I have been shown a photograph taken yesterday at 4.30pm of a raptor sheltering from the bad weather on the upstairs window ledge of Pennine Camera, Drake Street, Rochdale. The guy in the shop didnt know what it was. Brown body, white speckled chest, black cheeks and hood. I said that I thought it was a juvenile Kestrel. Did anyone else see the bird? Do you know what it might be from my description?

3rd September.

A visit to Bowlee Community Park this morning and the surrounding area found:-

A flock of c90 Goldfinch (attracted to a large area of thistles not too far away from the car park) included several begging young, one was seen being fed by an adult.

Good sized counts of commoner species included - c70 Swallows, c15 House Martins, c60 Starlings and a loose flock of c45 Pied Wagtails foraging in a single field. Also 4 Willow Warblers - at least 2 giving a subdued and at times abbreviated version of its song, 1 Chiffchaff singing, 7 Reed Buntings including a flock of 6 together and a single bird making aerial sorties to catch insects in the style of a flycatcher from a bare tree branch. 6 Long-tailed Tits, 2 Linnet, c15 House Sparrows but no Tree Sparrows seen, 1 Grey Heron, 1 juvenile Moorhen. Singles of Sparrowhawk, Buzzard and Kestrel.

Cheers,

Bill.

-- Edited by Bill Myerscough on Friday 3rd of September 2010 06:51:18 PM

8th August.

7.30 to 10.30 am.

Shawclough area.

Plenty of evidence of breeding activity still - Song Thrush carrying food, family party of Greenfinches including 2 begging young, adult Blackcaps feeding 2 young, begging calls of single nestling or recently fledged Sparrowhawk heard, single independent juvenile Jay, Mallard with young, Moorhen with young, 2 family parties of recently fledged Wrens.

Also several Nuthatch heard and a single Great Spotted Woodpecker. Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs still about, as were a few Swifts overhead.

Cheers,

Bill.

4th August.

At Bowlee Community Park this morning.

c160 gulls resting and preening on one of the playing fields - majority (c140) Black-headed but 16 Common and 5 Lesser Black-backed amongst them.

Family party of Wrens, including begging calling young. An "out of season" confirmed breeding record for our own GM breeding birds atlas project for SD80N Birch. Just a quick reminder that all out of season confirmed breeding records will count towards our local breeding birds atlas project, where there isn't an "in season" one (1st April - 31st July). Hope that makes some sense!

12 Pied Wagtails foraging on the playing fields.

Keep atlasing,

Bill.

12th July.

A single adult Common Gull was amongst the 30 or so Black-headed Gulls at Bowlee this morning.

Family party of Bullfinches, 4 Oystercatchers flying over and Sparrowhawk and Kestrel were also seen. A small flock of c10 Goldfinches were mostly juvenile birds.

Cheers,

Bill.

6th June.

A two and a half hour visit in the rain this morning to the Bowlee area and I was hoping to be able to add some roving confirmed breeding records for tetrad SD80N Birch for the BTO and GM breeding bird atlas projects.

Fledged begging parties of Great, Blue and Long-tailed Tit. Good numbers c40 of fledged Starlings , however most are now feeding independently, although a few were still reliant on adult birds. Juvenile of both Pied Wagtails (2) and Mistle Thrush (2) were both present and they too were feeding independently, so were not counted as confirmed breeders and in any case these species had already been confirmed as breeding in the square at an earlier date. Dunnock, Robin, House Sparrow and Blackbird all carrying food or feeding young.

At the start of my visit on a walk past a small plantation there was a commotion with the alarm/distress calls of both Blackbird and Song Thrush emanating from the small coppice. I investigated but could not see anything - on my way back a Magpie was on the path outside the plantation stripping the feathers off something. It was so engrossed in what it was doing that I was able to walk almost right up to it, with a pair of Blackbirds really agitated close by, it finally flew off but dropped the corpse and I was able to examine it and see that it would have appear to have killed a really good sized Song Thrush nestling and it was presumably preparing it before taking it to feed to its own young in the nest? Not a particularly nice way to prove breeding for Song Thrush! Although, later I came across 2 other adult Song Thrushes in different locations both collecting and carrying food - one had so many worms in its bill it dropped some of them whilst flying into the nest site!

Warblers - 2 Whitethroat singing, 1 Blackcap singing, 1 Chiffchaff singing. Several Willow Warblers were singing, with one pair feeding a single begging recently fledged juvenile.

Finches - a pair of adult Greenfinches were with 3, possibly 4 vocal begging young and also a pair of Goldfinches with 2, almost certainly 3 vocal, begging young. It was a surprise to find 3, possibly 4 pairs of Linnets in the general area. One pair watched at some length appeared to be collecting food, which looked like it might have been the flowers of clover or possibly wind-blown dandelion seed? Not altogether sure.

At least 3 male Reed Buntings were singing and a pair were also seen together.

Double figures of Swallow, presumably nesting on local farms and also double figure for Swift, presumably nesting on nearby Langley? No House Martins seen or heard.

36 Rooks - at least 1 juvenile was trailing after an adult. The adult appeared to pull up worms and then just drop them on the mown turf for the juvenile to pick up itself.

Managed to add 16 species as confirmed breeders, to the 5 already in existence - so a worthwhile and enjoyable visit, apart from the upset of looking at the corpse of what would have been beautiful a Song Thrush nestling.

Bill.


