early am platt bridge to lightshaw and back for brekki 27/09/08 1 kestrel 2 chiffchaff 3 snipe (in flight) 1 reed bunting 5 swallows (over south) 1 raven ,crackin views and a site tick 1 jay ferrying an acorn
1 g s woodpecker on the railway supports drumming on the steel (should this go on the music thread)
loads of water fowl but nothing of note, a glorious bit of weather for birding
2 swallow 4 house martin still feeding young 1 g s pecker on the dead trees 2 moorhen and two coot on glovers 1 kingfisher on the trees by the aquaduct Hey brook has burst its banks and the whole area is very flooded so wellies required. congrats to ian on a very nice site tick this a.m.and yes I could easily have gone to the left but choose right i,m not bitter or twisted and SSW means that the osprey couldn,t absoloutly didn,t fly over our house ,so there
lightshaw 31/08/08 managed to get there even earlier than mr woosey but can only add to his list 2 mute swan 2 cormorant 1 little owl (i saw it move).
dover to glovers pool 12 swallow,6 house martins,1 jay 1 small tit flock,1 g s pecker perched up for ages,and then red letter day for glovers 2 moorhen and 1 glorious green sandpiper,flushed almost immediatly by a dog walker
dover basin am 1 king fisher 1 gropper (heard only but probably 2 or more) 4 tufted 2 coot 3 moorhen 1 goldcrest 1 little grebe 1 water rail (heard) 8 mallard 1 female teal 1 common tern 1 shoveler with two young chicks
lightshaw nothing and i do mean nothing apart from some cows dover basin 6 mallard 1 tufted still with 4 well grown young uns lots of sedge warblers singing but not much else
dover pub ,4 swallows and 6+house martins in car park gathering mud,kestrel and heron over
a walk from the terminus to crankwood and back down past lightshaw and dover basin (cue banjo) all the hedgerow birds with lots of singing whitethroat and at least three song thrushes ,swallows feeding young on the canal
lightshaw 1 tufted ,the water level is up and/or someone,s been shooting 1 little owl on the barn 1 buzzard on his post dover basin only mallard and tufted with young 2 buzzard over giving cracking views and lots of calling 1 kestrel
dover basin still same as last post minus the swifts(just one or two)dover car park pied wagtail and grey wagtail, swallows and house martins along the canal,couple of whitethroat singing and some tasty views of willow warblers in the morning sunshine,why holiday anywhere else
dover lock car park and dover basin evening 12/06/08
dover basin 'brimming' 6 lapwing 6 redshank 4 oystercatchers 2 male wotsits displaying 1 grey heron 50+ swift
dover lock car park 20 house martins 2 goldfinch 2 adult swallows(4 just fledged juv in and out the nest for flight training) 2 common tern 6 bh gull 1 kestrel 1 mute swan ad 5 cygnets not another birder to be seen(you know who you are) cheers geoff
Buzzard, 2 Shelduck, 4 Redshank, Little Owl, 2 Yellowhammer, Common Tern, Stock Dove, 4 Shoveler (all drakes), 3 Gadwall, drk Teal, small numbers of Swifts, House Martins and a single Sand Martin.
mon19/05/08 evening till dark, all much as reported, dover basin 2 shelduck commuting to lightshaw 2 redshank fighting over who sits on that particular post 2 grey heron and 1 juv(first for me) had to get the collins out for that one.star of the show a g s woodpecker on the dead tree in front of the new viewing area for 15 mins or so 'magic '
From the directions you give Brian, that sounds like Coffin Brook Flash, (if you mean the first pool that you come to after the pub). There`s a map of the Abram Flashes in the 2005 County Bird Report.
cuckoo calling near the dover lock pub. approx 9.30pm
I dont know the local place names. Is that the dover basin? the small lake/flash a bit further up from the pub heading towards wigan flashes on the left.
it was calling from there anyway, whatever its called :o/
is there a map online with all the flashes/place names labelled?
(1st summer) LITTLE GULL on Lightshaw Flash from 06:00 till 06:25 mooching about with two Black-headed Gulls. It flew off towards Pennington.
