard 28
Coot 1
Embden Goose 3

Top res:
Mallard 17
Tufted Duck 2m
Little Grebe 1
Coot 4, inc 2 juveniles (good job they're precocious water birds, as the nest is now submerged!)

Not a lot else, unsurprisingly
Song Thrush 2, having a sing off (but even they were under cover!)
Blackbird, Blackcap, Dunnock, Robin, Wren, Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff all in song, the last also giving contact calls.
Also Long-tailed Tit and Jay

Glad to help, Steve

The work on the new academy meant there was very little vehicular access to the site today, so quiet enough to hear the bumblebees foraging in the rhododendron flowers

Bottom Reservoir:
Mallard: 7 all drakes
Moorhen: 1
Embden Goose: 3

Top Reservoir:
Little Grebe: pair
Coot: pair
Canada Goose: pair

First Barn Swallows and Swifts of the year - up to 6 of each
Blackcap: 3 singing males
Green Woodpecker: 1 heard only
Starling: c12, flying to and from the hay meadow with beakfuls of food
Wren: 1 seen, carrying food, 6 more heard only
Chiffchaff: 2 minimum
Willow Warbler:6 minimum
Noticed something new (to me) with one of the Willow Warblers. The bird would raise its' wings, not quite shiver them and produce a thin, sharp call, almost like a stridulation. Before I saw the bird I thought it was either a grasshopper/cricket or a shrew. The bird was moving around in the branches doing this every few seconds for a minute or thw, then stopped and began singing. There was only a brief burst of song then it was back to the other display. It reminded me of the begging display I've seen used by female Robins just prior to mating.

Probable Common Buzzard, Bishop's Park area.
Large, fairly broad winged bird of prey heading n.w. at 13.35, quite low. The flight seemed quite ponderous, with very short glides between periods of flapping. Seemed to catch and eat something (large insect) in flight. Unfortunately poor light and distance made it difficult to pick out any detail

11.50 -14.40. Not exactly warm, but dry and sunny

As this wasn't a Webs visit there was a nice wildfowl record! 18
Bottom Res:
Canada Goose: 18
Emben Goose: 3
Mallard: 3 - all males
Moorhen: 1
Coot: 1 (although when the Coot got too close to the Moorhen, rather surprisingly, it was Moorhen 1 Coot 0 )

Top Res:
Coot: 3
Little Grebe: 2 (pair)
Moorhen: 1
Canada Goose: 3 (probably in addition to the 18 on Bottom Res, but, when they disappeared and I re-checked Bottom Res there were only 16 in total)

Also 3 Mallard (f, 2m) paddling in one of the horse paddocks above Top Res.

Best of the rest:

Willow Warbler: 3 singing
ChiffChaff: 1 singing
Blackcap: 1 singing
Wren: 2 singing
Long-tailed Tit: 2+ pairs
Coal Tit: 1
Reed Bunting: M+F
Redwing: c12
Song Thrush: 1 singing (but the most unusual song I've ever heard from one. The double repetition meant that it must have been a Song Thrush, but I didn't recognise many of the usual phrases of these birds' song)

Plants, Mammals etc on t'other thread


-- Edited by Mike Chorley on Tuesday 10th of April 2012 10:44:18 PM

Webs. 12.05 -1.30

Very slippery underfoot, but, apart from the odd Jack Douglas impersonation, made it round unscathed

Bottom Res:
100 % iced over. The ice was thick enough to support a potential Darwin Award Winner and his child. Standing on the ice isn't a brilliant move, but kicking holes in it to test the thickness...

Bottom Res. Inflow:
Mallard c50
Embden Goose 3

Top Res:
Almost 100% iced over.
Moorhen 2 foraging around the benches at the viewpoint.

Best of the other 13 species seen:
Long-tailed Tit 4
Bullfinch 4 (inc 1 M)

Good passage of Lesser Black-backed Gulls over en route to High Moss

Had a walk round both reservoirs this morning 10:30ish, still pretty windy. Not really much happening, highlight being 20ish Long Tailed Tits skitting about in the trees by the path down between the two res.

5 Coot (2 lower, 3 upper)
Numerous Mallard
3 Embden Geese
50+ Black Headed Gulls (I think they were all BHG, not brilliant yet with Gulls)
3 Robin
Numerous Magpie
Several Carrion Crow

December Webs, so, unsurprisingly, it had snowed and the reservoirs were 95% frozen

Bottom Res:
Malllard C20 ( some lurking in the reeds)
Embden Goose 3
Black-headed Gull 18

Top Res:
Mallard 40
Coot 2
Moorhen 2
Grey Heron 1
Black-headed Gull 1

The best December count on the top res for several years.

