Although seen without binoculars there was a Harris Hawk over the football field today around 2.30pm. Was being mobbed by crows and flew away over motorway.

Very late post but warden put up 2 snipe when doing some work approx 10 days ago.

Not much in the way of bird sightings:

7 Moorhen, 23 Mallard, 1 Heron on the water by the car park. A Sparrowhawk was mobbed by a Black-headed Gull.

A new boardwalk through the new pond/scrapes area is under construction. The water here looks good at the moment, providing you are first there and beat the dog walkers.

Best sighting today was non-birdy: Autumn Crocus - photo on Manchester Wildlife site under Plant Sightings/Various Sites

Cheers, John

Another look round this morning but not a lot to report.

Little Grebe still present
6 Moorhen and a Coot
14 Mallard
2 Jays
1 Buzzard over
A Chiffchaff singing continuously. Is this just a bird protecting a feeding territory or is it a young bird practising singing?

Cheers, John

The Hoopoe record was 1st - 3rd April 1991 and a dodgy illustration graces the cover of the '91 GM Bird Report of a bird that i din't see !. For many years Goldcrests havel bred almost anywhere with conifers in South Manchester eg my garden, my mums garden, at work, on the way to the pub etc..

Abney is a very nice site and I think shares some of its birds with the area i walk along the mersey, little grebes in particular being seen on the mersey in winter as well as in the park. The wardens for Mersey Vale cover this site as well as several others and I have done some volunteer work here with them.

There are often birds of prey over the park, Kestrel but particularly sparrowhawk, my max count being three in the spring. There have also been buzzard (a pair?) seen throughout the past 2 years.

There is a regularly watcher/dog walker who sometimes gives sightings to one of the wardens, a couple of interesting ones this spring being garden warbler and lesser spotted woodpecker. I did try a couple of times but did not manage to confirm either.

Great spotted woodpecker are seen all the time, as are nuthatch, which i saw visiting the same hole in a tree several times. Goldcrest also were calling in the spring in the conifers around the hall. Reed bunting were also seen in the damp area near the motorway, where a feeding station was put in last winter, this attracted lots of finches during the winter, including Bullfinch. Reed bunting was also seen on the other side of the river in Mersey Vale nature park, where I think they may have bred

Last winter the warden and i had a tramp through the damp area to count snipe. I cant remember the exact figures but around 10, with a possible woodock as well. Hopefully the new ponds and scrapes which went in this summer may attract more.

I haven't done any survey work but might be interested given some help and guidelines, as this is a pretty local site for me.

5th September.

John's post on this site dated 31/8 encouraged me to make a visit. In fact, I almost called in here when I visited nearby Bruntwood Park on 24th and 29th August. As John says, "an excellent site with bags of potential" and a good variety of habitats and it's a shame that these 2 sites don't appear to fall within anyones local patch? I always have a look at the BTO atlas records before I go anywhere and Abney Hall Park straddles 2 tetrads - SJ88P Gatley (3 confirmed breeding records) and SJ88U Cheadle (8 confirmed breeding records). So with nearby Bruntwood Park having a total of just 3 confirmed breeding records for its 2 tetrads (SJ88N and SJ88T), this area is still pretty much a blank canvas as far as our very own GM breeding birds atlas is concerned. Some good birding habitat in this general area, if anyone fancies having a go at these 4 tetrads to help add some roving confirmed breeding records for the final summer in 2011?

Visit today 7.30 to 9.15 am.

1 female Mandarin, 1 adult Little Grebe, c55 Mallard, 4 Moorhens including 2 fully grown and independent juveniles, 2 Coot, 1 Grey Heron, 1 Buzzard, 2 Jays, 3 Chiffchaffs (including one in song), 1 Treecreeper, a flock of 11 Long-tailed Tits, a Stock Dove heard calling, an adult Woodpigeon seen feeding a juvenile on a branch in a tree near the hall.

Later in the morning had a wander through Cheadle village and along part of the Ladybrook Valley - several Feral Pigeons were sat on nests underneath a railway bridge in the village, a family party of Goldfinch were in a tree in a side street of the village, 2 Treecreepers in Ladybrook Valley and 2 juvenile Bullfinches feeding on blackberries were close by.

Cheers,

Bill.

-- Edited by Bill Myerscough on Sunday 5th of September 2010 02:08:30 PM