Buzzard, 3 Redshank, 3 Oycs, Common Tern along the canal, 2 Greylags over Dover heading back towards Wigan. 2 Grey Partridge. Heard a Cuckoo from Crankwood area
reeling Grasshopper Warbler, plus singing Chiffchaff, Lesser Whiterthroats (2), Garden Warbler (2) and Sedge Warbler (2) and commoner species.
Dover Basin:
Water Rail -1 on edge of reeds, plus same or another squealing Redshank 2 Oystercatcher 2 Lapwing 6 + 1 chick Shelduck 2 Tufted Duck 2 Shoveler 2 Gadwall 4 Mallard female with 16 ducklings Kestrel 1
Two Black-tailed Godwits feeding on the meadow behind the larger flash at Lightshaw today, but generally quiet with just Oystercatcher and Redshanks, Shelduck, Shoveler, Gadwall drakes, no sign of the Ring Ouzel now.
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Judith Smith
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Lightshaw hall Flash is sacrosanct - NO paths please!
As well as the Ring Ouzel (a first for me here in over 25 years), other notable sightings amongst the 61 species I had on my Waterways Breeding Bird Survey (Slag Lane swing bridge to the A58 at Bamfurlong, along the canal) were: 4 Black-tailed Godwits, a Cuckoo, 2 different Little Owls on territories, 3 Lesser Whitethroats, 2 of which were fighting, a calling Snipe, a pair of Willow Tits lining a nest, and 6 Buzzards in the air together at Dover Basin. Missing were Grasshopper Warbler (seen on the TTV last week) and Long-tailed Tits!
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Judith Smith
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Lightshaw hall Flash is sacrosanct - NO paths please!
53 species on my other Abram Flashes TTV today. Two singing Lesser Whitethroats - excellent views of one - both outside the TTV but one is on my other TTV so it will get in as an RR! Highlights were chipping Snipe, Gropper, Sedge Warbler and a single Blackwit.
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Judith Smith
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Lightshaw hall Flash is sacrosanct - NO paths please!
First TTV today for the area from Dover Basin to the A58 bridge at Bamfurlong. Nine Black-tailed Godwits at Dover Basin, and a couple of Sedge Warblers nearby were the highlights. 48 species in total.
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Judith Smith
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Lightshaw hall Flash is sacrosanct - NO paths please!
Just to add 9.45 - 12.30 in search of the Water Rail that eludes me in Mcr - fat chance with the floods:
Goosander pair on the canal Lapwings 11 Gadwall 10 Chiffchaff Reed Bunting Teal 4 Herons 3 Shoveler 11 Oystercatcher 3 seen Woodies 199 in fields and trees S of Lightshaw Lapwings 14 Kestrel 1 still
Most of the stuff Ian saw had moved on.
Then had to dash to the Velodrome for last day of the track championships
Here ends my Manchester and nearby birding holiday. Nice to meet people along the way. 2 lifers (one on a detour to Stoke) and 8 new County ticks - not bad!
overslept so missed the waders and rob but but had a chin wag with mr broome,29/03/08
add to dover basin 4 teal tucked away and 2 kingfisher on the small pool just after the main water,both lightshaw and dover have started to flood so waders will be hard to find till the level drops. cheers geoff
Saw a flock of 23+ waders distantly on Thursday flying between Lightshaw and Dover which I thought were Golden Plovers, so glad to have them confirmed! The pair of Pintail were still at Dover Bain with one Blackwit then.
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Judith Smith
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Lightshaw hall Flash is sacrosanct - NO paths please!
Little Owl this morning (cheers geoff) 1 Curlew in field above Lightshaw Flash 115-120 Golden Plover in flight between canal and Abram-Golborne road, went down on fields in vicinity of Lightshaw Hall several Chiffchaff
Blackwits 4 present today at 1.17pm Teal 20+ some flew off Shoveler pair Gadwall 5 Coot 7 Mute Swan 2 Pintail pair flew around the lake then departed at 1.21 - just in time to add them to my county list! Mallard 3 Heron 2 - 3rd on Lightshaw Lapwing 2 later Sand Martins 2
Lightshaw
Teal 17 (some flew in from Dover) Coot 1 Lapwing 12 Oystercatcher 2 Gadwall 2 Redshank 2 Heron 1 then 3