Good to meet you Phil

The bird was very mobile. It never really held a post for singing as it was trying to feed during light rain. It occupied the roof tops around Turner St. We also viewed the bird from the top of the NCP carpark Hilton Street. Before Phil arrived it was also singing from the Arndale car park. The bird was a drab male.

The Spear St / Faraday area was checked out but I could not find any black red. Nor was there any near King Street.

I didn't see any black reds in the usual locations this afternoon. I also looked extensively elsewhere going as far as Piccadilly and beyond with nothing seen. However I got one singing high on a building between Tib Lane and King Street (near Town Hall) at 7.30pm. It flew down out of sight only to be replaced by a grey wag.

I will be doing an early morning visit tomorrow.

Cheers for the info, I did think I must have looked like a bit of a nutter wandering round an empty car park. I'll have a look at the article... still no definite sighting of a female then?

More news on the Black Redstarts...

Went up to the top of car park on Tib St this morning and discovered that there are at least two males. Both singing simultaneously from different directions. One from a block between Oldham St and Spear St, the other from the bottom of Thomas St (near Arndale).

Add to this that an RSPB staff member (outside the triangle for the Peregrines) informed me he had seen a female recently and things are looking quite good for them this year

Thanks for solving a mystery for me. I work on Faraday Street and have been hearing something singing that I didn't recognise, but distant sitings of it on chimney pots have only occured when I have not had my binoculars handy. Saw a pair of Grey Wagtails on Spear Street this morning on some fenced-off waste ground.

Thanks Ian Will try to find it

Someone pl tell me where are these black redstarts.

That's good news Steve...I have not had the bird since last Thursday although I have had a grey wag singing from the same posts. Worst time to go is Sunday evening when Gullivers on Oldam Street have a karaoke night the singing is loud and positively awful.

Male still singing on Spear Street this morning. Got to admit that I think Adrian is right about the lack of a female

Steve

Male singing from junction of Faraday St & Spear St this morning at 9.00. From there it moved to yesterday's perch to continue its attempts to attract a mate.

Steve

0ne singing & showing occasionally on roofs between Oldham St. & Spear St. 7.20 p.m.

Black redstart again singing from rooftops around Oldham Street Manchester City Centre 9.30 to 9.40am but rather mobile.

Info thanks to Tony O'Mahony

Male BX seen feeding on Buddleia on top of building in Union Street this afternoon

The Ashton - under- Lyne BXs are in a much more pleasant environment

Henry Cook wrote:

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No sign in all of the locations mentioned in brief scans this morning. More time needed probably but has anyone else seem them recently?

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Sadly no birds have been seen since Tom Willis saw a bird. It is not known if there had been any attempt to breed again and if so where? I imagine the digging up of China Lane by UU may have created so much noise that breeding may have been put off. However we just don't know and we just have to hope that the birds have escaped our attention and some chicks pop up somewhere....on an optimistic note there is a lot of very good BX territory and they may just turn up.

was in luck again last night (Monday) - within a minute of looking, one appeared at the top of renovated building, before dropping down into the building site (but remaining visible). Had my binoculars with me again and managed to get my best views yet so very pleased. There was no singing, and from Adrian's description I would guess that it was the female but am far from certain!

Male and female seen again tonight about 400 yards away from the China Lane site. I was unable to track down where they went. However it was nice to see a black red on a fence and a peregrine circling over Manchester in the same view.

It is clearly obvious that we have no chicks as yet and for what ever reason the nest site that was taken up in mid June has proved a failure. Of course I am gutted. It would seem that if there had in fact been two pairs then the other pair would have had chicks ( on the balance of probabilities). It would seem that these birds cover a much wider territory than I expected for feeding and I have a strong suspicion as to where they might be feeding when not on roofs . Each day I see the two birds brings a sigh of relief and the hope of successful breeding otherwise I imagine they would disappear.

On a slightly different note, I have met quite a few local and out of town birders, some who have come a very long way. It has been a pleasure to have met all of you. When ever I have seen a lost soul looking like birder I have usualy managed to get them to see the birds and for a few folk these birds have been lifers. It's always nice to see the look on the face of someone who has just seen a lifer...so really, it has been my pleasure.

AD

Thought I'd struck gold this evening - passed the China Lane area at 6.30pm and immediately heard some noise, looked up to see a bird feeding a juvenile high on a fire escape. My long-distance identification skills aren't particularly strong I'm afraid, but this was most likely a wagtail I think (certainly plenty of tail wagging). The adult flew back and forth a couple of times, leaving the youngster at the top of the fire escape.

Thanks and you are welcome Mike.

Male and female present again today.

Male bird singing 400 yds from China Lane site and tracked him down to China Lane.

Nice to have met you again Tom and pleased you got your lifer after a few fruitless visits.

Great to see that they're still about. Adrian - we had a chat during the Wimbledon men's final recently and I was enquiring about black redstarts. Many thanks for taking the time to talk. I live in the northern quarter and get the train from Piccadilly every morning and since we met I've been trying to keep my ears and eyes open in the China Lane area. On the way home I've been stopping around there for a few minutes at a time (approx. 6.30pm) but not seen or heard any so far. Will keep trying!

Just heard (and then seen) peregrines from our balcony. Superb!

T

-- Edited by tomw on Monday 13th of July 2009 08:20:48 PM

Black redstarts are still in the area.

sid ashton wrote:

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If I recall correctly the Balloon Street/Federation Street male last year was very pale and caused some confusion - could this year's bird be that returning male making the male and female difficult to distinguish. I am reasonably confident that the bird I saw a couple of weeks ago was a female but....

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If you go to 'Species Study' on this website you will find an excellent article by Ian McKerchar called 'Back to black redstarts in Greater Manchester'.

Also google up '331 black redstart'

Gervase Cooke wrote:

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After waiting for forty minutes we finally got a glimpse on saturday morning just before I had to go for my train. I felt rewarded for standing on a noxious corner getting odd looks from the saturday morning towners.
Thanks to Adrian and Rob for the info and to John Taylor who was there and made the spot.

I must say I left under the impression that we'd seen a male so was surprised to see your comment Adrian. Did you get any more views of her? You were concerned they may have deserted.

I'll definitely go back to see if I can get a better look at some point.

Cheers

G

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Gervase , nice to have met you. I was not able to get a fix on the sex when we saw the male. However my posting refers to sitings over the weekend after making frequent visits.

Steve....I agree very difficult to tell apart, especially with only fleeting glimpses and I do not fool myself into being an expert.

I have seen no activity over the last few days at the other site.

-- Edited by Adrian Dancy on Monday 6th of July 2009 07:44:01 PM