Jan 4th (9.30 - 12.00)

I put seed down around Sunny Corner and gave it an hour but no Willow Tit. Loads of Great, Blue and Coal Tits, 3 Nuthatches, 1 Treecreeper, 2 Jays and a Tawny Owl heard.

On the river 3 Teal and a drake Goosander. Overall a total of 32 Mandarin Ducks. No sign of the Egyptian Goose but I'm sure it's around somewhere.

Cheers, John

Had a lovely walk in the sunshine with the girlfriend and the dog this afternoon.
The usual stuff on and around the mill ponds.
3 goosander on the river (2m, 1f).
Up in the forest past the weir were 5+ goldcrest, 1 treecreeper (a good spot by my girlfriend) and the usual blue, coal and great tits.
All in all, lots of people and not many birds (except for the ones that like bread!)

Monday 3 January

At Sunny Corner we had either a Marsh or Willow Tit this lunchtime - clear views but I am not sufficiently familiar with these birds to confirm the ID either way. Any views? Plenty of nuthatches, and great, blue and coal tits and treecreeper mostly coming to the well-stocked feeders. I pair goosander on the river. Nice party of 12 long tailed tits at the hide. 1 GS woodpecker also, plus plenty of the commoner stuff.

Dec 23rd 8.45 - 10.45.

Mandarins - only 12 seen
1 male Goosander
Uncounted Mallard
Uncounted Canada Geese but well into triple figures of these.
6 Moorhen
c20 Coot
1 Egyptian Goose
2 Mute Swans
5 Tufted Duck

Small birds appear to be suffering here. No Long-tailed Tits (again) 2 Coal Tits and only a scattering of Blue/Great Tits. Only 2 Greenfinches and 4 Goldfinches seen.

Wrens, Blackbirds and Nuthatches seem to be doing OK.

Cheers, John

Didn't get a really good look at it, it flew back down the path behind me and dropped over the river bank. Perhaps this will encourage more people to spend a little more time scanning the area rather than sitting in the hide watching the river roll past.

-- Edited by Tony Mario on Saturday 4th of December 2010 10:28:02 AM

I know you dont like disscusions running on the sightings board, but another factor to consider is that the bird must have seen me coming along the long straight path to its postion for at least 75m but didn't move til I was only about 1.5-2m (made me jump!). I have never walked so close to Common in all my birding days.

I've monitored a site for both species for many years and have only ever seen 2 or 3 Common Snipe flush silently and fly a fairly short distance. In each case they were flushed from several yards away and landed 30 -50 yards away.
As Ian says Common Snipe can sometimes flush silently so on its own is useless as an indicator of Jack, as is flying a short distance.
However I can say that every snipe I've seen showing all the criteria of the following has been a Jack Snipe.

1 Flushing from almost underfoot
2 Silent
3 Flying a very short distance - almost all I have seen, less than 30 yards, and on the site I monitor often only 10-15 yards.
4 Very straight flight - to me, even when flying a short distance the flight of Common can be a little erratic.
The site that I monitor is a very small site whilst I suspect that the sites Ian monitors are much larger. This may well be the reason why more of the Common Snipe he sees, alight a short distance away. At the site I record, a flight of more than 20 yards would put the Common Snipe into a fairly dry area of rough pasture. Which probably explains the fact that the vast majority that I see fly off into the distance.
Another criteria that Ian mentions, namely the weather can of course cause birds to behave aberrantly. For arguments sake let us assume that the bird was a Common Snipe : the weather has been so extreme that the bird could have been more reluctant to fly a greater distance than usual, if it had found an unfrozen area in which to feed. Although it is a fairly small marsh area near the hide there are a couple of springs there that rarely freeze.
On reflection on second thoughts I feel that it is very probably a Jack Snipe Tony saw - however particularly taking into account the weather, in all honesty a Common cannot be ruled out.

I understand your comment of habitat counts for nothing during this weather. But qoting Collins, "Breeds in extensive waterlogged bogs. on passage and in winter, muddy pool margins etc" which fits the bill for the area behind the hide, an area much overlooked in my opinion perhaps the hide should be turned round to face the other way it may be more productive.

Certainly not heard of any records of Jack Snipe, but it is a known site for Woodcock, so a JS is a strong possibility.

I've been a regular at Etherow CP for 30 years and have never recorded Jack Snipe and have seen very few Common Snipe ( I did once see a Dunlin perch on ice at the edge of the river). None of the regular birders I know have recorded them there as far as I know.
From your description despite a brief view I would say you have without doubt recorded a Jack Snipe.

Does anyone have a record of Jack Snipe here? Pretty sure I flushed one from the side of the boardwalk up to the hide this aftenoon. It didn't flush til I was on top of it, silent short flight and the habitat is perfect, but all too fast for positive ID.
Also today,
2 Buzzard
2 Raven
12 Lesser Redpoll
1 Little Grebe
2 Goosander
c6 Teal
Egyptian Goose stood feedding on bird table
Sparrowhawk being chased thru woods by Crow
plus all the usual cast.

