Longsight Lane about 25 yards from the main road! Been here a couple of weeks apparently!

** Glossy Ibis ***

A Glossy Ibis was seen and photgraphed in the cheadle area yesterday found by Sam Harris GM Birder Long sight lane Cheadle Hulme 

(53.3571776, -2.1956912) are the coordinates given  if that helps anyone ..

Worth having a look around if your local or off work .

Keep Birding 

 

sorry thats all i have 

-- Edited by Paul Heaton on Thursday 13th of January 2022 08:05:13 AM

15 Ring-necked Parakeets in a tight flock NW over St Marys Way at 15.45.

Cheers, John

Peregrine circling fairly low over A6 and Stockport College late afternoon on my way back to depot, didnt look a particularly large individual so possibly a male ??

2 Dippers (1x Juv) in shallows just downstream of Woolpack bridge. Little Egret on river by horse field.

King St Bridge to Green bridge via Mersey Vale this morning. Dipper, kingfisher, usual warblers including a Lesser Whitethroat singing from the bank behind Mersey Vale orchard.

This particular Sand Martin colony has been prone to predation for many years now. I took these photos
in July 2012 and you can see the claw marks below the enlarged nest holes. The following summer the birds
moved to the bank opposite the Waterside car park, which they used, I think, up until the bank was reshaped
a couple of years ago. The artificial nest structure which was supposed to mitigate the destruction of the
natural nest site has failed miserably so far..

That's a good point. I've also felt that it's a poor nest site as the river can flood to the height of the nest holes even in summer. I had a look at the artificial nest site opposite the Waterside car park this morning. As you know it was put there some years ago when they were working on the gas pipeline and destroyed the large sandbank (well used by sand martins) on the south side of the river. There was no sign of any activity, as was the case when I have checked it several times this spring. Has anyone any record of it being used in previous years? I once tried to find out who was monitoring it.

Cheers for that Si, makes sense now, what a devastating thing to happen.
Cheers Chris and Roger too, very interesting that it could be multiple predatory attacks.

Hi Roger,

Thanks, that's a really interesting suggestion, there is a badger sett really near to the river that I'm aware of, and probably more elsewhere. It could explain the fact that this colony decimation seems to be quite a recent thing if it could be attributed to a combination of weather and predator rather than just the predator being there.

I didn't have any evidence of mink in any case, it was just what people were suggesting.

Cheers

Simon

Hi Rob,

Apologies if the post was cryptic, I hadn't thought about what I was writing properly at all.

Last year, obviously in the height of the first lockdown, I was making near daily visits to the Sand Martin colony from the beginning of April onwards. It was very enjoyable watching the birds digging holes and ultimately feeding chicks. Sadly by early May the neat small holes began to be destroyed on a systematic basis. Overnight instead of a functioning burrow you would have a massive hole 6-9 inches across with big gouge marks akin to where front paws would have been digging. At one point up to five pairs were feeding chicks at the nest mouth, which is a precursor to fledging I believe, but these holes were dug out as with every other. On a few occasions the remains of chicks were visible at the base of the river bank, along with the nest linings. The view of most people I've spoken to is that the likely cause is mink.

In some cases the birds persevered with these ruined burrows, in most cases they dug a new one. I even saw a couple that appeared to have managed a second brood. However, I don't think any chicks fledged in the end and the colony was abandoned by the end of July. I keep thinking that Sand Martins must have such predators as a normal challenge to their breeding, but the attacks were so relentless it was a bit gut-wrenching to be honest.

So today there were around 20 burrows being attended but 2 had already been dug out substantially as per last year, hence my gloomy comment.

Saw the goosander ducklings last week and very interested to know how they will survive. Is it mink that dig out the sand martin's nests?

I'm told that the 'motorway' is intended to replace the path along the river which will eventually be closed off due to erosion. That meadow is/was a significant cowslip meadow - the University of Latvia have it on their database.

A Blackcap, Chiffchaff, and a Greenfinch all singing in the vicinity of the car park at Matalan (Stockport) early afternoon as we were walking towards the doors.

37 species seen this morning between around 730 and 930. Amazing how busy the path is by mid-morning, where did these people go before?

My yearlist screamed past 60 species with Stock Dove and a pair of Mandarin at Cheadle Bridge. Some Fieldfare on the farm field were nice and a pair of Treecreepers showed well in the trees by the school playing fields

Hardly any gulls about, presume they have set off for breeding grounds somewhere. Nice to hear a couple of Mike's Chiffchaffs singing too

Originally posted by Nicholas Turner:

Apologies for the late posting but my approval to post has only just come through. Last Monday 15th March saw a Dipper at Cheadle Bridge, the first one I have seen here for a couple of years at least. Plus the usual ca. 10 Goosanders, Sparrowhawk, several Grey and Pied Wagtails, Stock Dove and male Blackcap.

Fabulous flock of 40 plus Redpoll late this morning whilst working on a garden on Cleveland Road. They only settled twice in the Silver Birch but it was only for thirty seconds maximum each time before they took off and headed towards the Golf course.

Tried as best as possible but could "only" get Lesser Redpoll within the flock however we are more than happy with this sighting literally on our doorstep. It also gives us GM bird number 58.

 

We watched six Redwing early this afternoon feeding on the Pyracantha berries at Green Lane Allotments. Their numbers locally appear to be far less than last autumn/winter. Just wondered if this was a trend?

 

I walked the stretch between the Manchester Road bridge and the rugby club on the way home from the supermarket. Absolutely overrun with people taking some exercise and the river still in spate.

However, 6 Goosander (2 males)
2 Little Grebe (pair ?) were a pleasant surprise.
10/12 Mallard
1 Song Thrush (at the junction of the riverside path and the path up to Green Pastures
3 Grey Wagtail
1 Pied Wagtail
A possible Reed Bunting about 20 yards beyond the fence towards the weir, but it was heading upstream into the area which is now completely quiet.
Various other bits n bobs

Simon Gough wrote:

---

Footpath closure is apparently for unspecified "footpath improvements", according to signage, for 8 weeks (!)

---

 Simon,

the local 4 Heatons Facebook page has a message from a local saying that she approached the guys setting up the barriers.  Apparently part of the footpath has started to subside (I think I know where) due to ero caused by the very high wate levels seen during the heavy rains.

It's a shme that part of the river is inaccessible but kudos to the council for being proactive 

Usual collection this morning: woodpecker, wagtails, goosanders, cormorant, etc. Must get down to Cheadle Bridge to look for the dipper.

But why have they closed off the section of the river path from Burnage Rugby Club to the Weir? And for how long?

Two Grey Wagtail this morning on the banks of the Mersey by the rugby club, very busy. 

The usual goosanders along the river this morning (7 female, 1 male). Woodpecker, long-tailed tits.

Bur a friend mailed me with the upsetting news that she had seen a male goodsander guarding a dead female near Simon's Bridge, Didsbury this morning. Does something like this need to be reported?

Advice would be welcome. Thankyou

On the river this morning, near horse field, group of seven female goosanders and one male (lucky guy!)

Large number of gulls along the river, unusually large I thought.

Near the pylon pond - flock of chaffinches, flock of long-tailed tits. Couple of jays.

 

2 Dipper today at Cheadle Bridge