Early morning exercise walk 12/1

Dipper singing in overflow above car park and flying up and down main lake
Kingfisher on main lake
Dabchick 1
Buzzard 1

Note, new owner has ripped up lots of hedges, trees and scrub around car park and down lane by bottom lodges which will probably affect the migrant warblers this season

Pilsworth fisheries this morning wed 10/6

Common Tern 1 possibly 2 (due to several hours between sightings)

Reed warbler 1 of 2 singing males has a quiet partner ( female?)

Still many reed buntings, whitethroat, willow warblers, blackcaps and chiffchaff singing

Mike , where is the area of your report today , please ? I live nearby but do not know it . Thank you .

Todays highlights

Common tern did a few circuits at 09:00 then flew off to the west

Reed warbler singing and eventually evicting the singing sedge warbler from its to ny phragmites bed on lake edge

Lesser whitethroat

2 male gadwall

7/5 early exercise walk on a beautiful spring morning
Highlights
Sedge Warbler 2 singing (males)
Whitethroat 13 singing (males) several with females seen
Willow Warbler 17 singing (males)

Early morning exercise walk 21/4

Highlights

Sedge warbler singing from tiny dead reed bed (first of year)
Double figure Willow Warblers singing (c13)
Chiffchaff c 5 singing
Blackcap at least 6 singing males
Whitethroat at least 3 singing males

Gadwall pair (first for many years)

Sparrowhawk fem/imm and male hunting separately

Linnet male
Bullfinch 3 + 2

Water Rail in the boggy area east of the main lake was a first for me here this morning .   

2 adult Yellow-legged Gulls were present amongst c800 predominantly Lesser Black-backed Gulls this afternoon. Green Sandpiper also present by the Lodges. 

Several visits throughout the winter checking through the masses of Gulls around the Pilsworth area. Many thousands of Gulls generally present around the area including adjacent fields and fisheries

Had a decent number of colour ringed resightings, primarily Herring Gulls... Several Y: records of birds from Yorkshire, probably due to the closure of the landfill at Harewood. Prior to its closure M Jackson ( the ringer) had very few of his birds resighted over the Pennines.  Single resightings of Herring Gulls from Gwynedd, The Isle of Man, and 2 birds from Walney Island, Cumbria... T8:W, an adult Herring Gull had been fitted with a GPS tracking device in 2014 but had not worked from the start but records from other GPS tagged Herring Gulls had shown many did not move far from Breeding grounds. Pilsworth is the furthest east that any have been recorded from Walney. . JX106, a 2cy Great Black-backed Gull ringed as a pullus in Northern Norway in June 2018 was recorded twice at Ashworth Moor Reservoir in November and has been seen twice at Pilsworth and is obviously spending the winter there. Another Black ringed Great Black-backed Gull has also been present twice and is more than likely also from Norway

A ringed 1st Winter Caspian Gull (XHET) was on a rooftop on 22nd January. If it was not for the ring I certainly would not have picked it out and after sending a poor photo to Ian, confirmed it was more than likely a Hybrid type. It had been recorded twice previously, in Northumbria and Stocks Reservoir. 

An adult Yellow-legged Gull was present also in January.

2 pairs of Little Grebes and a Green Sandpiper have been present through the winter and c10 Lesser Redpoll have returned this week.  

 

 

Hollins Vale Nature Reserve and surrounds

Lunch-time walks over last few days:

Kingfisher x 1
Redwing x 10
Bullfinch x 1
Buzzard x 1
Kestrel x 1
Goldfinch x 1
Jay x 1
Moorhen x 2
Mute Swan x 2
Great Tit x 1
Blue Tit
Blackbird x 3
House Sparrow x 7
Black-Headed Gull x 15
Magpie x 3
Woodpigeon x 5
Feral Pigeon x 1

After suffering a severe case of "Cabin Fever" with this crap weather I decided to have a look at the Fisheries as a number of gulls have been reported there recently.On arrival there must have been 1200-1500 large gulls sat on the water.A quick pick through with my bins turned up a cracking adult ICELAND GULL giving great views on this narrow stretch of water.I only stayed about 15 mins due to the gale force wind sweeping down the water which were making viewing difficult even with just the bins,As I was leaving I noticed at least 4000 large gulls in a field south of the lake but unfortunately I couldn't get anywhere near them as the road which ran along the edge of the field was blocked by a snowdrift with an articulated lorry stuck in the middle of it!!