Peregrine NW over St Paul's Church and a flock of c30 Lapwing high East

Cheers, John

6 Goosander (Lodge Pool)
2 Egyptian Geese (1 Lodge Pool, 1 Hide)
1 Kingfisher (Hide)

Cheers, John

11/10/10 14:40 - 16:40

c100 Black Headed Gulls
c25 Mandarins
1 Cormorant
5 Long-Tailed Tits
2 Blue Tits
3 Moorhens
1 Song Thrush
1 Greater Spotted Woodpecker
1 Dipper @ Weir
c20 House Sparrows
1 Dunnock
2 Magpies
1 Egyptian Goose

@ Keg Pool
2 Mute Swans
1 female Goosander
1 Egyptian Goose
5 Mandarins
1 Little Grebe
5 Coots
2 Moorhens

7-8pm Mon

I have never seen so few birds on the water. a handful of mallard, 3 Coote, 3 White geese, and that was about it. No grebe, No Mandarin. The only redeeming feature was a Dipper just down from the weir.

Can I just extend this topic to include Compstall as a whole (as it is often better than Etherow CP anyway).

A couple of hours out this p.m. had a nice couple of highlights. Firstly, a Green Woodpecker was heard calling, and this subsequently flew out of Redbrow Wood and across onto Lower Watermeetings Farm where it landed on a fence post!

Near the end of my tramp round, I stopped on the track to Brabyns Park to look across the Etherow valley where a hobby flew from behind me, across Compstall ETW, and away towards the telephone mast behind Cherry Tree estate, Romiley. The start of another autumn run of local sightings?

The best of the rest were:-

Buzzard (as usual)
Kestrel (m & f)
Common Gull (1 on farm fields)
Stock Doves (2)
Grey Wagtails (3)
Bullfinch (h)

Also not bad for butterflies - see Manchester wildlife site.

At least one Common Crossbill this morning from Ernocroft Wood, on the lower trail.
Many roving flocks too .6 Treecreepers, Chiff Chaff, 2 Nuthatch, 3 GS Woodpecker, many yopung Coal tit,2 Goldcrest
2 Stock Doves, 2 Tufted Duck, 4 Jay.
27 Mandarins, 2 Kingfishers, and Shoveler still.
Main lake GC Grebe and Egyptian Goose. Sparrowhawk over with prey.

Worth the constant mizzle!
Chris H

2 Little Egrets this morning on main lake, until flushed by a Common Buzzard at 9.15. Flew towards Marple Bridge.
Also female Shoveler on CWT pond, 36 Mandarins, 2 GS Woodpeckers, Egyptian Goose,
Sparrowhawk, 7 Jays and 3 Chiff Chaff
Chris H

I was doing a Bird Atlas count here yesterday (I'm afraid I can only do the late summer ones is poor weather, otherwise I get distracted by butterflies and dragonflies), and was stood by the 'canal' counting ducks and stuff. They obviously thought 'here's some nutter out in the rain with food' and came swarming out from cover. This was fair enough, but some behaviour was new to me, mostly because I'd thought they were only 'semi' tame. Six or seven of the mandarins climbed out of the water, up the bank and stood around literally at my feet!! Has anyone else seen this before? Anyway suffice it to say they looked even more cute at point blank range than they normally do. I hope though that they are not all going to become like the geese and other odd assortment of the cafe area.

I was delighted to find a female Redstart in the same area where the male was singing earlier this year,

Cheers, John

10 Mandarin, straggly eclipse males included.
One pair had 8 young on the canal between main lake and weir
Egyptian Goose, Nuthatch, 3 Chiff Chaff, Blackcap, 2 Great crested Grebes,
Buzzard, Tufted Duck other highlights.
Chris H

Saturday 5th June 7.00-8.30am

A quietish morning.

A Dipper by the weir, accompanied shortly afterwards by a Grey Wagtail.
1 Jay
1 Grey Heron on the Pond
Several Greylag geese, among others.

I also have an unidentified white duck if anybody can help me out? Afraid I am not the best with wildfowl.

It is all white, slightly smaller than a Mallard with quite a small head and a bright orange beek. It was on the river this morning moving in towards the bank and the shelter of the over hanging trees. Any suggestions welcome.

Thanks
Adam

Went back last night Woodcock hunting - nothing! Did hear those slightly-suspicious calls again - from the stand of trees to the right of the path if you continue on up the main path before the turn off to the left. The irritating Egyptian Goose managed to keep interrupting the silence from all the way down near the farm.

Visit sunday morning - baby Mandarin Ducklings and older "Cootlings" galore (the former near the hide). Heron near the visitors' centre. Grey Wagtails (with young) and Dipper from the weir and also a Dipper flew along in front of the hide. One immature cormorant in its tree. A few Chiffchaffs, Goldcrests and Blackcaps. Willow warblers across the Etherow from the far end of Keg Pool. Plenty of Nuthatches (although few now calling) and a couple of GS Woodpeckers. Found neither Treecreeper, Redstart nor Kingfisher.

Thanks for the info on the species I asked about.
I had a late evening walk around the Keg tonight and ended up sitting on the Woodcock Bench from 9:15 until 10:30. Plenty of bats but no roding woodcock :(
I did though hear a couple of what may have been woodcock calls but that ID is far from certain. The two individual calls came from up in the trees quite close to me and then the originators flew off in the direction of the furthest end of the Keg but I could barely even make out the movement of them, never mind get any idea of size or shape as it was just so dark by then!
Apart from something sizeable trotting through the bluebells up in the trees behind me and a badger back near my car, that was it apart from a distant tawny owl!
The redstarts kept quiet too