There was a peregrine flying low over the A6 near sainsburys around 11:30am with an unfortunate jackdaw sized bird struggling in its tallons! Amazing to watch, the peregrines never get boring!

Hazel Grove Golf Course.

43 House Sparrows (single flock)
8 Bullfinches
Buzzard mobbed by Crow
3 Common Snipe
1 Jack Snipe (The Jack circled in the same binocular view as 1 of the commons allowing suberb direct comparison).

A small flock of Gulls comprised c12 Herring, 1 ad LBB Gull and 2 ad GBB Gulls. The latter are scarce round these parts

Also some Water (or 19-spot) Ladybirds on the dead Typha. I'll put a photo on the Manchester Wildlife website.

Cheers, John

Now Mr. Rayner; you cover the golf course, do you not? Have you taken to suppressing stuff of late?

(Both those Tits would add a touch of quality to many a G M list).

A walk over HGGC this morning. Only common species but noticeably more birds about, especially blackbirds. Of note was 1 treecreeper and 1 buzzard with grey wagtail heard overhread.

The pool held 5 mallard, 5 moorhen, 2 coot and a little grebe.

Cheers, John

A short saunter around yesterday:
Kestrel mobbed by 6 Swallow and some House Martins
Female Mandarin took off from pool (the clay lined one)
GS Woodpecker and plenty of Nuthatch, inc. young.
Very vocal Chiff Chaff's
Chris H

11.00 - 13.00.

Had a walk around the quieter areas of the golf course this lunchtime and recorded everything that moved or sang:

Chaffinch 7
Blue Tit 9 (inc family party)
Magpie 6
Wren 8
Chiffchaff 14 (inc 2 family parties)
Blackbird 13
Nuthatch 3
Robin 7
Wood Pigeon 14
Bullfinch 2
Great Tit 17 (inc family party)
Buzzard 1
LT Tit 15 (inc family party)
Blackcap 1
Jay 2
Swallow 6
Willow Warbler 3
Mistle Thrush 3
House Martin 5
Song Thrush 5
Coot 5 (inc 3 young)
Kestrel 1
Great Spt Woodpecker 5 (inc family party)
Heron 1
Greenfinch 4
Goldfinch 2
House Sparrow 7
Collared Dove 1
Starling 12
Carrion Crow 9
LBB Gull 1
Swift 7

So, 190 individuals of 32 species in 2 hours. Not a great return but I suppose it was the quiet time of the day. Best record was probably 2 female or teneral Broad-bodied Chasers so I'll put them on the Manchester Wildlife website.

Cheers, John

A nice walk in the morning sunshine produced 34 species the best of which were

Chiffchaff 11
Nutcatch 5
Blackcap (1 male)
Sparrowhawk (1 display)
Buzzard 4
Swallow 1
Grey Wagtail 2

Cheers, John

So thats what Mr.Rayner was doing with that cardboard box the other morning! I saw him sneaking back to his house just before daylight.

He will do anything to get a new bird on his Stockport list...............

Hazel Grove Golf Course 7.00 - 8.30

31 species the best bits being Buzzard, 4 Treecreepers, Chiffchaff and a White Wagtail

1st February

A spectacular flock of Jackdaws flying NE at 07.15 over our house. I estimated c2300 in a single elongated flock. Every bird seemed to be calling - so very noisy even through double glazing.

Cheers, John

25th Dec.
During a spare hour before the onslaught of food and drink I visited Hazel Grove Golf Course. The primary target, Woodcock, were not at the usual site but the Lesser Redpoll that flew over is uncommon here.
A Mistle Thrush tirelessly defended a heavily berried Holly bush from 3 Fieldfare, 4 Redwing and a rival Mistle Thrush with a Great Spot calling nearby.
On the small pool by the footpath were 12 Moorhen and 3 Coot. I then flushed a Jack Snipe which I almost trod on, my 116th local (SJ98 10k square) bird of the year, equalling last year's total.

26th Dec.
Today a Jack Snipe was flushed from a different pool in a normally inaccessible part of the golf course. Here also was a nice fly-by Woodcock, 25 Goldfinch and 12 Redwing.

A belated Happy Christmas to everyone,

Cheers, John

Re the large number of Jackdaws, I play hockey on Wednesday nights at Bramhall High School 7pm - 9pm. Throughout September and October when it was a little lighter I could sometimes see but always hear 100's roosting in the tall trees at the back of the sportsfield. I believe the area is called Ladybrooke?

Each evening large numbers of Jackdaw overfly my garden in Hazel Grove. They all fly southwest and seem locked onto a regular flight path which has fairly narrow width of no more than 1-200 metres. They are very noisy as they swirl close overhead and the whole experience is quite Hitchcock-like. I had a go at a count today but as the larger flocks fly low and come into view suddenly I have to count them in blocks of 50.

15.30 - 16.00.

2 large flocks of c550 and c750 plus many smaller groups made a total of 1373 in half an hour.

I believe they roost in the Adlington area.


Cheers, John

About 10 years ago the Disley Tunnel spoil tip at SJ947960 was one of those rare spots in Stockport where Linnets still survived, until that is the land owner decided to drag a chain through the gorse. Breeding Linnets were a memory. This morning, fighting the weather, I finished the TTV survey and recorded two Linnets close by the spoil tip!
Has anyone seen many Linnets in Stockport in recent times?

John

Does "interacting" mean "scaring the hell out of them"?

