Sewage works: 3 Goosander (2m) on river, male Great Spotted Woodpecker, pair Bullfinch, 2 Jays, Treecreeper.

Nearby at the old Station House: no Bramblings, but 8 Lesser Redpolls on feeders. Having struggled through the recent British Birds paper on Redpoll taxonomy ("the new gulls" indeed!) I paid particular attention to this flock which contained an amazing array of different plumages (including the reddest male I've ever seen) and bill sizes.

Royal George Lodge & Manns pond: 2 Mute Swan, pair Goosander, male Tufted Duck, 5 Coot, 5 Moorhen, 21 Black-headed and 4 Common Gulls.

Swans still present but not interested in bread at 10.20 this morning.

Called round to a friends nearby for a coffee and birding chat. When I returned, the swans had moved under the bridge to the Manns where they decided that the bread was quite tasty after all - and revealed that both are unringed.

Only one Little Grebe seems to be left from the trio in mid-December.

A real site rarity, John

Unless I've missed any (quite possibly!) the last Mute Swan at Royal George was a first-winter bird back in December 2006. Prior to that, a pair was around in December 2002 until the lodge became completely frozen. One of that pair was colour-ringed and turned out to be from Nottinghamshire.

Thought these birds might be worth a closer look but they didn't like the look of me, didn't come to bread and moved to the far side of the water so I couldn't check for rings.
Both appear to be 2nd winter birds.

WeBS counts this morning:

Waterside Mill (Tanners) Lodge: not one single waterbird present - and no anglers to blame either!

Royal George Lodge: 193 Canada Geese, 19 Black-headed Gulls, 13 Mallard, 5 Coot, 4 Moorhen, 3 Little Grebe and one redhead Goosander.

Grey Wagtail and singing, unringed Dipper on the river.

4th Nov, 2.00 pm. Jay on bridleway near Friezland horse arena.

4th Nov, 3.15 pm. Coot (1), moorhen (2), mallard (2m 2f) on Manns. About 50 Canada geese grazing in the field between the pond and the farm. Small party of long-tailed tits in the trees around the pond.

Lovely to see a dipper feeding in the stream alongside Greenbridge Lane (2.45 pm), apparently relaxed and totally undisturbed by the noisy building work going on just a few feet above it on the old bowling green site.

3 adult swans (almost certainly Whoopers, but they were quite high) flew over Wharmton Hill at 11.00 and headed off in the direction of Dove Stone.

Could these be the birds seen at Castleshaw yesterday?

Livened up a Winter Thrush Survey which had very few thrushes!

Intermittent swallow activity over the last few weeks. The resident swallows in the Bockin area, around Springfield Farm, gathered noisily and left a few weeks ago. Since then, groups still active around the farms on Intake Lane, but gradually getting quieter. Yesterday (21st Sept) groups feeding around Bockin again but clearly on passage rather then local.

c30 Swallows feeding low over trees at junction of Manchester Road and Well-I-Hole Road at 0845hrs

Walk from Uppermill to Royal George Lodge 15:15 - 17:30. Highlights:- 6 Dippers - inc three immatures along the river 1 Grey Wagtail 1 Jay A few Chiffchaffs and a couple of Willow Warblers. 1 drake wing-clipped Mandarin on canal. 1 singing male Goldcrest behind Alexandra Mill in Uppermill. 'Lowlight' one dead Woodock floating in canal near tesco's.

Water rail showing well at the far end of the usual ditch, best viewed from the canal towpath.
It appeared to be displaying at one point.

Water rail present this afternoon in the usual ditch.

My first Willow Warblers, Chiffchaffs and Swallows of the year this morning

Heronry seems to have lost a few nests in this week's strong winds

Royal George Lodge: 7 Tufted Duck (4m, 3f), 2 pairs Coot. No sign of Water Rail.

First willow warbler of the year singing on the bridle path near Friezland horse arena

A walk from 8 to 9-30 this morning, water rail, dipper, about 20 redwing and my first chiffchaff of the year.

5.00pm

Water rail showing well
1 heron
1 Goldcrest
1 Dipper

Yesterday - heron flying overhead on Friezland Lane in the early evening, no doubt on its way back to the heronry for the night.

Today - pair of grey wagtails at the edge of the stream on Greenbridge Lane, close to the spot where I saw one last week.

Water rail still present at 4.00pm this afternoon in the usual ditch.

Friday 22nd March

Grey wagtail in the snow on Greenbridge Lane (actually on the lane - it flew over the wall to the stream as I approached). Pied wagtail about 50 yards further on: only saw one but could hear more.

Morning Walk along Canal and River

1 Kingfisher flashed by on the river
2 Dipper one with Orange and white rings
C10 Herons at the Heronery and in Fields
3 Coot
1 Male tufted Duck
2 Cormorant
C20 Siskin
1 pair Bullfinch
5 Wren seen or heard
Chaffinch
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Long Tailed Tit
Robin
Blackbird
Jay
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Pied Wagtail
1 male Reed Bunting

6.30 pm - Heron flying along the stream towards Uppermill, crossing Chew Valley Road by the Kingfisher (pub, not bird... )

There was another dead Canada Goose at the other end of the field the previous week. I presumed a fox to be the culprit but I did also see an idiot let their sheepdog terrorise the goose flock the other day
...............................................................................

Steve, A fox kill on poultry usually results iin the head and neck being eaten, not just a few neck feathers missing ...... it's after feeding on its prey, not giving it a love-bite.
Ashleys bird sounds more of a dog being the culprit, which doesn't suprise me there as I've witnessed the same as you, on two occasions with different dogs being out of control.
Brings me to another point while I'm at it ...... the amount of dog mess on that narrow path ...... the North of England Hopscotch Champion would be lucky to get through there uncscathed.
A dog-warden would soon have the Greenfield coffers overflowing.

Roger.

hope it was okay it never seemed to move

Thought I had posted it earlier but obviously it didnt work. Dead Canada goose next to little bridge where you stand to watch water rail in Well-I-hole area. Couldn't work out how it had been killed, feathers missing from section of neck