Wellington Street, Bury

Not seen anything of note for the last two weeks at work been very quiet apart from a couple of sightings of Kingfisher and Grey Wagtails.

Monday evening 17th Aug, Adelphi bridge to Cromwell rd:

Kingfisher fishing by Boniface bridge - first sighting since winter
30 Lesser-black backed Gulls
1 Swift
1 Mute swan
plus usuals

Wellington Street, Bury

All sightings from this afternoon,

1 Common Sandpiper
1 Kingfisher
1 Grey Wagtail

Wellington Street, Bury

Dipper seen this afternoon.

Wellington Street, Bury

Kingfisher seen this afternoon.

Monday 13th to Friday 17th

Wellington Street, Bury

Very quiet this week at Work, Sand Martin seen daily along with Swallow and Swift. Grey Wagtails seen Wednesday and today, Grey Heron seen Tuesday.
Kingfisher seen Monday and heard only today.
Grey Heron was seen with what looked like Crayfish on Tuesday morning.

Wellington Street, Bury

Kingfisher and Grey Wagtail seen this morning.

Wellington Street, Bury

Dipper again seen this afternoon at work, but this time cracking views, heard it calling at first then managed to locate and was seen on a branch and then onto exposed pebble area for a couple of minutes.
Grey Heron also hunting.

Today at work, Wellington Street, Bury

2 Grey Wagtails seen throughout the day on the Irwell itself and seen flying over my site numerous times.
1 Dipper
Swift and Sand Martin

Wellington Street, Bury

Dipper seen in flight this afternoon.

-- Edited by Scott robinson on Friday 26th of June 2015 06:03:42 PM

Female Goosander and Grey Wagtail seen this morning.

Elton Bury,

1 Grey Wagtail
1 Grey Heron, Attacked by a Crow, then chased off
Swift, Sand Martin and Swallow
2 Female Goosander

Single Female Goosander on Irwell this morning.

Pair of Kingfishers seen again today at work.

Working in Bury beside Irwell,

Male Sparrowhawk over site I'm working on
Kingfisher
Grey Wagtail
Pied Wagtail
Swift
House Martin
Sand Martin

Cycle ride from Drinkwater Park along the Irwell to Clifton Country park and back,

8 Buzzard,
2 Kestrel,
1 Sparrowhawk ,
3 Heron,
1 pheasant
2 Goosander one had 2 chicks the other had 8!

Walked from littleton rd upriver for a bit and back to agecroft bridge with six blackcap singing, three willow warblers teal pair at same location

The footpath upstream of Cromwell Rd will be closed for several months as the EA are constructing a flood storage basin in the area of land in the cliff opposite Kersal dale. It is a pain you can't walk down there without making a big detour.

Adelphi bridge to Cromwell road: Chiffchaff singing Jay pair Grey wagtail x2 pairs Pied wagtail x 2 pairs Tufted duck x4 pairs Little Ringed plovers Sparrowhawk Goosander x2 Teal pair Little grebe pair plus usual tits and finches Ps John - which path did you take from Cromwell bridge to philips park as the bridge is closed?

22 Cormorants roosting near the university Tufted Duck pair

From the weir downstream of Adelphi bridge to Cromwell Rd: (WEBS):

4 Goldeneye
25 Tufted duck
1 Goosander drake
Teal pair
5 Little Grebe
5 Moorhen
1 Mute swan
20 Mallard

Magpie on nest
3 Sand martins - first seen this year

17 Goldeneye this aftenoon
also, 4 Mute Swan, one from Chorlton WP and another from Sale.

A small phyllos gleaning in the trees between the crescent and the river, didn't get a good ID in bad light.

Tim Roberts wrote:

---

Amazed reading these posts. Shows what progress has been made since the early 70s when I worked at a computer centre on Mary Street adjacent to the river. In those days we used to joke that the river was so polluted you could walk across it - at least hop from one abandoned shopping trolley to the next. Our caretaker had an air rifle to fend off the coypu-sized rats. Birds were few and far between, the only relief came between June and August when a fabulous colony of swifts took over a derelict wharehouse on the Salford bank.

---

How well I remember those days Tim. We used to play by the river where it flowed to the east of the Ordsall area, and you describe it very well (although you haven't mentioned the smell). The nearest thing I have seen recently that reminded me of how it was then, was the pictures of the tsunami hitting the Japanese coast and pushing a huge wave of detritus along in front of it. The Irwell really was as full of rubbish as that. Still, you don't get the massive flocks of tufted duck and pochard that you used to get by Trafford Road swing bridge any more, so it's swings and roundabouts as always with birds.

8 goosander near Woden St Bridge yesterday (3/12/13) 4m 4f, all happily fishing.