Sightings this morning from Andy Makin, Ken Haydock and myself:
5 Ring Ouzels with 4 on the top of Winter Hill early am and a male in the pony fields at the bottom of Mast Lane, the latter of which was still present and showing well at 11:15.
2 Fieldfare flew high North over Georges Lane early am.
Single singing Willow Warbler Georges Lane and two or three singing Chiffchaff
All different birds John as they are watched coming in from a fair distance (and height) away and then watched fly well off; which considering the view from up there is a very long travel distance too! The area affords probably the best visible migration vantage points in the north-west of England and truth be known, given recent observers up there have been busy counting pipits I don't doubt one or two Ospreys may have slipped past, certainly two or three were reported from the very west of the county/East Lancashire which would have been visible from the moors had we of been looking that way at the time.
At least 55 were seen moving through the country on Monday with a further (minimum) 38 yesterday, and of course that only those which have been seen by observers! The poor weather recently certainly seems to have created something of a bottleneck and the good weather of the past two days in particular has released that with some impressive results; all the recent birds have been moving purposefully over too, no lingering or feeding etc. GM recorded its highest ever numbers in the past two days, numbers with surprisingly little overlap or duplication. Most may well have slipped through in the past couple of days now but I don't doubt that a few more will be seen before spring is over
I've looked into this a bit over the last few days after seeing a single osprey on Friday fly in off the sea whilst on a spring seawatching trip in Cornwall. Saturday saw >70 birds reported independently of each other to rare bird alert alone, and that's only the reported ones!
All different birds John as they are watched coming in from a fair distance (and height) away and then watched fly well off; which considering the view from up there is a very long travel distance too! The area affords probably the best visible migration vantage points in the north-west of England and truth be known, given recent observers up there have been busy counting pipits I don't doubt one or two Ospreys may have slipped past, certainly two or three were reported from the very west of the county/East Lancashire which would have been visible from the moors had we of been looking that way at the time.
At least 55 were seen moving through the country on Monday with a further (minimum) 38 yesterday, and of course that only those which have been seen by observers! The poor weather recently certainly seems to have created something of a bottleneck and the good weather of the past two days in particular has released that with some impressive results; all the recent birds have been moving purposefully over too, no lingering or feeding etc. GM recorded its highest ever numbers in the past two days, numbers with surprisingly little overlap or duplication. Most may well have slipped through in the past couple of days now but I don't doubt that a few more will be seen before spring is over
Is it possible all these Ospreys sightings up on the moors are not the same bird, as last night one was also seen at white coppice? Its possible that one day that one could take up Summer residency on one of the reservoirs up there eventually. If not there are a lot of Ospreys about and passing through. :)
-- Edited by JOHN TYMON on Wednesday 8th of April 2015 06:31:09 AM
9229 Meadow Pipits and in Spring? Are you two suffering some kind of altitude sickness or something?
Thats more than fairly remarkable, that's the highest Spring count ever in the UK, the previous best count was 6827 over Scolt Head in April 2006, not bad for a small inland county!
-- Edited by Simon Warford on Tuesday 7th of April 2015 06:53:46 PM
As I've said elsewhere; I was merely shouting numbers at him, he did all the adding up...
9229 Meadow Pipits and in Spring? Are you two suffering some kind of altitude sickness or something?
Thats more than fairly remarkable, that's the highest Spring count ever in the UK, the previous best count was 6827 over Scolt Head in April 2006, not bad for a small inland county!
-- Edited by Simon Warford on Tuesday 7th of April 2015 06:53:46 PM
Other sightings from this morning to early afternoon from Andy Makin and myself include:
A fairly remarkable 9229 Meadow Pipit moving through very steadily on a very broad front across the moors, with the vast majority up to 9am but still moving through though much weaker when we left. 2 Twite over 9 Fieldfare through 3 Curlew 33 Wheatear (including some individuals counted by Ken Haydock)
Visited this afternoon starting from walker fold wood, round holdens farm and back down burnt edge.
Not much about but I saw the following:
Meadow pipit,
Pied wagtail,
Sparrowhawk,
Wren,
Robbin,
The highlight was a large mixed flock on the edge of walker fold wood containing, many goldfinch, redpoll, blue tit, great tit, coal tit. The noise was fantastic.
Burnt Edge to Holdens farm circular this morning, with dog. Buzzard...2... a smallish Buzzard perched 40 yards from the parking spot on Burnt Edge lane. Flew off then returned to perch. Kestrel...3 a pair displaying and hunting together behind Holdens Raven...1 Grey Heron ...1 Pied Wagtail...2
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With quite a bit of vismig over North yesterday morning and a single Wheatear present too, today followed up likewise with the following of note through between Two Lads Hill and Winter Hill:
Ringtail Hen Harrier at 07:15 Female Merlin N at 08:40 282 Meadow Pipit 150 Chaffinch 48 redpoll
Mid morning visit around Walker Fold /Burnt Edge didn't produce too much. A flock of around 40 Goldfinches and a few Coal Tits were about the most interesting things along the path at the side of Walker Fold woods. There were at least 3 Common Buzzards and 4 Kestrels in the area. Highlight of the morning was a calling Chiffchaff in Sugar Loaf Plantation.
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I had a walk round walker fold wood, holdens farm and burnt edge today. I saw a mixed flock which included blue tit, great tit, coal tit and goldfinch. Also a treecreeper showed well. At least 4 buzzards counted and a single kestrel. But the highlight was a very fast low flying hen harrier. It was quite dark brown but the white rump/ top part of the tail really stood out. Great to see even if it was fleeting.
