I have made a couple of trips recently and informed GMEU of the veg clearance taking place there, will hopefully find out more soon.
It is a tragedy if the whole site would be lost to development, I agree. That is why we must submit all the records we have as soon as possible, then more chance of saving some from development.
Pomona this afternoon from 1pm. As people have said, almost the all of Pomona has been been cleared. The Southern part has been left without any vegetation just topsoil with some large deep holes now filling with water, providing a good Wader habitat (if it gets left for a while) . Unfortunately this won't be the case as it's already fenced off. The Northern section (where the grey pipes are and where Wheatear / Whinchat turn up on passage ) has been Flailed to ground level up to and including part of the House Sparrow colony. Unfortunately for me ,the Fire Brigade where doing a very visible training exercise with lots of machines , pipes and flashing lights over almost the entire length of the site.
Stonechat - 1m. Kestrel - 1. Dunnock - 4. House sparrow - 20 seen but lots more heard.
A morning visit to pomona to discover that even more of the area is almost completely flattened apart from a few scrubby areas, however I managed.... 3 jack snipe At least 6 common snipe 3 meadow pipits 2 skylarks
Walked down to Pomona south end during dusk this evening and noticed veg clearance. Any idea what is going on? Will contact GMEU and ask.
5 Goosanders on dock
2 singing Song thrushes
1 singing Robin
1 peregrine falcon, possibly the female, perched up at media city this morning. Shannon, I noticed all the habitat destroyed at the southern end opposite Pomona tram stop whilst going past on the tram, not looking good you still managed a woodcock which is a great bird for there.
Late post for Sun 14.01.18 Mode wheel lock to Trafford road bridge. Cormorant 22. Black-headed gull c 200. Lesser Black-back gull c35. Mute swan 2.
Pomona Little grebe 1. Goosander 2 ( m+f). Mute swan 8. Cormorant 7. Bullfinch 2. Fieldfare 8. House sparrow c30.
Today Wednesday 17.01.18 I went down early afternoon to drop off some bird seed and barley ( 5kg which has been put under the tree feeders at Burleigh Rd. ) for the House sparrows and any remaining Fieldfare which numbered at least 8 maybe 10. I didn't hang about,mainly because I cycled down wearing shoes and the weather was decidedly "iffy".
Male & female peregrine falcons showing well around media city this morning. 1 buzzard circling over trafford park 3 grey wagtail 20 herring gulls amongst the usual lesser black backed, black headed & common gulls on Trafford wharf. Mistle thrush singing.
3 peregrine falcons over trafford wharf this afternoon, making a bit of a racket, looked to be a male (probably the resident) chasing off another male whilst the female landed on a nearby appartment & left him to it. The peregrine being chased then headed off towards the city centre. The female was then on view for a while. Drake goldeneye 1 grey heron, just sitting looking at me at around 15 feet away & was not bothered. 4 grey wagtails
i spent a couple of hours this morning watching the pair of resident peregrine falcons, the female perched up for a while before disappearing, the male not around until shortly after. he started making a lot of noise & then a feral pigeon was going over being chased by the female, he then joined in the chase & were both trying to get the pigeon, they both got close to it but for all the time I could see the chase they did not catch the pigeon, needless to say both birds came back towards me & then perched back up on the nearby buildings. great to watch
a couple of photos attached, the male is the one scratching.
Weaste ETW and Msc. Etw. Pied wagtail 39. Alba wagtail 1. Starling c100.
Msc . Lapwing 25. Grey Heron 1. Swallow 1 only.
The Etw. had some filter beds with lots of weed growth in them and the view of the some of the site was obscured by large shrub and tree growth between the fence and the road barrier. It was also unusual not to see any hirundines over the beds.
Nine what appeared to be common scoters on the main Ship Canal basin this afternoon. Stayed for quite a while before flying off down the Canal towards the coast at around 7.00 pm. Sorry for the poor quality of the photos, but they were quite some distance away in the middle of the basin.
Two and a half hours or so at Pomona this morning:
1 chiffchaff 4+ willow warbler 1 blackcap 4 whitethroat Fledgling blue and great tit 4 goldfinch 1 greenfinch 30+ sand martin, a few darting in and out of probable nest sites 2 song thrush Moorhen pair, one sitting, with at least two very young chicks hatched, popping their heads out to receive food. Coot pair with brood of six; not much older than the moorhens, but leaving the nest occasionally. 1 grey heron on Bridgewater canal 6+ black-headed gull 2 cormorant 1 kestrel
Site Name: Salford Quays Date: Sun, 12 Mar, 2017 Time: 10:10 - 11:00
Black-headed Gull 119 Canada Goose 15 Coot 14 Cormorant 8 Kingfisher 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull 3 Mallard 5 Mute Swan 7 Total number of species: 8 Individuals: 172
The small dredger was active so count recorded as "low".
-- Edited by Nick Hilton on Monday 13th of March 2017 08:49:57 AM
Jay on the verge of Bridgewater Way alongside Pomona today
We had a Jay yesterday here: https://www.google.com/maps/place/53%C2%B028'14.1%22N+2%C2%B014'53.7%22W/@53.4724304,-2.2522051,14z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d53.4705912!4d-2.2482569 conceivably the same given that is the first I have seen close to MMU http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S35038723
Best of the rest, in what was a thoroughly enjoyable two and a half hours or so, from about 9.30:
2 goldcrest Lots of singing dunnock c10 goldfinch 1 bullfinch 2 meadow pipit 1 grey wagtail 2 song thrush 4+ mistle thrush 3 coot 1 goosander 7 mute swan (one with the blue darvic 4BXH) 3 snipe 5 cormorant c190 black-headed gull 13+ common gull 10+ lesser black-backed gull 5+ herring gull 1 kestrel 1 peregrine over (heading off towards town, had a quick stoop at something before I lost it behind tall buildings)
Also a first winter lesser black-backed gull with a deformed beak, much like the 'curlew gull' mentioned as having been seen at Pennington Flash recently; slightly less exaggerated than that one, so perhaps more an 'Egyptian vulture gull'. Gave it quite a fearsome aspect!
From Trafford Road bridge to Media City bridge, from about 12 - 1.45: