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BACK TO THE MANCHESTER BIRDING WEBSITE HOMEPAGE -> Manchester Birding Forum -> Cheshire and The Wirral -> Rostherne Mere
Post Info TOPIC: Rostherne Mere
Henry Cook


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RE: Rostherne Mere
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11/01/2010 - I made it for the gull roost this evening and birds were arriving from all compass points. By dusk there were approx 15000 gulls on the ice and on the decent area of open water still. After an hour of scanning one albino Black-headed Gull was seen in amongst the masses, but no scarcer gulls. Also around were 2 Great Black-backed Gulls, 180+ Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 3 Goldeneyes, c30 Shovelers but generally very few ducks with only 26 Tufted Ducks, 2 Wigeon and 1 Pochard even though there was plenty of open water and no sign of the Smew.

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sid ashton


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Had an extremely chilly hour at Rostherne earlier this afternoon- still quite tricky getting there. No sign of the Smew - has it gone to Irlam? There were lots of birds on the water, about a third of the area still unfrozen. Didn't try to count numbers but present included Tufties, Wigeon, Pochard, Teal, Shoveler, Coot, Mallard, Great Crested and Little Grebe and on the ice big numbers of Gulls including Great black-backed and Black Headed and the usual Cormorants in the trees.

P.S. Forgot the large group of Canada Geese there as well.

-- Edited by sid ashton on Saturday 9th of January 2010 09:30:11 PM

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sid ashton


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Henry Cook wrote:

06/01/2010 - After pushing the car out of the verge several times thanks to icy back roads near the village of Rostherne, a Smew (fem) was a nice reward. It may be the same bird as a reported a month ago but I can't be sure. It kept close to the west shore, seen from the snow-covered churchyard.


A brave effort Henry, I got half way to Rostherne this morning and decided that Smew or no Smew I wasn't going any further. I was told about the bird yesterday and apparently it is almost certainly the same one reported in December.

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Henry Cook


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06/01/2010 - After pushing the car out of the verge several times thanks to icy back roads near the village of Rostherne, a Smew (fem) was a nice reward. It may be the same bird as a reported a month ago but I can't be sure. It kept close to the west shore, seen from the snow-covered churchyard.

Also about were c1200 Tufted Ducks, c300 Teals, c300 Pochards, 18 Coots, 23 Mallards, 1 Goldeneye (fem), 1 Goosander (fem), 2 Wigeons, 24 Great Crested Grebes, 3 Cormorants, 30+ Common Gulls, 6 Lesser Black-backed Gulls and 2 Greylag Geese.

Thanks. Henry.

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sid ashton


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Late morning in the sunshine - no sign of yesterday's reported Smew but lots of Wigeon, Mallard, 8 Great Crested Grebe and 6 Golden Eye (4 fem, 2 Male) all very distant and a Buzzard in a tree about 20 yards away from me. Also one of the local people was telling me that yesterday there was an escaped Golden Eagle in one of the fields that look onto the mere - could have got quite excited if I'd seen that smile.gif

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sid ashton


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Henry Cook wrote:

A Slav and Smew (fem) reported here today, viewed from the churchyard, not bad!




If the last couple of year's patterns are followed it is likely that the Smew will move on to Tatton Park - where viewing is a lot easier.

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Henry Cook


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A Slav and Smew (fem) reported here today, viewed from the churchyard, not bad!

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sid ashton


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Quite a sizeable Starling roost is starting to build up at Rostherne (viewed from behind the church) - not as big as previous years but worth looking at. The early arrivals were met by a Sparrowhawk waiting for dinner

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