A stonking adult Iceland Gull here this morning on the waste ground opposite Asda.

There were quite a few gulls here in the morning but I went back in the afternoon and there were none at all so this site seems a bit hit and miss.

 

a third calendar-year Yellow-Legged Gull and second calendar-year Iceland Gull were among a loafing and bathing flock on vacant land by Asda car park early afternoon

-- Edited by dave broome on Saturday 4th of March 2017 05:59:46 PM

Sat 20th August 2016 Derelict land opposite ASDA: Lapwing - min 130 Black-headed Gull - 31 Lesser Black-backed Gull - 4 Common Gull 1

Also 2 oystercatchers flew noisily over

This afternoon with Phil Rhodes, a juvenile Iceland Gull in fields east of the junction of Castle Road and Griffe Lane near M66 bridge, with 600+ large gulls.

-- Edited by Simon Warford on Sunday 21st of February 2016 04:31:01 PM

Tuesday, 1st December 2015 13:15 hrs.

Above Balmoral House ...

Flock of lapwings x 50

Thursday (Sorry for the late post!) 30/11 @10:30am, Raven being mobbed by corvids over Pilsworth landfill / Heywood Distribution Park area.

Kaz

From Unsworth Pole and on the Track past the fisheries
Lapwing and flying over coming in to roost Rooks Great and Lesser Black Backed Gulls, on the lodge Tufted Ducks Great Crested Grebe, Goldfinches Great Spotted Woodpecker and about Meadow Pipits and a Fox giving veru close views before it realised it was being watched.

-- Edited by Ian Boote on Sunday 9th of March 2014 06:54:10 PM

-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Sunday 9th of March 2014 07:59:40 PM

flock of 40 fieldfares wednesday 3rd april abt 4pm in trees seen from m66. buzzard also seen a number of time over the last few weeks.

Fantastic sight of at least 1,000 Jackdaws (possibly as many as 2,000) sweeping over the M66 at Pilsworth heading towards Radcliffe at 4.35pm today. The Radcliffe roost must make my Darcy Lever roost look pretty average in comparison!

Thurs 29/12 12:00 - 12:30 Torrential shower as I got out of car

G HEron 1

Tufted MMFF

Water level down as re-modelled left back now walkway and grassed area from old dam/ causeway wall

20th June.

Had a good wander about and covered a fair bit of ground this morning around the Unsworth and Pilsworth areas hoping to add a few confirmed breeding records for the two atlas projects for 4 of the 2 by 2 km squares in this general area.

Highlights included :- a pair of Sedge Warblers seen carrying food and feeding 2 small young which themselves were seen only very briefly in low level weak flight over the waterside vegetation. A family party of Linnets - 2 adults and 2 begging young. More on Linnet records for the atlas projects on the atlas section of the forum sometime next week. The male of a pair of Whitethroats carrying food and a male Chaffinch feeding a single begging juvenile. Also fledged Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Swallow, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Collared Dove, Wren, Moorhen, Great Tit and Blue Tit. Blackbird and House Sparrow carrying food. House Martin nest building - seems quite late? Also Stock Dove, Reed Bunting, Kestrel, Buzzard, Bullfinch, Skylark, Lapwing, Blackcap, Grey Heron and Pied Wagtail.

Cheers,

Bill.

-- Edited by Bill Myerscough on Sunday 20th of June 2010 03:16:16 PM

Had a look for Tree Sparrow with Warfy and Phil Rhodes this afternoon and didnt fail

Tree Sparrow 5+
House Sparrow 20+
Lapwing 10+
Skylark
Stock Stove 7
Spahawk
Fieldfare 37 plus a further 80+ North
Linnet 11

-- Edited by Simon Johnson on Sunday 21st of March 2010 09:25:47 PM