Fantastic views of two skylarks this evening both in flight, hovering and also sitting quietly on the ground just their little heads sticking out of the grass, first sighted them by the cricket club and over the next hour or so they worked their way over toward the far end (near the refuse tip) where i lost sight of them. Only had the 8x21's with us but to be honest that's all we needed as they weren't shy of us.

As anyone who sees us on there knows we always have the camera....... doh! First time for absolutley ages i left it at home........yee gods.........

On an other note the mallard and coot/moorhen seem to have disapeared from the stream at the cricket club end? The stream is totally covered in dandelion seeds and looks like it's frozen!

mistle thrush, linnet, whitethroat, reed bunting, willow warbler and chiff chaff all seen today.

Todays walk caught a buzzard taking a vole from the top of the hill near the tip end mediocre photos of it flying over the motorway for some peace and quiet

Great views of a male linnet

several whitethroat about today but no gropper, not even a sound!
Anoher photo of something i can't identify but thats nothing new is it Ian!?!

definetive attempt at a species count for me today from 4pm until 8.15( wanted to stay longer but the motor bike brigade spoilt the last 15 minutes!)

woodpidgeon
feral pidgeon
stock dove
collared dove
blackbird
house sparrow
dunnock
magpie
heron (low over)
blue tit
great tit
long tail tit
wren
robin
chaffinch
bullfinch
greenfinch
mistle thrush
reed bunting
whitethroat
linnet ( first for me at this site )
willow warbler
chiff chaff
coot
moorhen
mallard
swift
swallow
starling
jay
carrion crow
cormorant ( over )
jackdaw
rook ( first for me at this site )
kestrel
black headed gull
lesser black backed gull

36 species in all and add to that some notable absentees that i regularly see like song thrush, blackcap, greater blackback gull, buzzard, pied wagtail, grey wagtail and the gropper!
No attempt to count numbers of species as i covered most areas several times and would have counted the same birds several times over.
I took photos of almost everything i saw today including the worst ever overexposed photo of a rook in flight that some how has the bird in perfect focus!

I know it's not an exiting list but I wanted to do this for a while now an today it just happened i had the timeand tbh i feel i acomplished something interesting!




-- Edited by brandon mulhern on Saturday 15th of May 2010 09:19:45 PM

Midevening wander over the last two evenings has seen a noticable increase in bird activity on this patch,

5 whitethroat at least 1 pair, other three males,
2 blackcap
1 grasshopper warbler ( reeling constantly at the tip end )
2 heron
kestrel
jay
3 swallow
2 swift
several reed bunting
plenty of chiff chaff, robin, long tail, great and blue tits.

Sadly still no sign of the tame wren or owl but we did see the fox again this time with it's single cub in tow no more than ten yards away on the open path!

fine late evening walk for us today, walked on via the Sandy lane path and were greeted by a fox in the undergrowth alongside the ends of the gardens of the houses.

Not much about on the landfill on our outward walk as we got to the tip end on the path by the stream two grey wagtails landed and stayed a while, to our shock we heard mr barny calling in the same area i first saw him in, (it's quite a scary sound tbh)
we waited patiently camera in hand for over 30 mins for a sight but alas other than another call we could not see him! It's very dense bushes here and hard to see anything move. We nearly got that elusive photo!

other highlights as well as a vole that ran accross our path were
single blackcap
4 chiff chaff
1 heron over
3 reed buntings

we often see near the cricket club buzzards, sparrowhawk and kestrel so are used to these birds here but today we thought we saw a kestrel some distance away perched in a small bush out in the open but it's hunting style was not that of a kestrel, it never hovered even though the wind was perfect for doing so and through our 10x20's it's back was almost totally brown, it's hunting style was low to the ground constantly flapping whilst dashing about left and right. The only bird we could think it may be was a female merlin i managed to get 2 or 3 photo's of it perched and flying, it was some distance away and i only had my 200mm lens with me, It may just be a kestrel, if it was do they hunt like this? While it was dashing about it was sending the reed buntings crazy so maybe it was tring to flush them out?

Finally saw the reed bunting tonight, singing merrily in the reeds on the top of the hill with the pool. Not special by any means but was the first i've seen here.

