Old Hall Lane: 1 male Wheatear on airfield 6 Curlew 2 Skylarks singing c90 Fieldfares feeding in freshly manured field (Old Hall Farm) 2 Tree Sparrows (OHF)
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.
So much for my prediction about passing waders. Despite last night's heavy rain, all that remained of the flood water on Church Lane this evening was a small muddy puddle. One suspects agricultural intervention. Nonetheless, the Oystercatcher pair and four Lapwing were still present.
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.
2 Oystercatchers on the pool on Church Lane. Many Black Headed Gulls and 1 Common plus one Mallard. Old Hall Lane farm and environs:
2 Greater Spotteds 4 Common Buzzards 2 Lapwings over 1 Pheasant 2 Nuthatches 2 Canadian Geese over lots and lots of Blue and Great Tits plus Chaffinch.
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.
A pretty raw morning in the fields of Old Hall Farm. A pair of Buzzards seemed to be ready to pair up,chasing each other along the fence posts, while another was seen separately in the opposite direction. Others showing themselves this morning were:
1 Nuthatch 1 Pheasant 35 Lapwings 2 Redwings 8 Mallard 2 Goosander (over) 1 Greater Spotted Woodpecker (drumming) Lots and lots of Blue and Great Tits, Chaffinches and Blackbirds.
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
Hi-lites of my tetrad visit today(half Gm/half Cheshire): 5 Tree Sparrows 10 Teal on the Bollin 2 Goosander 3 Buzzards 5 Stock Dove 3 Drumming Great Spots 6 Nuthatch 5 Lapwing Large flocks of Redwings(40/35), and smaller of Fieldfare(15/8) Lots of Great/Blue tits. Chris H
A brisk walk down Old Hall Lane this morning. About 1 inch of snow on the ground. Main birds were:
1 Common Buzzard 1 Sparrowhwk on Chester Road 2 Bullfinch m & f 24 Fieldfare 5 Song Thrush 5 Goldfinch 2 Pied Wagtail 10 Blackbird c100 unidentified Geese flying South East
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
A long vigil this afternoon with Mark Rigby, Mike Chorley and (belatedly) Iain Johnson failed to produce any SEO sightings.
c30 Fieldfare c10 Redwing 2 Mistle Thrushes 1 Song Thrush 2 Buzzards 1 Sparrowhawk 1 Great spotted Woodpecker 2 Cormorants over An evening roost of c80 Carrion Crows near the main runway
Jack Canovan reported the Short-eared Owl over the GMC part of the airfield for the 2nd day, today.
Hi Judith,
Jack had a SEO on the Adlington (Cheshire) side of the airfield on 2nd Dec and again at Old Hall lane, Woodford (GM side) on 9th. I don't think it was seen on 2 consecutive days was it? But it's sticking around that area and that's good.
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.
Nice to meet you Chris, glad you had a productive time, if a little cold.
Not a great deal happening for me this morning, but the highlights were, 1 Buzzard 29 Fieldfare 6 Greenfinch Plenty of the usual stuff. Just a little too cold at -8 degrees.
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
Nov 9th (11.15 - 11.30) I had just found a juv Peregrine (in Cheshire) which then overflew the GM half of the airfield when I got an intriguing call about a funny grebe at Hollinworth. No further sightings from Woodford
Cheers, John
-- Edited by John Rayner on Tuesday 9th of November 2010 05:19:43 PM
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.
Two Ravens feeding on the carcass of a sheep, close to the gate overlooking the flooded field on Church Lane, adjacent to Bramhall Cricket Club.
A female Merlin, first seen on the Cheshire side of Woodford airfield. It perched for a while in a small tree by the pool, before sweeping across the fields, and obligingly settling in trees on the GM side of the perimeter fence. It must have thought that I was John Rayner!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Best birds today were a Wheatear close to the runway. (Haven't seen one over here for several months now) Also a Goldcrest flitting around a tree on the golfcourse. I got within 4-5 feet of it to confirm.
Others around today included: Goldfinch 20 Pied Wagtail 4 Black Headed Gulls 25 (chilling on the runway) Swallows 15 Sandmartins 12
No sign of John's juv Cuckoo today, but maybe next time.
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
This should probably be in the Out of County folder but...
2 Bee-eaters were reported at 7.30 last night (29th) from Adlington Golf Centre (and submitted to the Cheshire rarities committee). They then flew into Woodford aerodrome. The Cheshire/GM boundary bisects the airfield so, if they carried on in a straight line, it's highly likely they would have entered GM. Eyes to the skies.
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!
No passage migrants but all the usual suspects plus a couple of surprises.
1 Raven flew over Old Hall Farm calling loudly 1 Kingfisher briefly on the River Dane 1 Sparrowhawk carrying prey - looked like a young Blue Tit 2 Buzzards 6 Sand Martins Otherwise flocks of Goldfinch and Linnets plus larger flocks of juv Blue and Great Tits
Crop spraying in the nearby potato field put an end to mooching.
Nice to meet Chris (Harper) who is taking on SJ88V next winter/summer - enjoy Canada and I look forward to reading a trip report.
Having not seen any Lapwings here for a few weeks, suddenly a flock of around 200 have appeared on the runway at the aerodrome. Others on show tonight: 8 Goldfinch 1 Reed Bunting 1 Pheasant 2 Song Thrush 1 Buzzard