Today, 3 Mandarin, 2 Oystercatcher, 1 Curlew, 6 Teal, 2 Willow Tit, 9 singing Skylark, 35 Fieldfare and an impressive flock of 400+ Redwings, with many singing their hearts out!

Works slowly continuing for the new giant Aldi, with loads of hedgerows now being ripped up.

Huge Site Accessed it via Wharton Lane and concentrated on the area at the end that has changed considerably looks like a bomb has gone off with acres of bare grounds small pool and a few ditches and older mounds. Main sighting were skylark, lots of meadow pipit common sandpiper on the pool with 10 mallard and a few black headed gulls, Kestrel, Flocks of Goldfinches and a Bullfinch.

This evening, 5 Crossbill flew south-west and a single Green Sandpiper and Snipe were on the largest pool along with 6 Teal. Also 37 Linnets, 15 Skylark, 118 Lesser Black-backed Gulls and 100+ Swallows & House Martins dropped in during tonights thunderstorm.

This morning, fairly quiet, though two site firsts for me were a female Tufted Duck and 5 Common Terns (2 adults & 3 Juvs) heading south at some speed, also 3 Curlews, 148 Lapwings, 273 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 5 Stock Doves, 13 Skylarks, 15 Swifts, 17 Whitethroats, 12 Willow Warblers, 2 blackcaps, 2 Willow Tits, 35 House Sparrows, 90 Goldfinches, 24 Linnets and 6 Bullfinches.

Butterflies included 5 Small Skippers, 6 Peacocks, 2 Red Admirals, 7 Small Coppers, 20+ Meadow Brown, 10 Large Whites and 15+ Gatekeepers.

Yesterday early morning,

1 Grasshopper Warbler singing
1 Garden Warbler singing
1 Sedge Warbler singing
26 Whitethroat
21 Reed Bunting including a nest with 5 chicks in
4 Willow Warbler
4 Chiffchaff
1 Willow Tit
14 Skylark singing
7 Bullfinch
15 Linnet
Little Owl (first sighting since 1st April 2012 when all the old barns got demolished)
female Mandarin with 6 ducklings

Some news regarding the development of the site following a Public Consultation last week, Aldi hope to start construction of their 50,000 square metre regional distribution centre in early 2014 followed by the construction (subject to planning application) of a 5,000 square metre office complex, car park for 500 spaces, access roads, loading bays and several massive warehouses on the old Cutacre tip. Interesting that Bolton Council initially indicated 15,000 jobs would be created but now thats been revised to c2,000 despite the size of the industrial estate actually increasing since the initial proposals. On the plus side (if indeed there is one!?) work will commence shortly on the brand new Cutacre Country Park which will surround the development and provide 558 acres of landscapes which will include nature reserves, as well as nature trails, viewpoints etc. How all this will shape up is anybodys guess at the moment and whether this will improve the biodiversity of the area remains to be seen. Anybody interested can see the emerging master plan here:-

http://www.logisticsnorth.co.uk/country-park/

There is a form to make your views known, it was good to see quite a large turnout at the Public Consultation and many locals actually voted in favour of more birdwatching areas. One thing a few suggested was larger pools and reedbeds which I understand will be considered with some kind of reedbed looking likely. One thing is for sure sacred sites never seem to last forever.


-- Edited by Simon Warford on Sunday 9th of June 2013 10:00:30 PM

2 Wheatear still present! Also 65 Lesser Black-backed Gulls.

Whilst walking over Shorelark Summit this morning at approx. 6.20am I accidently flushed a male Hen Harrier, it slowly flew off north-west chased by several Lapwings until it was lost to view heading towards Winter Hill. An amazing record for this site which is mostly a barren landscape now. Also of note today single Whinchat, 2 female Wheatear and 2 singing Grasshopper Warblers.

Six Wheatear (all females) this evening on fields between Cutacre and the A6, also 2 Dunlin & 2 Shelduck present.

2 male Wheatears present today and 60 Redwing. Also unfortunately, some nice people have set fire to a large area of grassland on the site and loads of willow scrub, the fire brigade arrived quite quick to put it out though, nice one Ian.

09/01/13 - A flock of 60 Redwing were in the Cutacre area this pm

1300 in Cutacre area today;
1 Buzzard
12 Long Tailed Tit
1 Great Spotted Woodpecker
55 Lapwing
3 Jay
9 Skylark


-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Tuesday 23rd of October 2012 10:15:35 PM

Surprised to see a Whinchat early this morning, only seems like five minutes ago when I saw two on spring migration on the 6th May and todays bird was more or less in the same spot as one was in spring. Further evidence that autumn migration is well under way was a fresh juvenile Wheatear hopping around the edges of the main UK Coal car park.

Its not all been doom and gloom for breeding birds, lots of juvenile Starlings feeding on the site along with freshly fledged Chiffchaffs, Whitethroats and Reed Buntings being fed by adults. There are more Whitethroats this year compared to 2011 and Reed Buntings are also up on last year with 14 singing males this summer. On the downside hardly any Grasshopper Warblers(unless my hearings going!) and Willow Warblers are also down on last year with only 3 singing birds this summer. Linnets are definitely up with 23 seen today including young birds. Also today 62 Lapwing, 70 (20+ juvs) Goldfinch, 7 Grey Partridge, 16 Skylark, 250 Woodpigeon, 4 Stock Dove and the Swift migration is in full flow with 150+ moving south in 3 hours.

