12-2pm trek past Arnfield Farm direction and finally over to Swallows Wood (got lost thanks to bad directions!) Common buzzard mixed flock of thrushes, crows blue tits flock of long tailed tits, moorhen, mallard, grey wagtail, grey heron, blackbirds Paths in wood quite damage from storm last week.
c 83 Meadow Pipit over. Going through constantly in dribs & drabs. c 33 Goldfinch. c 9 Greenfinch. Large party of Tits ...... Great, Blue & Long-tailed.
Roger
__________________
Blessed is the man who expecteth little reward ..... for he shall seldom be disappointed.
Two pair of lapwing displaying. One pair in field with the pylons, the other in field with the telegraph poles. Occassional aerial dispute when they met in No Mans Land.
Roger.
__________________
Blessed is the man who expecteth little reward ..... for he shall seldom be disappointed.
Mixed flock of Fieldfare and Starling 60-100 7 unidentified waders flew over already specks when I saw them 1 Lapwing displaying near Hard Times Farm 2 Linnets Nuthatch
Hollingworth Hall Farm/Cow Lane (top part)
Nuthatches everywhere Pied Wagtail (pair) Song Thrush (pair) Sparrowhawk (female) mobbed by Crow c100 Fieldfare (different flock to previous) Mixed flock of Tits, Chaffinches, Nuthatches feeding on the ground in wood, didn't appear to be any Brambling, but couldn't see whole flock
Swallows Wood
2 GS Woodpeckers having a "drum off" More Nuthatches
Mixed flock of 200-250 Fieldfare and Starling with 1 Redwing
Swallows Wood
Nuthatch Treecreeper c80 Fieldfare Male Sparrowhawk causing havoc with the Fieldfares Male Peregrine just overhead Buzzard flew over and into Derbyshire
1 Curlew heard only, probably passing through
-- Edited by Karen Foulkes on Wednesday 16th of February 2011 08:07:27 PM
Weather: Cold and sunny with ground frost light cloud and a biteing breeze.
Sat 29/01/2011 11:45 - 17:00
Hollingworth to Millbrook via Swallow Wood, Higher Swineshaw Reservoir and Hobson Moor Trigg Point.
Hollingworth to Swallow Wood
Great Spotted Woodpecker , Long-tailed Tit and Nuthatch.
Swallow Wood: Pond part frozen (Derbyshire side)
Mallard single Coot and Moorhen in Greater Manchester. Siskin over the boundary just. Female Bullfinch Blue Tit, Great Tit and Great Spotted Woodpecker calling, Woodpigeon, Magpie Carrion Crow.
Swallow Wood to Swineshaw Reservoir
Jay, Kestrel, Carron Crow: Very quiet but great veiws towards Glossop and the high moors. Nothing appeared to be on any of the reservoir's but, I was veiwing from quite away above them.
Hobson Moor
Distant calls from Grouse and almost nothing except Carron Crows and the setting sun. Twilight was starting to fall as I walked through the Brushes Nature Reserve. Only thing of note were Canada Geese and Mallard on the mainly frozen Pond.
Heads up David
-- Edited by David Bramhall on Sunday 30th of January 2011 10:54:15 AM
-- Edited by David Bramhall on Sunday 30th of January 2011 11:00:07 AM
-- Edited by David Bramhall on Sunday 30th of January 2011 11:01:46 AM
2 Red Grouse by the footpath which runs behind Higher Lanslow Green Farm, a little out of place but did fly back towards the moorland 40 Redwing (checked very carefully) c8 Nuthatch seen and calling between Mottram Road and Swallows Wood 2 Bullfinch 1 G S Woodpecker 1 Pheasant
Little Owl Nuthatch - several around, both calling and seen Fieldfare - 4 at the top of a tree along the road Bullfinch - 2 male 1 female 2 Pheasant Plus usual suspects
c 73 Brambling flying up off the ground plus more in surrounding trees. Definately more than 100 birds altogether.Did not notice any Chaffinches with them. All in the last stand of Beeches on left-hand side Hobson Moor Rd, past Hollingworth Hall Farm......just before the road runs out and changes into a track over the moor.
Also 5 Greenfinches (Higher Landslow Green Farm). Coal, Blue & Great Tits. 2 Nuthatches (Landslow Green Farm). 1 Bullfinch. 6 Redwing in the hedges. 1 Jay.
6 Brambling flew from the hedge into the big Beeches at Higher Landslow Green Farm on the way back
Roger.
-- Edited by Roger Baker 3 on Thursday 11th of November 2010 05:34:02 PM
-- Edited by Roger Baker 3 on Thursday 11th of November 2010 05:56:49 PM
__________________
Blessed is the man who expecteth little reward ..... for he shall seldom be disappointed.
