9.30-11.30

1+Brambling amonst huge Chaffinch flock (300+). 18 Yellowhammer , 25 Meadow Pipit, 20 Skylark, 2 Mandarin Duck , Peregrine Falcon , Sparrowhawk , 3 Common Buzzard , 20 Fieldfare , 3 Redwing, 30 Stock Dove, Goldcrest , Nuthatch , 10 Linnet, 30 Lesser Redpoll, Grey Heron, Reed Bunting . 

All the normal species you would expect, Yellowhammer number @ 15 

Several species of butterfly seen.

Keep Birding.

Late post from this morning - Sinderland Green area 0830 to 1000.

Swallow at Yew Tree House Farm, also male Blackcap.

Another Blackcap singing in Sinderland Green Woods, with at least three singing Chiffchaffs.

Male Wheatear field 72.

6 Bramblings field 71.

At least 75 Meadow Pipits field 26.

Sinderland Green area 0830 to 1030 (before the rain)

Male Wheatear field 73,

White Wagtail field 70, (with 100+ Fieldfare)

Only a maximum of six Buzzards in the air

Basell site Saturday.

Large mixed flock of Fieldfare and Redwing. Approx 50 in total.

Several Oystercatcher, Approx 20 Lapwings , 2 Buzzards being mobbed by Crows. 1 flew into the inside of a redundant plant so I will keep an eye to see if has a roost in there

amongst the pipework.

17:00 Large Sparrowhawk (female?) took a feral pigeon. A real struggle ensued as the Pigeon did not give in lightly and flew away a couple of times before being finally subdued.

Sinderland Green area; late visit 15:30 to 18:00.

Yellowhammer: 57 in field 70 with 5 Reed Buntings. Otherwise finches only present in small numbers.

Kingfisher on Sinderland Brook.

Nothing else unusual but I did manage to record 22 species after sunset (16:54) which I thought was quite good.

A long trudge over the moss from the bus layby at the end of Whitehouse Lane, towards the flare, past the MUFC training ground approach road and down to Brookheyes Farm. then back along the same route.  I got back to the car just as the snow fall became heavy.

Sinderland Green area this morning 9am to 12.

Finch numbers are way down from before Christmas with only about 60 linnets today (compared with 400 on 23^rd Dec) but 32 Yellowhammers in field 26 was my highest count in almost 2 years.

Merlin (female type plumage and size) chasing Skylark in field 26 (for its second day), Peregrine over field 11, and 2 ravens over field 26.

Also 4 Goosanders on Sinderland Brook (only one seen yesterday).

Walk around field f4 between 10-30 and 12 this morning.

Large finch flock of around 150 Chaffinch and approximately 50 Brambling along MUFC access road between f4 and f5.

Good numbers of Reed bunting and Yellow hammer with a mixed flock of up to 40 in hedges around old orchard edge of f2.

75 fieldfare between f2 and f11/12.

Covey of 15 Grey Partridge in f2.

Large mixed flock of Wood Pigeon with some Feral Pigeon between f2 and f4.

Other birds Great tit, Blue Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Wren, Robin, Dunnock,Goldfinch,Jackdaw,Carrion Crow.

Good to meet Tony Darby.

I spent two hours in search of Bramblings this morning, without success; however, it was pleasantly mild and dry and there was plenty to look at (about 30 species in all).

Highlight was a very noisy Willow Tit not far from the building works, at the junction of the path that leads into Dainewell Woods.  There were at least a dozen Yellowhammers in  the hedges, a rare treat for me these days, c25 Skylarks and four Fieldfare.  The only finches I saw were two Chaffinches and a dozen or so Goldfinch.  There were four Gadwall and a drake Shoveler on the pond opposite Altrincham ETW. 

There was a mixed flock of about 30 Chaffinches and Bramblings (about 50/50) plus 4 x Yellowhammers about 11.30am today, moving to and from from in the trees that border the MUFC site adjacent to field 5.

Field 71 late morning (near Sinderland Green). Finches and buntings in abundance in field 71 where the margins have been planted with wild bird seed mixture. There were so many birds that they proved difficult to count especially as two female sparrowhawks were repeatedly flushing the birds.

Chaffinch: 40+; Brambling: one female; Greenfinch:  60+; Goldfinch: 2; Linnet: 150+ (there were 180 here last Saturday; Redpoll: 5; Siskin: 4 (probably more); Bullfinch: 2; Yellowhammer: 4; Reed Bunting: one.

Also of note was a Tree Sparrow at the rear of Townsend Farm, this is the first here for some weeks.

Additional note: a local dog-walker informed me that there had been two egrets on Sinderland Brook near to Brookheys Farm about five days ago but not since. I do not normally take much notice of what dog-walkers tell me but this individual is quite knowledgeable and was the one who told me of two egrets here in the last week of March. This was later confirmed by Nick Hilton who found one here on April 2^, and I found two on April 4, with a single the following day. Brian Benson had reported one near the flare on March 15 so it is possible that at least one had stayed for some weeks.

Jeff,

These have been around for a while, noticed them when driving home from work, prior to the clocks changing...

Double spacing - did this with me a couple of weeks ago. I tend to post using my i phone and I think when I made the screen bigger in the usual way, I accidentally touched the spacing icon above the posting bit. I struggled to rectify it on the day but found that the following day it had sorted itself out. I am far from being an expert on these things but hopefully that will help!