Only Meadow Pipit seen today was as I got near the road at Walker Fold
Other birds seen scattered around the above areas :- Pheasants, Black-headed Gull, Wrens, Dunnocks, Robins, Blackbirds, Long-tailed Tits, Great Tits, Blue Tits, Magpies, Carrion Crows, Chaffinches.
Walk covering Matchmoor Lane - Burnt Edge - Holdens Plantation - Gilligants Farm - Colliers Row
Saturday 31st January 2015. 12:00 - 14:30 hrs.
Flock of Bullfinch x 15 (Holdens Plantation). My wife thought there were some Brambling interspersed Kestrel x 3 Robin Stonechat (1M and 2F) near Gilligants Farm Long Tailed Tits, Goldfinch, Blue Tit, Great Tit behind Colliers Row
Wind chill factor at top of Burnt Edge today took our breath away. But grateful it was dry and sunny!!!
Female type Snow Bunting flushed from the side of Mast Road at 1:30pm today; approximately 200 metres north of the barriors by the track with the wooden gate on the west side of the road were it bends round. Bird was flushed and didn't seem to fly far but could not be relocated.
Misty conditions. Walk from Matchmoor Lane - Burnt Edge - Mast Road - Gilligants Farm - Colliers Row. Good to walk off a few calories after yesterday's Christmas Lunch!!!
Kestrel x 2 Buzzard Great Spotted Woodpecker Female Stonechat Great Tit Goldfinch x 20 Chaffinch Robin Blackbird Carrion Crow Flock of Redwing on field near Collier's Row Saw Buzzard at side embankment of M61 on way back home to Eccles
-- Edited by Steve Judge on Friday 26th of December 2014 05:15:06 PM
Male Merlin perched by Holdens Farm yesterday and four Tree Sparrow were down in hawthorns by farm yesterday morning too, but only 22 Bramblings were present today.
Over 250 Brambling in Holdens Plantation this morning.
Also at dusk, 14 single Woodcock counted leaving roosts probably around Walker Fold viewed from at the top of Newfields where birds were coming down in fields to feed.
100 + Brambling at Holden's Plantation. While there - saw male Sparrowhawk kill Woodpigeon - looked like an exploding pillow. Kestrel Chaffinch Great Tit Blue Tit Goldfinch Heron Woodpigeon x lots Carrion Crow 1 female and 1 male stonechat in field north of Hampson Farm Mistle thrush Wren Magpie
Amazingly - 2 Red Admiral butterflies on post next to bridge on path between Holdens farm and Gilligants Farm - lovely sunny day for end of November!
-- Edited by Steve Judge on Saturday 29th of November 2014 04:47:58 PM
Wing-barred Crossbills are not uncommon, though the vast majority are relatively poorly so (certainly in comparison with Two-barred Crossbill) but there have been some extremely well marked individuals in the UK too. In discussion with Andy Makin this evening, he commented that he annually sees wing barred Common Crossbills up on the Horwich Moors.
I first picked up these birds on calls, and from the outset they struck me as those of common crossbills, though not quite as "ringing" or as far carrying as some I hear. (The difference can perhaps be attributable to the different acoustic effect of the immediate landscape and/or the mood and age of the birds calling at any particular time. I find them at their most strident typically in general excitement when they are about to take flight).
I didn't hear any calls from the Binn Green adult male bird earlier this year which John Rayner heard giving its "toy trumpet" variant call, so it was nice to listen to your suggested link; thanks for that.
Regards, Mike P.
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Today's Crossbills at Walker Fold Wood were feeding exclusively on larch trees, ignoring the pine cones seemingly available close by, and from what I could see of them amidst the camouflage effect of the golden yellow of the foliage, they were all fem/imm birds (yellow- rumped with admixture of yellow/green tones, with no hint of rufous on any indicative of imm males). Counting the birds was difficult and I had the feeling that other birds were calling which were outside the immediate close knit group in my 'scope view. Presently they flew around in a wide overhead arc when my tentative count of 7 suddenly became 17, (though in flight in the poor light they were little more than silhouettes).
I therefore was not able to grill every individual as I should have wished, and could therefore have missed a possible male bird or two. One individual, which I saw quite well as it was perched in full view "side on" showed two clear white wing bars (tips to greater and median coverts) though these were uniformly narrow and far from the distinctive shape and thickness sported by Two -barred adults, (I neglected at the time to consciously check if it showed any tertial tipping, but I think not).
Although aware from the literature that Common Crossbill can show wing bars, despite having seen many hundreds before, I haven't personally seen one with wing bars ever, until today's encounter, and to someone who may not be familiar with Two-barred sp. I can well see how this could mislead the unwary.
Introducing a further element, I've never seen juv. Two-barred Crossbill either before, and the illustration in "Collins" of juv. Two-barred (which DO like larch), comes very close to the appearance of what I was seeing today; - NOT making any daft claims here of course, but it does pay to study anything "a bit different" when the opportunity is there.
I was watching the birds for some 20 minutes either side of 13.00; they finally took flight a second time and headed off across the valley in the direction of Gilligants Farm. A dog walking birder "Terry" shared my 'scope views for part of the time, (although his his dog "Shadrack" wasn't bothered, and had perhaps seen Crossbills before?)
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