Thurs 17th. Village graveyard. Blackcap 2, Longtailed tit 40+. Over the village less than the 790 yday
100+ swallow south. Along lafford lane Lesser redpoll 3 and few pied wagtails with 1 Grey wagtail. On stubble field 30+ Linnet. Goldfinch 45 emptied the feeder in the garden again. 5:30am Tawny owl 2 at knowles farm.

-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Thursday 17th of September 2015 09:58:25 PM

Sept 15th. 8:30-10:00 am... Swallow 790;Sand martin 4 and House martin 499 moving south. Lafford lane,school lane,graveyard,gardens and east edge of the golf course 76 Robins...song/contact call,also lafford lane 3 lesser redpoll.

yesterday

Spotted Flycatcher in the garden

patch
Teal 2 at the lake
Grey Wagtail party of 5 grounded by the lake
Kingfisher

Moth - Blastobasis rebeli is only fourth Lancashire record (this record has been accepted by the country recorder), it's also fairly new to science and worldwide has been found in just a few places in the UK - plus Madeira!

Wed sept 9th. Flushed from between the golf course and the rear of knowles farm(near hedgerow with ditch,over grown boggy field)...7:05am....crake species ,at first and brief look, thought spotted crake....not 100% sure.

Sept 5th. West over the village... 5:15 am.....curlews (sounded like a good number of birds..calls heard...maybe 50+).

Phil Barnett wrote:

---

7.00 Osprey - watched for about an hour - seen to fly on to tree in Rough Park Wood (watched from just below the Beacon)
Seemed in no hurry to go (until I unfortuntely flushed it) conceivable it had been fishing in nearby lake

While watching it
2 Tree Pipits - south
Meadow Pipit 1 - south (my first on the autumn 'migging'
2, 2, 6 siskins over

also Kingfisher
2 flighly contact calling Song Thrushes may well have been early migrants

---

do you think the osprey is still about or did it head off?

Sept 1st. Knowles farm and Golf course..6am. C whitethroat 6; chiffchaff 2; willow warbler 3; willow tit 1; long tailed tit 10; Blue tit 9; Coal tit 4 and Great tit 4 in mixed loose flock. East edge of the golf course edge of rough park wood 1 female Pied flycatcher. Early showers,sun light NW..

Fri August 21st. Golden plover 3 over early am flying east. Goldfinch 100+ knowles farm. Eastern edge of golf course 13 ad/juve c crossbill flight west towards the beacon. Sparrowhawk, 2 c buzzard. 50+ swallow and 30+ house martins over lafford lane. Garden 4 Great spotted woodpeckers. Few willow w,chiffchaff, c whitethroat and blackcap about. Wrightington lakes early afternoon 1 imm hobby, not seen adults for a few days now, mute swans, mallard, tufted ducks and the odd Great crested grebe.

Grasshopper warbler Singing very persistently this morning (and the last several mornings)
photo here
http://abcissa-websites.co.uk/files/gh.JPG

Female giving alarm calls nearby - clearly still nesting
- another pair seen which looked like they might still be nesting

I saw 5 Grasshopper Warblers in total - don't think I've seen that many in one day (As opposed to just hearing them)
When I'd have expected a lot of them to have departed

Fledgling Buzzard
Kingfisher
Crossbill 1 over
Coot with 3rd Brood

c150 Goldfinches 2 days ago feeding of thistle seeds - of which there are a lot
also male siskin on window feeder

the scarce Black tailed skimmer and Emperor dragonflies seen at the lake recently

Thursday August 6th. Knowles farm 6:25am 6 c whitethroat and 1 spotted flycatcher.

July 29th. Slacks area of roby mill 1 adult male redstart.

July 17th. Slightly out of the village at wrightington lakes...1 ADULT HOBBY..(around the lake on the south side). Few canada geese, tufted duck,mute swan and great crested grebe. Good numbers of swallow,house martin and black headed gulls.

July 7th. Rough park wood/golf course...few willow w,chiffchaff, c whitethroat ad/juves. Stand of pine trees 6 c crossbill ad/ juves flew off in the direction of the beacon country park. Between college farm and mill lane 4 Tree pipit , c whitethroats ad/ juves.

