A quick look around this evening on my way back from work. Hoping for some migrants, but nothing to report.
Birds in good voice though were two Song Thrush.
2 Chaffinch
2 Raven
1 Pied Wagtail

Church Lane:

2 Oystercatchers still next to Bramhall Cricket club.

I had a quick look over the fence at the flooded fields as I cycled past yesterday evening, at about 17:00.

The pair of Oystercatcher seem settled, and five Lapwing were by the water's edge, with two Common Gull and a Black-headed Gull. Three Pied Wagtail were on the drier areas.

There is still plenty of water on the field, which offers the hope of a passing Redshank or early Little Ringed Plover, both of which I have seen here in recent years.

Sunday 27th February 7.45-8.45

Church Lane pool:
8 Canada Geese
20 Black Headed Gulls
2 Oystercatchers

Avro Golf Club
1 Treecreeper
1 Goldfinch
2 Mallard
5 Chaffinch
3 Goldfinch

4 Skylark over the runway. Several up singing at the same time in competition

Vicarage pool
3 Mallard
2 Canada Geese

A pair of Oystercatchers was back on the flooded field on Church Lane, Woodford (adjacent to Bramhall Cricket Club); also a fair gathering of gulls, all BHG, other than two Common. A Cormorant on the far edge of the flood was a surprise.

Saturday 12th February 8.30-10.00

Nice mild morning, and spring seemed to have sprung amongst the birds at Woodford. A very vocal Skylark was a welcome sight, and the first since early summer last year.
The huge flood puddle by the Vicarage had 3 mallards on it.
Another flood puddle on Church lane had 75 Canada Geese along with 4 Greylag Geese plus around 50 Black Headed Gulls.
Other birds around the fields of Old Hall Farm and the surrounding woodlands were:

2 Nuthatch
1 Common Buzzard
6 Mistle Thrush
2 Song Thrush
12 Long Tailed Tit
12 Blue Tit
6 Great Tit
1 Pied Wagtail
5 Goldfinch
12 Blackbird
5 Mallard
2 Canada Geese

Saturday 29th January 8.30-11.30

Nice cold bright morning which started off quietly but then soon came to life.

4 Common Buzzard
3 Bullfinch
4 Chaffinch
4 Goosander
1 Grey Heron
14 Mallard
1 GSW (lots of drumming)
3 Nuthatch
24 Fieldfare
9 Redwing
3 Song Thrush

Lots and lots of the usual bits and bobs.

Adam

-- Edited by Adam Jones on Saturday 29th of January 2011 09:09:04 PM

Sunday 19th December 1.00-2.00

2 Common Buzzard sat about 20 metres apart carefully surveying the snow covered ground.
1 Kestrel
12 Fieldfare
1 Redwing
1 Song Thrush
1 Cormorant (over)
5 Lapwing (over)
3 Goldfinch

Old Hall Lane and Farm

9 Lapwing
1 Buzzard
1 Merlin (female)
c30 Fieldfare
c10 Redwing
8 Goldfinch - but a noticable lack of other small passerines.

Cheers, John

Sunday 12th December 8.15-10.00am

Apologies for the late posting, but it appears that between us all we have covered all hours of daylight except for a couple, and I too saw no sightings of the SEO, sadly. I will not be detered though, and when time permits I will be back.
Extremely cold morning, a lot of it spent in a field with sheep for company and the frost on my boots never melting. However, the joy of birding keeps me going and never knowing what's going to fly past you next is all I need.
Today's highlights were;

2 Common Buzzard
1 Raven (over)
1 Cormorant (over)
1 Bullfinch
24 Fieldfare
4 Wren
1 Song Thrush
2 Mallard
1 Pied Wagtail
All the usuals too

He's emailing me every day he sees it - 2nd, 9th, 10th. I asked him to confirm in GM and it is - presumably hunts all over the airfield?

That's great news Judith. Certainly something for me to look out for. I've yet to see an owl over there. Will try to be more vigilant from now on.

Friday 10th December 1.30-2.45pm

A very dull damp afternoon. I took advantage of the golf course being closed and wandered around the woods to the rear. No Snipe, which is what I was really after. The star birds here were 2 Goldcrests and a Treecreeper. Lots of Blue, Great and Long Tailed Tits. The latter in a flock of 14.
Other birds today were;

Greenfinch 14 (in one flock)
Fieldfare 25
Blackbird 20
Song Thrush 1
Chaffinch 1
Common Buzzard (heard calling)

Woodford often features on weather reports as a cold place so no surprise this morning that the outside temp read -13 deg at 9.00. I wonder what the overnight low was because the River Goyt was icing over even though it is fast flowing here.

Best bits were a flock of c110 Fieldfare plus only 2 Redwing
2 Buzzards
A snipe sp. at some distance. Flying away (so the bill may have been foreshortened) but with shortish rounded wings looked a good candidate for a Jack Snipe.

Yesterday, just 0.5 mile away on the Cheshire side of the airfield a Short-eared Owl was flushed but apparently it never flew over the border.