C10 Brambling possibly more near Higher Landslow Green Farm in trees either side of the road on bend. Birds were in a mixed flock which also contained Chaffinch, Blue and Great Tit. They were feeding on beech mast and after waiting 15 minutes I saw several on the road. I never saw the full flock so was unable to ascertain exactly how many birds there were in total, but I did see 7 Brambling at the same time and then a darker winter male bird
Four flocks of Fieldfare with several Redwing through
Flock 1 25 birds (7 Redwing) Flock 2 75 birds (all looked like Fieldfare) Flock 3 approx 100 birds (again all looked like Fieldfare) Flock 4 at least 70 birds
4 Chaffinches Bullfinch heard but not seen. 1 hen Pheasant. 5 Fieldfare over. 1 Redwing over. 2 Pied wagtails over. Small flock (7) of Meadow Pipits on top of moor.
Roger.
__________________
Blessed is the man who expecteth little reward ..... for he shall seldom be disappointed.
7 Fieldfare feeding under pylons........very skittish...soon left. 3 Mistle Thrush poking about in some mole-hills. 101 Fieldfare over (63+25+13) the 63 actually turned and dropped to join the Mistle Thrushes but a distant bang after about a minute sent them up again. Headed off over moor towards Brushes.
Roger
__________________
Blessed is the man who expecteth little reward ..... for he shall seldom be disappointed.
12 fieldfare over flying NW 1 redwing, initially in a tree but flew off NW 1 female bullfinch 1 female kestrel blue tit great tit chaffinch blackbird dunnock robin goldcrest plenty of carrion crow and wood pigeon 1 jay magpie 1 little owl
phil - little owl are relatively common in the area. I usually see tem if I walk up to lees hill from hollingworth hall farm. However, the two I have seen recently are on the road between hobson moor quarry and hollingworth hall farm.
Walked from Mottram Road to Swallows Wood and back again this afternoon.
2 Grey Partridge this afternoon on Hobson Moor Road, a bird which apparently has been scarce in the area in recent years Over 200 Fieldfare in 3 flocks with a few Redwing thrown in, first of autumn Nuthatch near Hollingworth Hall Farm and Bullfinch calling Also GS Woodpecker in the area
Jay and Nuthatch in Swallows Wood. Huge numbers of Woodpigeon flew from Swallows Wood as I was leaving, someone was shooting in the area.
Sadly my bogey bird is continuing to evade me and contriving to drive me even madder than I already am!
-- Edited by Karen Foulkes on Saturday 16th of October 2010 06:38:23 PM
spent the majority of the day wandering along side Hobson Moor, down into Swallows Wood, up onto Swineshaw Reservoirs and back down through Stalybridge Country Park. Pretty good day.
Usual assortment of finches along side Hobson Moor plus a Nutchatch at Hollingworth Hall Farm.
Swallow Wood held the usual suspects, i.e. woodpecker, blue, great, coal and LT tits. I found a garden warbler and a lesser redpoll by the old mill pond but unfortunately they were both both the wrong side of the boundary by less then 10 metres! fortunately the garden warbler did the decent thing and crossed over for a short time (borough tick) before moving back over! No flycatchers though!
One buzzard over Swallow Wood with another over Upper Swineshaw reservoir, which also held loads of meadow pipits, one or two willow warblers, a pair of reed bunting (another borough tick ), 9 canada geese, 8 mallards. Flushed a little owl on the way up too.
Stalybridge CP held quite a few blackcaps but no whitethroats all day!!
willow warbler, chifchaff, swift and swallow were fairly common throughout the day. Plus sand martin by the recycling centre in Stalybridge.
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Wednesday 12th of May 2010 07:34:20 PM
I've bummped into several birders in swallows wood and the adjacent arnfield reservoir. Its quite well watched. I only live in stalybridge/ ashton and head that way occasionally.
Not sure where the boundary lies exactly, hobson moor is defo stalybridge but swallows wood i think is disected by the boundary with the reservoir actually being in derbyshire, which is a shame as I've seen hoopoe there!
On Hobson moor today and saw a Cuckoo for the first time.
Also on display were 2 Sparrow Hawks, a Buzzard on the ground being worried by a couple of Rooks and great views of a Kestral from above.
There was also a Curlew, 4 Lapwing, a pair of Stone Chat, a pair of Wheatear, several Swift, several Swallows and lots of Meadow Pipit.
Lower down the hill in Swallows Wood I saw a Green Woodpecker, 4 Tree Creepers, Grey Wagtail, Dipper at Devils Bridge, 4 or 5 Willow Warbler, 2 Little Grebe and general Tits and Finch's.
Strangley there were also several other people bird watching, a couple of whom had carried their scopes with them. It's the first time I have seen anyboby else up there bird watching. It must be the weather!
), 9 canada geese, 8 mallards. Flushed a little owl on the way up too.