July 5th. 8:42 am. 5 common tern west over the village.

Friday 26th. Lafford lane area...1 adult HOBBY. 7:26pm.

Wed June 24th. field between the dis-used tip and old golf course....2 ad + 2 juve Tree pipit..they have moved down from rough park wood closer to the old golf course. Still think more than two young but difficult to see,all of them are a bit flighty. Also near the same field ad lesser whitethroat. Sun/cloud/slight breeze.(4:25 am).

FRIDAY JUNE 19TH. Tree pipt 2 (flushed by dog walker) both birds with food, flying short distance then returning. Good numbers of lesser black backed gull 1,400+(upto 8:45 am,and still birds passing). Nuthatch 1 ad+ 2 juve in the garden,few blue,great and coal tit with young,House sparrow 24 ad+ 10 young,goldfinch,linnet also with juves. Cool Nw,cloud.

7.45 2 Oystercatchers calling over
12th June Cuckoo heard near Farley Lane
11th June Crossbill calling over near the Beacon - I've had Crossbills here between July and November - but the middle of June seems an unusual
date

June 10th.
Hobby again today....the land owner has been told. Also grey partidge again...and 2 singing skylark.

Patch 10.30am
Lots of fledglings including:
Linnet, Goldfinch, Whitethroat, Chiffchaff, Moorhen, Coot, Mallard
etc

Most interestingly though, 5 Willow tit fledglings with 2 adults. The Willow Tit box which I'd placed nearby
had been used, as all the wood chippings had been removed.

In fact when I looked inside I saw it was still being used - by Blue Tits with 6, few day old chicks

Estimates of bird populations on Roby Mill patch (number of pairs )
map: www.abcissa-websites.co.uk/maps/map_total_area_16_5_2014.jpg
area 148 hectares; 2014 totals, for selected species, in brackets
an explanation and discussion is given below

sensitive species have been removed from this list

Canada goose 1
Mallard 3
Red legged partridge 2
Pheasant 5
Little grebe 1
Kestrel 1
Moorhen 3
Coot 2
Stock dove 2
Feral pigeon 1
Wood pigeon 17
Collard dove 2
Tawny owl 1
Great spotted woodpecker 4
Magpie 5
Jay 4
Jackdaw 10
Carrion crow 4
Goldcrest 17
Blue tit 30
Great tit 25
Coal tit 17
Willow tit 1
Swallow 3
Long-tailed tit 8
Chiffchaff 34 (26)
Willow warbler 45 (35)
Blackcap 36 (28)
Garden warbler 6 (4)
Whitethroat 39 (42)
Lesser whitethroat 2 (5)
Grasshopper warbler 3 (6)
Sedge warbler 1 (4)
Nuthatch 5
Treecreeper 10
Wren 51
Starling 2
Blackbird 48
Song thrush 39
Mistle thrush 4
Robin 44
Dunnock 41
Grey wagtail 1
Pied Wagtail 2
Chaffinch 27
Greenfinch 4
Goldfinch 5
Linnet 4 (2)
Bullfinch 6 (4)
Yellowhammer 3 (3)
Reed Bunting 5 (3)

These estimates are either:
1) number of singing males (e.g Whitethroat)
2) number of discrete locations where birds have been seen regularly seen / heard - far enough apart for it to be reasonably assumed that they constitute separate pairs (e.g Long-tailed tit) and not counting birds which are unlikely to be part of the breeding population (e.g Pheasant, Magpie flock in the breeding season)
3) an educated `guestimate` (e.g. Jackdaw - a guestimate because of access issues)

They are the result of around 50 visits this year to different parts of the patch, usually around dawn, and arriving at cumulative totals.
They are provisional as the breeding season is still in full swing. These numbers may well be amended -last year, for example, I was still finding new Grasshopper warblers in June and July. Also further evidence may come to light regarding breeding or non-breeding.

Some large `days counts` of summer migrants, early in the season (e.g 37 Willow warblers singing on part of the patch on 21 April, 7 Grasshopper warblers singing on part of the patch on 23rd April) have been discounted because of the likelihood that some of these birds were passage migrants. On this basis most of the estimates of populations of migrants are from birds counted in May rather than April.