Cheers, John

Nice to meet you today Adam. Finally thawed out from the tetrad visit.
Highlight was a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker on track to Newton Hall Fm, just out of the border.
8 Snipe around the farm and the Bollin.
2 Buzzard, Sparrowhawk
32 Fieldfare, only 2 Redwings
2 Reed Buntings, Mippit, 6 Linnet
6 Teal around the Bollin(just inside my tetrad).
Tree Sparrow near the Lesser Spot too

Back at the end of Jan with hoefully thawed fields!!
Chris H

Sunday 7th November 8.15-10.15am

Good numbers again today. Mainly focused on Old Hall Farm.

3 Raven
15 Redwing
35 Fieldfare
1 Buzzard
1 Merlin (Possibly the same as Nigel's. It went wizzing past me at around 10 am)
2 Mistle Thrush
1 Tree Sparrow
7 Greenfinch
9 Goldfinch
2 Dunnock
1 Wren
1 Coal Tit
3 GreY Wagtail
2 Mistle Thrush

Lots of the usuals too, especially plenty of Blackbirds.

Saturday 30th October 8.30-10.30

75 Fieldfare (in several different flocks)
50+ Lapwings on the runway
20 Mallard (spooked from the river by a pesky Jack Russel)
5 Redwing
7 Tree Sparrow
6 Goldfinch
2 Greenfinch
8 Chaffinch
5 Linnet
8 Blue Tit
6 Great Tit
Too many crows and pigeons to count.

Sunday 24th October 9.00-11.00am

Nice bright cold morning seems to have brought out the birds in good numbers.

A large mixed flock of around 50 Fieldfares and Redwings.
220 Pink footed geese over heading West.
150 Lapwings
200+ Carrion crow
41 Rook
12 Jackdaw
2 Common Buzzard
10 Meadow Pipit
14 Tree Sparrow
2 Mistle Thrush
13 Linnet
12 Chaffinch
1 Grey Wagtail
2 Pied Wagtail
4 Dunnock
8 Great Tit
2 Coal Tit
5 Blue Tit
4 Wren
3 Robin
1 Pheasant
2 Balackbird
1 Jay
12 Magpie
12 Mallard
1 Moorhen
1 unidentifed wader over. Gone before I had a cahnce to focus the bins.

Adam

Sunday 17th October 9.00 - 11.00am

Another great morning in Woodford. Cold to start with but then the sun warmed up nicely and so did the bird activity.
Highlights of the morning were a Peregrine sat in the middle of the runway sunning itself. (Hopefully not injured)
A Meadow Pipit, sat on the airfield fence. (First time I'd seen one over here)
6 Whooper Swans flying West noisily.

Other birds included:

2 Buzzard
4 Pheasant
6 Linnet
4 Jay
1 Bullfinch
24 Chaffinch
5 Greenfinch
2 Song Thrush
24 Fieldfare
50 Lapwings
1 Grey Heron
12 Long Tailed Tits
1 Coal Tit

Plus all the usual stuff too.

A good afternoon for raptors, once the rain had relented.

Two Buzzards were patrolling the runway, one sitting on the tarmac for a while. Nearby, a Sparrowhawk made a few half-hearted passes at the Linnet flocks.

Star of the show was a Hobby, which passed close to Threeways Farm, off Church Lane, before disappearing very rapidly in a SE direction.

Thursday 2nd September 7.30 - 7.45pm

A brief visit this evening on my bike.

200+ Lapwings settled down for the night on the runway.
1 Kestrel
1 Greater Spotted Woodpecker (Old Hall Lane near Church)
12 Swifts (Church lane)
Robins seem to be in song again.

Adam

Late evening. Not really Woodford but the Adlington side of Woodford Aerodrome.

A juv Cuckoo was perched on the aerodrome fence that forms the Stockport/Cheshire boundary so, for the purposes of Borough listing, it was in Stockport, of course

Cheers, John

-- Edited by John Rayner on Friday 27th of August 2010 08:49:15 PM

See 3 posts down Rob

Or have they been seen 2 days running

-- Edited by John Rayner on Saturday 31st of July 2010 01:19:36 PM

Friday 30th July 1.30-2.30pm

Had a quick look round this afternoon with very little on show in between the showers.

1 Curlew
10 Lesser Black Backed Gulls
1 Buzzard (heard not seen)
6 Linnets
6 Goldfinch
1 Reed Bunting (heard not seen)
Lots of young Blue Tits

First visit to the area today, and strayed across into Cheshire, but some nice paths, and vistas. Birding not too bad:
Kestrel, 2 Buzzard
2 Herons, Raven heard around Dairyhouse wood, didn't see it.
Plenty of Swallows, swifts, a few House and Sand Martins.
Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Goldcrest roaming
2 GS Woodpeckers,4 Stock Dove
Linnets in a few spots
Undoubted highlight was a fair few Tree Sparrows, but these were over the border in Cheshire, surely they must cross it at points?

I'll attempt a trip report on my return, but don't tell the missus I'm taking my notebook!