Best of the other 16 species seen:
Treecreeper 1 in the old mixed copse on the west side of top res dam
Bullfinch 7 minimum (a group of 7 - 4m3F by the old mixed copse, 2M on Holgate St)
Sparrowhawk 1Male hunting the culvert leading to the top of Golden Steps

Other wildlife on the appropriate thread

No sign of any Little Grebes, Steve, but one of the regulars heard them at the start of the month. As she said 'It's not a call you could misidentify'.

Mike Chorley wrote:

---

Looking back down the thread...

---

Now why didn't I think to do that? Thanks Mike

Steve

Have your Little Grebes all left, Mike?

Would be interesting to know, as Riggers and I both found them at Royal George in Greenfield last week. Seem to remember a similar pattern last year.

Cheers, Steve

The Rhododendron Chainsaw Massacre alongside the Golden Steps has improved that area, just needs the same enthusiasm applying to the birches and willows blocking the view from the viewpoint! Also, initially, just one man and his dog.

Hear hear!

-- Edited by JamieDunning on Monday 17th of October 2011 11:14:00 PM

Little Owl on barn above usual wall. Not seen in the area for a long time. Also spotted Mike Chorley

Forgot the Tufted Duck from Tuesday. Back down to 3 again from last month's peak of 6 (site record - for me at least). Then again, only half the number of Mallard so maybe the rest are all keping out of sight while they finish moulting.

Spotted Flycatcher early afternoon near inlet on Upper reservoir (info M.Chorley) but there was no sign of it by 1530hrs

12.35 - 15.05

More like March or October with the strong winds, but surprisingly dry.

Bottom Res:
Mallard 7 all males
Embden Goose 3
Moorhen 1

Top Res:
Little Grebe 2
Moorhen 1
Coot 2
Tufted Duck M & F

Also:

Willow Warbler 7 S
ChiffChaff 2 S
Blackcap 4 S
Robin 2 S and 2 juv heard
Greater-spotted Woodpecker 1 adult female with food (FF) and juv heard in nest.
Reed Bunting 1 S
Song Thrush 1 S
Bullfinch 2 F
Chaffinch 1 S
Greenfinch 1 S
Goldfinch 6 inc 1 S
Blue Tit 7 inc 1 with food (FF)
Grey Wagtail 4 at least inc 2 juvs together and 1 adult male. There was a lot of chasing about involving 2 or 3 birds around Golden Steps, while the male was feeding a juv. Later there were the 2 juvs and another bird (only glimpsed) at the top of the steps followed by another chase not involving the juvs. Possibly two families interacting.

Overhead:
Swallow 8 minimum
Swift 3
Starlings several, some with food (FF)


plus usuals

Popped up here for 'lunch hour' today - 10.50 a.m. to 13.10 p.m.

Lower Res.
Mallard 10
Embden goose 3
Canada Goose 6 (3 pairs)
Moorhen 2 (poss a pair. Birds at either end of the res when I arrived, but two at outflow end later. Maybe they'd had a tiff and made up)

Top Res.
Tufted Duck 1m
Moorhen 2
Coot 3 (usual 'handbags' over who has which bit of the res)
Little Grebe 1!(couldn't see a label saying 'if found please return to S. Suttill but..)

Best of the rest:
Song Thrush 1 in good voice
Goldcrest 1 singing
Skylark 1 singing
Chiffchaff 2 singing - probably on their way to Bill M at Piethorn
Grey Wagtail 1m - Golden Steps
Common Buzzard 1 -being mobbed by 2 Lesser Black-backs, which suddenly left when
Peregrine 1 arrived - or maybe it was the 2nd Buzzard

Wildlife sightings on t'other Forum

-- Edited by Mike Chorley on Tuesday 29th of March 2011 12:47:53 AM

Another wet Webs!

Bottom reservoir

Mallard 24
Moorhen 2
Black-headed Gull 92
Embden Goose 3


Top reservoir
Mallard 7
Moorhen 1
Coot 1
Goosander 2 (m&f) - seem to be regular here in February

Best of the usuals

Long-tailed Tit 6+
Jay 1