-- Edited by Bill Myerscough on Sunday 6th of June 2010 02:40:58 PM

8 Mute Swans (record count) at Lock 50 at the moment, with a smattering of Canada Geese and Mallards.

20/02/2010 - Sightings from the River Roch around Queen's Park + Gristlehurst Woods today included:

2 Dippers
1 Grey Wagtail
2 Goosanders
2 Grey Herons
1 Common Gull
8 Siskins
2 Treecreepers
2 Nuthatches
1 Goldcrest
2 Redwings

-- Edited by Henry Cook on Saturday 20th of February 2010 09:22:57 PM

A quiet couple of days at Lock 50.

Today

Canada Geese - 15 ish
Mallard - 8
Swan - 2 immature

Lbb gull chasing Common and Herring Gull. Neither of the chased were carry food, so not sure what that behaviour was about?

Sparrowhawk hunting over Rochdale Town centre spooking the pigeons!

At Lock 50 today:-

2 Mute Swans
15 Canada Geese
14 Mallard
2 Goosanders flying past - male and female.

Many Gulls of various types.

ta

Also Cormorant and a male Goosander flying by! Had a double take and thought it was an Eider!

Most of the canal now thawed and the usual suspects today:-

Mute Swan - 1
Canada Geese - 30 or so
Mallard - 20

quite a few gulls flaying about the area:-
Black Headed Gulls
Herring Gulls
Common Gulls
Lesser Black Backed Gulls

22nd November.

Thanks for that Judith. I re-visited the area early this afternoon before the rain set in and had a good wander around - there are several fields of maize stubble in the area and with surprising amounts of food on the ground. The flock of c90 Chaffinch were still in the same field as yesterday and a smaller flock of c50, which may or may not have been part of this original flock?, were in another field. I was surprised to see how many kernels of yellow corn they were getting. They looked a bit large for consumption in their bills but I guess the wet weather will have helped soften the kernels up?

There was at least 1 Tree Sparrow amongst the smaller flock

4 Redwing feeding on hawthorn berries.


Bill.

-- Edited by Bill Myerscough on Sunday 22nd of November 2009 07:21:38 PM

21st November.

I had a 2 hour walk and wander around the Bowlee area this morning.... which I think is part of Rochdale? A new area for me to visit and an attempt to get some winter roving records for the atlas project for the SD80N Birch tetrad. Nothing out of the ordinary in terms of species found, although 31 species were logged but some good flock counts were recorded.....a flock of c50 Goldfinch were in the birch and alder scrub near the car park at Bowlee. A loose flock of at least 21 Collared Doves were at Bowlee village and I was really surprised to find a flock of c90 Chaffinch feeding in a field of maize stubble - also at Bowlee - grid ref SD842063. There were a few Greenfinch amongst them and depending how long this food source lasts, it might even turn up the odd Brambling? Corvids pretty much in evidence on the local farms short grassland - max flock of c70 Jackdaw and c12 Rook. Plus c40 Starling and a flock of 27 Common Gulls on playing fields. Also Kestrel, Jay, Grey Wagtail and Great Spotted Woodpecker.

Cheers,

Bill.

-- Edited by Bill Myerscough on Saturday 21st of November 2009 04:43:21 PM

Re the Rook colony at Birch.

Hi Mike - I had a quick look through some old Rochdale Field Nats bird reports and these seem to indicate that at Birch there were nests of c75 in 1999 and c70 in 2001, however the 1996 report indicates c60. This was my first visit to attempt to count numbers and I would guess that numbers would not only fluctuate year on year but also might be dependent on the observer as well. When I was there some structures seemed quite large and I wondered if these were "semi-detached" nests? - with two or more pairs nesting in very close proximity. I don't know enough about Rooks to know whether such an arrangement is possible? If so, then my 64 is a conservative count. I must admit that I personally find counting colonial nesting species quite difficult - I had a "go" at a local sand Martin colony last summer and with so many birds nesting in close proximity and moving in and out of colonies I find it can be problematical to know how many nests are actually in use!. Any simple tips anyone? - that doesn't involve spending all day at a site!!

I intend to revisit early in April to get a more accurate count and to be able to add the colony count as a roving record to the BTO 2007-2011 Atlas project. However, not quite certain at present which tetrad this is in! - would seem it might be on the borders of SD80P (Hareshill) and SD80N (Birch). This is where a GPS comes in handy!!

Cheers,

Bill

Sorry - I meant Birch between Heywood and Middleton.

None at Birtle as far as I know, Mike (though Paul Cliff might know differently) - maybe you mean Birch?
Milnrow seems to have been abandoned.
Like Dave I think Nutters is still in use.
Heap Bridge is still active. I count it every year. Just in Bury though.

Bill - my recollection was that the Birtle site was only about 30 odd nest ten years ago but the rookeries at Coal Pit Farm opposite Pilsworth Fisheries and the 'Manor' hall / restaurant on Edenfield Road, Norden have both been abandoned. So this is the only one left in HEywood that I know of.

14th March.

This morning I thought I would have a wander over to the rookery at Birch and enjoy the sights and sounds.

There appeared to be at least 64 nests with birds in close attendance. Some were more rudimentary structures than others but birds appeared to be bringing in twigs etc to add to such nests. I had a good look but I couldn't see any sitting birds yet.

Had a look through recent county bird reports when I got home and it doesn't appear as if this rookery has been counted now for a few years - numbers of nests seems to be down on say a decade or so ago though.

A pair of Grey Wagtails were on the brook nearby.

Cheers,

Bill.

1 male Blackcap feeding just behind St Vincents school at Caldershaw today.

Dave