Hazel Grove Golf Course

A short walk up to the club house. Nothing special - plenty of warblers

Blackcaps (4)
Chiffchaff (2)
Willow Warbler
Garden Warbler
Bullfinch
House Martin (2)
Swift (2)
GS Woodpecker
Buzzard low overhead

Hazel Grove Golf Course (SJ98i)

A couple of hours round HGGC this afternoon produced not a lot. Best bits were Woodcock (2), Buzzard (2), Jay (2), House Sparrows (c10), Redwing (6), LBB Gull overflying and noisy Jackdaws (296) flying to roost, plus common passerines.

Cheers, John

Thanks for the translations chaps, and I don't do demeaning. Might call a spade a bloody shovel though..Yes if anyone wants to see a Dipper close up it can be arranged. South Manchester Ringing Group have chosen to work on Dippers partly because there is a shortage of birds and bird species in Stockport.; any body seen a Acro warbler in recent years for example. Andy Bissett will explain if necessary, but he has vividly expressed his views on a wider forum than this sadly to no avail, SMBC talk a good bird. With the disappearance of the Middlewood Way Yellowhammer about ten years ago sightings have been more or less confined to Watermeetings and Goyt Hall and some years ago a feeding station was set up at Chadkirk in the hope of attracting Yellowhammers and Tree Sparrows. As far as I know this did not achieve its objective.

County boundaries frequently follow rivers or streams and within one Gabb of my home (a unit of measure equal to the radial distance walked by Richard on a birdind session) there is a three county point at Strines and the 'G.M/c' Chashire border on Bollin/Norbury Brook.A recent valuable spot of Dipper near Norbury Hollow is good winter Atlas stuff but sadly arrived too late for recently published Cheshire Atlas. My point is simply that 'listers' should count a boundary bird on both county lists. Simple as that.

Ian,

You also have to take into account that Tony is a 'Yorkie' !! His humour is as dry as a stick and everything he does with regards to birds is with nothing but good intentions.
I know him well and if people like him (and most of us I think) had his way, birds would be treated like the Supercreatures they are with every other concern relegated into a very distant second place.

So remember to translate everything Tony says into Manc or Lancs speak before you try to work out what he's trying to say!!

Ian McKerchar wrote:

---

tonywilkinson wrote:

---

Since birds can fly I don't think that we should be having these esoteric discussions. .

I think you miss the whole original intention of this forum Tony and does your comment really purport to mean that we shouldn't be discussing Dipper sightings because they should be intended for 'people with special knowledge or interest'? If so I find demeaning to both myself and others on this forum.


Ian - I think you have misunderstood Tony's comments. I think he's just saying it doesn't matter (to the birds) whether they are on Greater Manchester side of the river or not!

I can assure everyone that Tony is not an elitist. I've been out and about with him quite a bit this year, helping with the Dipper studies and he (and the rest of the team) are keen to explain what they are doing to passers-by, whether they are birders or not. At Uppermill a few weeks back he showed a Dipper to a local dog walker who was absolutely amazed - he'd walked his dog there everyday for donkey's years and never seen one.

-- Edited by Steve Suttill at 17:53, 2008-12-16

tonywilkinson wrote:

---

Since birds can fly I don't think that we should be having these esoteric discussions. .

I think you miss the whole original intention of this forum Tony and does your comment really purport to mean that we shouldn't be discussing Dipper sightings because they should be intended for 'people with special knowledge or interest'? If so I find demeaning to both myself and others on this forum.

This forum was set up so county birders could share their sightings and discuss both them and other items relating to county and out of county birding and that is exactly what this and every other thread is doing. The fact that postings within it have been utilised for the county database was not the forum's intention, that has been a sideline of it's popularity, however productive and important it has become.

As for your comments "The records should go to both county recorders, in case heaven forbid, neither of them gets the records", do you not think that seeing as I am Assistant County Recorder for Greater Manchester anyway, that's exactly what I do, not to mention the fact that the vast majority of birders on this forum do the same too?

Probably for the reasons you state Dippers are not normally seen on Torky Brook but there can be a lot of water in the Goyt at this time of year. The pair here are more likely to be seen on the brook leading past the Chadkirk car park. I've spent too much time looking unsuccessfully for the nest on this territory; perhaps a decent birder could help me out?!

Ian,

A while ago you reported a Dipper on Torkington Brook at Higher Danbank but I've just searched and can't hit that particular thread. However, it's loosely in the Hazel Grove area so I've posted here. I've been asking around and it appears this may be the first Dipper record for that area. I'd be interested if other posters have older records from Torkington Brook.

Cheers, John

Dear esteemed Mr. Rayner,
How wide is Norbury Brook? I should respectfully suggest that it is easy to calculate the whereabouts of the mid point at any given spot and then to follow your concsience accordingly.
Here in the north east ( which as you know is renowned for the integrity of its observers), if a rare species is found at the mouth of the R. Tees, which is some 100's of metres across, we always try to assess which side of the midpoint is the bird, as a prerequisite for counting it.
Many are the times therefore when I have stood in the full blast of a sub zero snowstorm, often in vain, hoping that a diver or rarer grebe will drift towards the north side in order to be admitted to my Durham year list. The situation is mirrored on our northern recording boundary, the R. Tyne when we can see Iceland Gulls etc at the N. Shields fishquay, but cannot count them unless they fly south of the midpoint towards S. Shields.
You could of course wear wellies, and jump into the brook and chase your Dipper into GM (without owning up to this of course). The water is too deep in the Tees and the Tyne to do this (damn!).