Evidence the buzzard has been about today near the tip end, lots of blood & feathers just off the path.

Still no barnie

22 cormorant over at 5.50

-- Edited by brandon mulhern on Tuesday 16th of March 2010 09:20:02 PM

Hi Brandon

The patch I flushed it from was a flooded patch of grass on the east side of the tip, not too far from the woodland surrounding the new tip.

It was my first time on, so its good to know that theres some potential there, and I actually spotted some field voles under, of all things, a deflated dingy!

Though it was pretty exposed, Im guessing the open areas must get pretty meadow-like come the summer? Im definitely going to head back, so maybe see you on there.

Some records from 14/03/10, 9:00-11:30.

A walk to the top of Bradley Lane and along Kickety Brook, crossing footbridge over M60 to high, open ground by Streford tip (old tip?).

Highlight up to 10 lapwings in stubble fields along Bradley Lane. Other birds around the farmland included bull finches (2), kestrels (2), buzzard (1), sparrowhawk (1), meadow pipit (1).

As for the tip, redwings (15) in woodland. A surprise was disturbing a single snipe from a marshy patch of the old tip.

If memory serves me correctly,Stretford Tip was going to be made into a golf course some 20 years ago or so,after the tipping had settled.I seem to remember they were unable to do this because of the contaminents that were present which would have killed off the type of grass needed for a golf course.I think Jeff Clarke was the person who told me this,perhaps he could confirm it if he reads this posting.

3-4pm Buzzard sat right by the motorway on the landfill side in one of the small trees.
nothing else of note.


-- Edited by brandon mulhern on Saturday 6th of March 2010 07:20:16 PM

Well you learn something new every day! for years i thought of the two areas as separate because of an article in the paper about radioactive waste, if i remember it right it said lesley rd was the site to store the stuff and stretford tip would be closed as a consequence, always assumed the two were separate because of that! ahh well i stand corrected, still not going to stop our evening wander.

Pete we didn't speak to you, we just saw you and kinda thought you looked like a birder!!! We were on the chester rd end.

Judith, the lesley rd tip area is now a landfill site and although the two sites, Stretford tip aka chester rd tip and lesley rd are connected by a gravel/tarmac rd they are different sites in terms of names i think, I'm not sure if the chester rd facility was ever known as the collection site for lesley rd as i have only lived here for 22 years and the landfill pre dates me! The lanfill area is not the area i first saw the barn owl but it is an area i walk along frequently which accesses stretford tip alongside the motorway.

On the landfill site there is a gravel path that travels alongside the motorway from stretford cricket club which is sited on lesley rd, there is no access from the landfill onto the cricket club but there are two gates (one on either side of the cricket club) which have large holes in them that local residents (dog walkers) use to access the area.

There are two open entries to the site from the ne end the first and easiest entry is at the end of poplar rd just after the school, the second is between the last two houses on sandy lane (at the junction with urmston lane) there is a small driveway that takes you onto the landfill. There is an entry on newcroft rd at the nw end of the path that leads to the landfill and is a fair walk from the actual tip site although it has the easiest walk to the new carrington bridge.

There are several drainage ditches and minor ponds that run through the area mostly these go along or under the motorway.

If you continued walking fom newcroft rd on the path you eventually (past the canal)come on to the river mersey and that takes you past sale water park and onto chorlton etc.

If you ever want a tour of both sites we'll be happy to oblige, ironically yesterday (sunday) Brandon and I saw a chap unfamiliar to us at the tip end and he made a joking comment "theres Pete Hines" although we wouldn't know Pete if if fell out of tree onto us he may have been right as Pete posted the sightings below......
If anyone knows more about the site please feel free to correct me. Especially onthe history.

Forgot to add wear wellies if you are considering walking over the landfill area as some of the dirt paths are very sodden at this time of year.







-- Edited by brandon mulhern on Monday 1st of March 2010 09:47:16 AM

6 Stock Dove
2 Fieldfare
2 Bullfinch
76+ Carrion Crow

A bit quiet on the owl front today but a singing Reed Bunting and 2 Bullfinches were present. Some great looking habitat here though.

Still present yesterday roosting in a hawthorn, seen at 11.30 and 2.30

info from Phil Davenport