One evening in the middle of last week at least 450 Lesser Black-backed Gulls were present with them all flying off north-west just before dusk.

Great weather for my second Breeding Birding Survey this morning and the place was alive with birds. As soon as I parked up by the main buildings at 6.45am the first of two Whinchats was perched up on tall grasses. Numbers of Lapwings and Skylarks are down though as a result of large areas of bare earth which has replaced last years grassland. No sign of any Little Owls on the site now with no birds present where they were last year. On the plus side a Cuckoo was singing in the same area where one was seen last year. Whitethroats widely scattered with 17 singing males along with six Willow Warblers, six Chiffchaffs, four Blackcaps and a single Garden Warbler but no Grasshopper Warblers on site yet. Other birds included 15 Reed Buntings, four Grey Partridge, three Stock Dove, three Oystercatchers, single male Wheatear, 120 Woodpigeon, six Sand Martin, two Swift, 25 Swallow, single Buzzard, Bullfinch, five Linnets and a Shelduck was a surprise on a small bit of floodwater on the old tip.

49 species recorded in total.

Female Merlin (south) this morning and Raven (north) this afternoon over the old Exide Batteries factory.

At 8.00am this morning a Short-eared Owl was hunting over the spoil heap on the west side of Cutacre. Viewed from the public footpath that runs round that side. Also a Brambling and 5 Partridge.

Info thanks to Andy Makin.

Cheers Simon

Simon..... Could you tell me how to get to the site and where is best for parking, is the main entrance just off the A6 near the old Norweb Depot?

First survey of the summer today produced 6 singing Grasshopper Warblers, 17 singing Whitethroat, Sedge Warbler, 6 Grey Partridge, 2 Raven, 2 Buzzard, Little Owl and 70 Sand Martin.

The pools where I had a Little Egret last year have now been replaced by a 100 foot deep quarry!

Still 9 Golden Plover on Plodder Lane.

Unfortunately a dead Barn Owl was picked up on the A6 this week.

Steve Suttill wrote:

---

Thanks guys

I know the site well as my late father-in-law lived nearby and I used to go to see the GP and Lapwing flocks there whenever I dropped him at the hospital.

I'm sure Ian McK will correct me, but I believe the strength of the white line from the head down to the flank is a better indication of race than the blackness of the "face" and breast. Will look carefully at Dennis' photos.

Cheers, Steve

---

I haven't studied these for a few years now, not since the nice annual early spring flocks disappeared from the Moss Lane area in Astley. It is thought that birds attaining such full and distinct breeding plumage (i.e. extensive black on the underparts) are from the northern race 'altifrons' and perhaps their annual early gathering also hint at a more northerly breeding destination anyway. Trouble is that there is much variation between the two races (northern and our UK breeding race) plus again between the sexes which clouds the situation somewhat and has lead to some believing there are no distinct races within Golden Plover. I'm not sure what if any, work has been done on this (and if so I've missed it!) but I did hear a couple of years ago murmurings that such plumage variation was dependant on breeding habitat selection and that apparent 'northerns' often attain a much drabber plumage depending on where they are nesting . Frankly I've lost track of it all

The 5 Golden Plover that I saw were viewed feeding among short green shoots.
They were all 'side on' and disappeared sometimes in the furrow.
However I noted that no black marking could be seen, just the whitish line on the head and neck. Although lower parts of the bird were hidden, the birds that I saw were not in striking plumage.
It may well be that Dennis Atherton, who first found these birds, has Photographs.
I had considered the anomaly with the site name thread. As Plodder Lane is over 2.5 miles long ,I thought Watergate Lane ,which passes through the fields to be a better guide. The OS map shows the name ''Edge Fold'' at the Lane's Junction.
By the way I learnt that an underground canal runs under these fields.


Hope this helps ,Steve.

-- Edited by keith mills on Tuesday 12th of April 2011 07:10:43 AM

As the Golden Plovers already seem to be paired up and settled into their breeding territories on our local moorlands, are these ones at Cutacre migrants heading for proper arctic tundra? Are they showing plumage characteristics of the northern race?
I'd be interested in local observers' opinions.

Cheers, Steve

At least 39 Golden Plover still in ploughed field off Plodder Lane 6pm, some in lovely breeding plumage, seen on way back from the Reebok.

There is nowt worse than posting a sighting on the infomation super highway that is Gmbirding only to read that birders turned up on your tip off and the birds were not there anymore, Gutted, i now feel redeemed

i had a very nice 50 ish on tuesday, but only 7 tonight, so i am very happy to see Alan also got a large flock too, briilliant

Great to see Keith also got them after a few attempts, sorry i dragged you away from your Ouzel search, hopefully you will get that one tommorow,

Watergate the truth!
Thanks to Dennis the Golden Plover located tonight at 6.45 pm:
In ''green shoot'' field next to the ploughed Watergate Lane fields(nearer to Farnworth)
When I arrived 5 Showing quite close to the road down from Plodder Lane to the Cattery.
Dennis just leaving had seen 7.
Thanks again Dennis for your perserverance here and the phone call.




-- Edited by keith mills on Friday 8th of April 2011 09:26:11 PM