A brief visit this afternoon gave me my highest ever count of Mandarins: 18, most of them males.

There was a flock of about 20 Siskins feeding in alders above the footbridge by the large pond. A single Grey Wagtail was on the river.

Having noticed that I was carrying binoculars, a lady came over to tell me that a Kingfisher had just headed upstream. She had also seen a Dipper here within the past week.

There was a Little Grebe on the main pool at Bramall Park in this afternoon's miserable weather: the first I have seen here in a great many visits over many years.  Also 70 Mallards, 15 Canada Geese, 12 Mandarin Ducks and 10+ Moorhens.

Two Swifts seen briefly, passing through - my first of the year.

Three Stock Doves.
Five Herons around three nests.
Chiffchaff.
Great Spotted Woodpecker.
Swallow.

Stroll around Bramhall Park then downstream along the Ladybrook, 8.00am

Dipper 1
Kingfisher 1
Goosander 1
Mandarin 2
Grey heron 2
Goldcrest 4
Treecreeper 7
Nuthatch 5
Greenfinch 1
Song thrush 4
Mistle thrush 1
Carrion crows 17
Usual bluetits, great tits, blackbirds, wrens, robins, woodpigeons, magpies, Canada geese, mallards and moorhens

A pair of Herons were nest building at the traditional site this morning. Two Stock Doves were in the adjacent pony field. It was good to hear Song Thrush singing.

In Bramall Park, three Mandarin Ducks (one male) were on the smaller of the two main ponds, along with a redhead Goosander.

Bramhall Park duck pond this morning had the usual mallards and Canada geese, plus 3 pairs of Mandarin ducks, a grey heron, 2 Goosander and a grey wagtail.

Late post for yesterday ,09:00-11:00 ....
A decent morning session , highlights...
Kingfisher, quite happily perched on branch over the stream, until a dog came bounding through the water!
Pair of mandarin ducks,
Two jays,
7 chiffchaff heard ,one seen,
Willow warbler,
2 wrens,
Pair of bullfinch,
Buzzard, "mewing ", from perch in tree,
Grey wagtail,
Female great spotted woodpecker ,
Green woodpecker ,heard calling, from over towards Cheadle Hulme ,
Female sparrowhawk over, mobbed by carrion crow,
4 grey herons,
Mistle thrush, two song thrush, and plenty of the usual tits,finches and robins etc.

Cheers Chris

I didn't know that there were grey wagtails in Bramhall Park. I must look more carefully, and thanks for alerting me to their presence. No chance of seeing them today though - I'm doing Bramhall Parkrun this morning, and the wagtails will make themselves scarce with over 300 runners thundering along the paths!

19th February 11.00-11.15

A fleeting visit didn't show too much.
2 Grey Heron
3 Goldfinch
Plenty of Great Tits calling.

I took a very brief stroll along the section near Bramall Park this morning, while waiting for my son's football match to get started. Highlights were a Grey Wagtail, two Nuthatch, a Great Spotted Woodpecker and a Mistle Thrush. No sign of Treecreeper, which was in with the tit flock this time last week.

1 adult and 1 juvenile Grey Wagtail, so at least 1 of the 2 chicks seen in the nest has survived. Nest now empty.
Rick.

13:30 to 14:30 highlights:-

Mandarin Duck, now with only 3 ducklings showing near her.
1 Dipper - orange ring on left leg and orange over silver on right; one of original adults who produced at least 2 juveniles in May.
1 Grey Wagtail.
1 Grey Heron.
Several singing Chiffchaff.
3 House Martins.

Rick.

Today between 11:15 and 12:30

Small family group of Nuthatches - 5 in all including juveniles.
1 Grey Wagtail sitting on nest - this is in different location to the earlier identified nesting site.
6 separate family parties of Wrens with fledglings and 2 separate sightings of Wrens carrying food to nest sites ( a good year for Wrens).
4 Grey Herons in the meadow - all appeared to be juveniles.
2 separate sightings of Kingfisher.
1 Dipper - one of the original adults (with orange ring on right leg; couldn't see its left leg).
The Treecreepers seem to have fledged - no sign of any activity at nest site seen yesterday.
2 Stock Doves.
1 Mistle Thrush and all the other usual birds.

No sign of mink today.
Rick.

14:00 to 15:30

5 Grey Herons
2 Grey Wagtails - very busy collecting food and flying to and from what I hope is their nest site
3 Drake Mallards
35 Woodpigeons
Wren still going in and out of nesting hole.
1 Chiffchaff singing
Precious little else

Rick.

This afternoon during brief visit :-

1 Dipper
1 Grey Heron
1 Swallow
1 Jackdaw
1 Chiffchaff
1 brand new looking kids bike in the brook as well as the usual rubbish

Rick.

-- Edited by Rick Donkin on Monday 16th of May 2011 05:17:39 PM

16:45 to 17:00

2 Dippers.
1 Wren with beakful of flies/grubs disappearing into undergrowth.

Rick.

This afternoon:
1 Dipper
1 GSW
2 Common Buzzard
1 Grey Wagtail
2 Chiffchaff
1 Grey Heron

Very quick visit in passing - 2 Dippers at 11:00am
Rick.

Just a quich mooch as there were far too many people along the brook.
Of note though:
2 Dippers
2 Kingfishers
1 Chiffchaff heard towards the tip
1 Mistle Thrush over
2 Mandarin by the road bridge

A beautiful afternoon: lots of people, lots of dogs. I walked from Bramall Park to the viaduct, managing to see two Dippers (one with an orange ring on each leg) and a pair of Grey Wagtails. The oiliness of the water, which I noted a couple of nights ago now seems resolved.

I cycled this stretch late evening. It was not really a birding sortie, though I did notice the four drake Mallard that I flushed from the river.

Worryingly, there was a very visible oily contamination of the surface of the water, rather like the colourful patches that you see on roads after heavy rainfall. It was not noticeable upstream of the stone bridge, but this may just have been down to the different quality of light.

09:00 to 09:35

2 Dippers Both Dippers appeared to have rings - 1 bird had yellow or pale green ring on left leg and orange on right leg. Couldn't make out the details on other bird as it was too active.
Pair of Mandarin Ducks - male displaying to female with 'head jerks and raising up and wing flapping'. Going quite mad really.
Grey Wagtail
3 Sand Martin overhead
Nuthatch
Chiffchaff and Willow Warblers calling/singing
3 Grey Heron

Rick.

-- Edited by Rick Donkin on Tuesday 26th of April 2011 11:18:48 AM

This fine sunny morning with Geoff Lightfoot and Barry Shaw,

Pair of Mistle Thrush
Pair of Mandarin Ducks
4 Grey Herons
Dipper
Blackcap - 1 male
Buzzard in tree near 7 Arches
Many Wrens, Blackbirds, Great & Blue Tits and Robins.
Great Spotted Woodpecker heard drumming, then 1 in flight near 7 Arches

Rick.

A very quick visit this afternoon produced 2 new sightings for me in this area of Male and Female Mandarin Ducks and Swallow.
Rick.