Monday 12th February 2024
Teal (10)
Gadwall (2)
Little Grebe (1)
Ring Necked Parakeet (2) - one making a nest hole in dead tree
Redwing (1)
Treecreeper (1)
Nuthatch (1)
Mute Swan (1)
Great Spotted Woodpecker (1)
Tufted Duck (5)
Coot (2)
Moorhen (1)
Dunnock (1)
-- Edited by Steve Judge on Tuesday 13th of February 2024 08:11:40 AM
Monday 5th February 2024. Early afternoon.
Due to recent neck problems I had to leave my binoculars and rucksack at home. But still some nice spots with 'naked' eyes!
Worsley Delph:
Kingfisher (1)
Grey Heron (1)
Nuthatch (1) heard
Mute Swan (1)
Moorhen (1)
Jackdaw (10)
Canada Goose (2)
Watching from the Delph can get you good views of a Kingfisher. They prefer to perch on the small bridge or the far rock wall opposite the seats. Morning is best.
Adult female and a juvenile Kingfisher were both perched on the little bridge this morning at 09.30am. The juvenile was a very green/blue colour compared to the female who caught a small fish while I was watching.
Two Kingfishers fishing at the Delph. One from the small bridge and the other from the rock face about 4' above the water. Both caught small fish while I was watching them for over 45 minutes.
In Worsley woods and the lake
3 Ring-necked Parakeets
3 Grey wagtails
2 Nuthatch
Treecreeper
Great spotted woodpecker
Only one Snipe seen as the water level is very high.
2 Little grebe
2 Shoveler
13 Tufted duck
Buzzard over
Also seen in the sheep field next to the Bridgewater school were two Brambling with a small flock of Chaffinch.
4 Ring-necked Parakeets including 2 that chased a Great spotted woodpecker away from a potential future nest site. I have seen up to 7 Parakeets together in the woods over the last two weeks.
4 Nuthatch
2 Jay's
Coal tit
Plenty of the usual birds on the dam including a Cormorant, Shoveler and 2 Gadwall.
3 Common Snipe feeding on the mud now the water levels are beginning to drop.
A Kingfisher was fishing from the small bridge at the Delph with two Grey wagtails present.
65 Common Snipe, an easy count as most were feeding or preening out in the open early on. Another 14 Snipe flew in as I was leaving.
Water rail only heard but in its favoured area in the boggy bit near the cottage.
2 Little grebe,
8 Gadwall,
6 Shoveler,
Kingfisher,
Heron,
2 Grey wagtails,
Plenty of Teal, Tufted duck and Black-headed gulls.
Three of the gulls had coloured numbered rings on their left leg. Two had yellow rings and one had a white ring on, unfortunately I could not read the letters/numbers on them.
2 Nuthatches and a single Treecreeper in the woods.
Filtration lagoons
2 Reed buntings
Goldcrest
Sparrowhawk
Highlight was a female Marsh harrier over the cow field next to the canal.
Lots of shooting going on in Botany Bay woods which made the rest of my walk to The Boathouse and back to Swinton a little quiet birdwise. Birds seen included;
Two Swallows
Male Sparrowhawk
3 Buzzards
Great spotted woodpecker
2 Red legged partridge
Chiffchaff
2 Tree sparrows
Grey wagtail
2 Pied wagtails
Song thrush
Cormorant over
Raven over
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Sunday 26th of September 2021 07:10:34 PM
A Common tern spent 20 minutes fishing in the Bridgewater canal between the filtration lagoons and the Moorings this morning It caught three small fish then flew south over the cow fields.
A Jack Snipe was amongst 40+ Common Snipe this morning on the Dam. Luckily for me a Heron landed nearby and put up the Jack and two Common snipe which flew towards me and landed in the boggy grass area in front of the cottage about 4m in front of me. I had a good view of the Jack snipe for 15 seconds before it disappeared out of view.
Also about the dam were two Kingfishers showing very well in front of the Aviary House.
Im currently based on a new construction site in Worsley, and just wondered where the different named woods were? I can see on OS maps the Dam, but the woods are not named. I used to spend lots of time in Worsley when I was younger and walked those areas a lot. I assume the various woods have names?
20 birds seen: Feral Pigeon x 6 Wood Pigeon x 6 Collared Dove x 2 Magpie x 6 Canada Goose x 20+ Mute Swan x 3 Tufted Duck x 22 Mallard x 20 Coot x 21 Black Headed Gull x 30 Common Snipe x 11 Teal x 18 Moorhen x 2 Blackbird x 8 Robin x 7 Nuthatch x 2 Shoveler x 2 Treecreeper x 1 Carrion Crow x Cormorant x 1
A pair of Buzzards were displaying over Wardley woods this morning and another pair including a very light coloured bird were displaying over the filtration lagoons this afternoon.
Hi Charlotte, could it not have been a corvid that had lost one or two of its middle tail feathers? I can't think of any fork tailed bird that match your description but i may be wrong
Hi Rob - yes, thanks, my mistake. I wouldn't have said it was a Bird of Prey. It didn't behave like one, and, what I probably meant, is that it wasn't the size of a Red Kite, so I ruled that one out. It looked bigger than a crow (maybe more towards the size of a raven, but the tail was wrong for a raven) and it also looked predominantly black (but that could have been due to losing the light).
Do you have any guesses on what it might have been?
Hi Charlotte. Regarding the fork-tailed bird... you state that it didnt look Raptor-sized. Raptors are different sizes, do you mean it didnt look like a Bird of Prey? Cheers
27/12/2020 - from 8:30am to 4pm (with a break in between):
Nuthatch
Teal
Gadwall
Little Grebe
Snipe
Heron
Mallard
Mute Swan (ringed)
Canada Geese
Redwing
GS Woodpecker
Coot
Moorhen
Dunnock
Longtailed Tit
Robin
Jay
Black Headed Gulls (one ringed)
- Something Corvid-looking flew over quite low with a very well-defined and distinctive forked tail. Didn't look raptor sized, and didn't look like a Red Kite to me.
-- Edited by Charlotte Harrison on Sunday 27th of December 2020 10:37:08 PM