Ninety-nine per cent frozen this lunch-time but 156 Mallard, 35 Coot, one Little Grebe and one 'call' duck on a small unfrozen patch of Worthington Reservoir, plus seven Teal on the ice near the stream outlet on Adlington.
Two signs of spring though: a Nuthatch in full song and c120 Rooks prospecting their usual nest site near Kilhey Court.
Two male Mandarins and a female, with a Little Grebe and a few hardy Mallard and Coot on the tiny patch of unfrozen reservoir as the snow came down this morning.
At home in Hodges Street this afternoon, a front-window tick as we watched seven Redwing feeding in a holly bush in a garden opposite. Can Waxwings be far behind?
264 Herring Gulls and 5 Great Black-Backed Gulls, mainly on the embankment between Arley and Adlington Reservoirs at lunchtime, with the adult Whooper Swan next to them
1 Buzzard perched up near the Platt Lane entrance 6 Yellowhammer 23 Great Black-backed Gulls on Arley Reservoir ~ also 120+ Herring Gulls, c30 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 15+ Common Gulls and c200 Black-headed Gulls. Constant movement from the nearby landfill site.. 1 Reed Bunting 14 Fieldfare 8 Redwing 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker 2 Mistle Thrushes jealously guarding some kind of ornamental berry tree 27+ Collared Dove usual Rooks, Crows & Jackdaws.......
4 Tree Sparrows, 5 Yellowhammers & 2 Reed Buntings were loosely associating with a flock of Chaffinches which were roaming the stubble field and adjoining trees and bushes just off Chorley Road (Platt Lane end).
Around the reservoirs:
1 Goosander (redhead) 2 Sparrowhawk 2 Grey Wagtail 1 Treecreeper 1 Goldcrest 2 Great Spotted Woodpecker 3 Great Crested Grebe.
2 Yellowhammers up near the Platt Lane end. 4 Grey Wagtail 1 Sparrowhawk 1 Kingfisher 2 Little Grebe 7 Great Crested Grebe 3 Goldcrest 2 Coal Tit 25 Goldfinch 1 Cormorant & 2 Herring Gulls over.
(Today was the first time ever that a bird has shat upon me, apart from a Feral Pigeon in Edinburgh, but that doesn`t count........or does it ? . I didn`t see the culprit, but let me tell you........it was an honour )
A conservative count of 20 very flighty Yellowhammers down the track from the Platt Lane entrance. 25 + Fieldfare and a single Stock Dove in the same area.
Pair of Goosanders & 12 Great Crested Grebes on Arley Res.
Kingfisher, Treecreeper, and Goldcrest round Adlington Res.
2nd winter(?) Iceland Gull with the Herring Gulls on Arley Res at 13:55. The gulls then all moved onto Worthington Res briefly before departing north at 14:10.
Collared Dove-63 (single flock) Herring Gulls-fairly accurate count of 1800 resting on the ice of Arley Reservoir, then much tooing and froing to the tip with more tooing than froing though! Mealy Redpoll- a single, lone cracking male feeding at almost eye level and showing very well in trees at the water's edge rightby the visitor centre at 12:40 Kingfisher- 1
Happy New Year to you all Sightings today included 1m Wigeon 1m Pochard 3 Little Grebe 2 Grey Wagtail 1 Kingfisher Gulls numbers down from my last few visits but still approx 500 to and from the tip which was probably shut today but with the amount of gulls what is in the area must turn up something good soon. Also lots of Walkers about and it was freezing
Lunchtime today: 1 first-winter GLAUCOUS GULL stood on the ice at the part-frozen Arley Reservoir, approx 1400 Herring Gulls initially present, but a good two-thirds of these took up and returned to Rigby Landfill, small numbers of Great Black-Backed Gulls and very few Lesser Black-Backeds
Lunchtime today - 45 Great Black-Backed Gulls, a few hundred Herring Gulls 2 Teal, 1 Raven, also 2 Treecreeper showing well at the car park and extremely photogenic (if I had a camera) Redwing on Cotoneaster by the education centre/toilets
Just after mid-day today there were approx 1000 Herring Gulls (they all took up just before I'd finished counting 'em) and about 600 Black-Headeds, not many Lesser Black-Backeds and about the same number of Great Black-Backeds as Jimmy saw - they then nearly all went back to the Rigby Landfill site (just outside GM in Chorley Borough)
Over 1000 Gulls this Morn on the middle lake Herring ,LBB,BHG, A few Common Gulls and About 6 GBBG didnt try to count as on a walk with Wigan RSPB Also 10 Tufted 1 Pochard 5 Little Grebe 2 G C Grebe 1 Cormorant