How do these numbers compare to last year?
Most species weren`t surveyed to this level last year. But where they were, several show increases (e.g. Bullfinch, Chiffchaff). In some cases this may be a real increase, but I think some of it is explained by the greater coverage this year. It follows therefore that, where there is a decrease, it is likely to be a real decrease (e.g. Lesser whitethroat, Whitethroat, Grasshopper warbler, Sedge warbler).

I have been surprised by some of the counts particularly Goldcrest, Treecreeper and Song thrush - considerably higher than I would have imagined (not having previously systematically counted them).

How do these numbers compare with published data?
Quite a lot of these counts are high enough to get a mention in the Lancashire Bird Report. In some cases (given figures from the last few year`s reports) they are likely to be the highest in the report (e.g Whitethroat).

Some species (e.g several Warblers) are present in numbers which are important at a county level. A lot of the high counts are, I think only seemingly high, due to size of the patch but also the relative paucity of other such counts in the county (especially common resident species) - only a fraction of Lancashire`s birds get monitored.

On the other hand, and paradoxically, quite a lot of the counts of commoner species (e.g. Blackbird, Blue tit) are lower than expected when compared to published data of breeding densities, given the size of the patch, the location and the type of habitat. This is, I think, probably due to the simple fact of birds being under recorded (point 5 below).

How accurate are these numbers likely to be?
This will vary with species between `very` and `fairly`. Factors which are going to be at play in affecting accuracy include:
1) The larger the population, the greater the margin for error i.e. where there are only 1 or 2 this is likely to be accurate (e.g. Coot). On the other hand the count of 51 Wrens is fairly unlikely to represent a population of exactly 51.
2) Some birds are, of course, easier to survey accurately than others for all sorts of reasons.
3) Variable `effort`. Or to put it another way, bias on my part - for example, I find Goldcrests a lot more interesting than Pheasants! Once I realised that the Goldcrest count was going to be a lot higher than I`d imagined I made a special effort to find them.
4) Double counting /over counting.
5) I think the biggest factor affecting accuracy, however, is likely to be under-counting, i.e. birds that have simply been overlooked.

Habitat
The patch is 148 hectares of former farmland, now reverted to scrub and rough grassland as well as woodland, a few small bodies of water, as well as small areas of active farmland and dwellings. It also contains the extensive, former grounds of the now dilapidated St Joseph`s College (NB there is no public access to the College building or grounds and this is enforced by security guards and CCTV) and what was previously the adjoining golf course - now also turning to scrub. I`m going to produce a more detailed map indicating habitat types.

Other Wildlife
As well as birds, the patch is rich in other forms of wildlife. In the coming months I intend to get an idea of the list of plant species as well as some other groups such and butterflies and moths.

Conclusion
The patch is rich in birdlife and is home to populations of several species which are important at a county level. This will hopefully be taken into consideration when future decisions are taken regarding the management and development of the area.

-- Edited by Phil Barnett on Tuesday 9th of June 2015 06:54:02 AM

Excellent garden bird watching yesterday evening
2 Fledgling Tree sparrows in fed by parent
Willow Tit
Male Bullfinch
All a couple of feet away on feeders near the window

-- Edited by Phil Barnett on Thursday 4th of June 2015 08:46:12 AM

May 30th. Knowles farm/golf course. ....willow warbler 9,c whitethroat 14, lssr whitethroat 1, chiffchaff 1, wren 7, Robin 10,Blackbird 29, song th 2 (singing). School lane onto lafford lane. Yellowhammer 2-male, skylark 1,Blackbird 14,linnet 2,chaffinch 8, (singing). Numerous ad+juve Blue, Great and coal tit. Grey partridge 2. Willow warbler 4(singing). Sun/cloud/cool north westerly.

May 20th. Golf course.Graveyard.School lane. willow w 15,blackcap 11,c whitethroat 14(singing). Cuckoo in trees along the stream in the graveyard. Grey partridge 2,yellowhammer (singing 2). Mistle thrush 2 ad+3 juve.(Slacks area 1 spotted flycatcher). cool with rain showers,light-mod westerly.