Along the River Glaze Common Whitethroal 1 Swallow 4 Mallard 12 Grey Heron
Windy Bank Common Whitethroat 3 Willow Warbler 4 Chiffchaffs 2 Great Spotted Woodpecker 1, another woodpecker heard drumming but unable to locate it Tree Sparrow 3 Buzzard 2 Lapwing 4 Swallow 6 Carrion crow 6
Also good numbers of Blue Tit Great Tit Long Tailed Tit Chaffinch Robin
Cuckoo - 1 (on fencepost then flew down onto grass between tufts of rushes)
Goldfinch - 1 Common Whitethroat - 6 Treecreeper - 1 (year tick) Common Buzzard - 3 Chaffinch - 4 Swallow - 1 Willow Tit - 2 Long tailed tit - 2 Lesser Black Backed Gull (over) 3 Black Headed Gull (on field) 20
Plus the usual Woodpigeon Blackbirds Great Tits Blue Tits Carrion Crows
By my standards, a species count of 28 is pretty good going, and Windy Bank was lonely and beautiful. 3 dog walkers, no other birders, few railway maintenance lads, and an individual in a very noisy microlight!
6 -8.30am windy,cold and dam right miserable when began raining. very quiet 1 Wheatear, 5 Buzzard, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, plenty Willow Warbler, Blackcap, Chiffchaff. plus usuals
family parties of Buzzard, Willow Tit, Treecreeper, Blackcap, Coal Tit, Whitethroat, Willow Warbler, Chaffinch, Long-tailed/Blue/Great Tit plus male Yellowhammer and distant Peregrine probably over Astley Moss SSSI area before heading south.
A 3hr circular mooch from the bridge at Jennets Lane, through the Forestry Commission wood and Windy Bank Farm, and back round via Bridge Farm and Hawk Hurst Farm:
1 Peregrine (over) 3 Corn Buntings (others heard singing) in tilled field South of Bridge Farm 1 Yellow Wagtail (juv) in horse paddock at Bridge Farm 1 Little Owl 2 Ravens (over) 1 Buzzard 1 Oystercatcher (over) 1 Tufted Duck (f) w/5 young on the Glaze Brook 2 Willow Tits 2 Tree Sparrows - Hawk Hurst Farm 4 Kestrels 2 Skylarks
Decided to have a nice afternoon stroll with the family around here as I hadn't been up around here for about 2 years. I have to say that the place looked absolutely lovely. The newly planted trees all look to be doing well and the meadow areas were full of wild flowers. Bird wise I saw the following: -
Cracking views of a pair of Garden Warbler literally metres away from where I was standing - just typical I didn't bring the camera!! Loads of other warbler activity. Willow warbler Chiffchaff Whitethroat Blackcap 4 Buzzard 2 Kestrel Wood pigeon Blackbird Blue tit Goldfinch Reed Bunting Pheasant Swallows Swifts Sand Martins near the river Heron
Two Buzzards and two kestrels over Windy Bank itself
The Glaze must have plenty of small fish in at the moment - starting at Hope Carr and finishing at Jennets Lane, I saw a total of five cormorants fishing.
Tufted Duck with 10 very small young on the Glaze by Jennets Lane. Mute Swan pair with 3 cygnets as above. Kingfisher on the Glaze as above. 5 Buzzard Single Kingfisher by a rather small pond at Windy Bank 1 singing Chiffchaff Couple of singing Blackcaps Pair of Yellowhammer
Whitethroats everywhere Also Blackcaps, Chiifchaffs and Willow Warblers Plenty of Treecreeper activity - at least two differents pairs - one pair nest building Swifts and Swallows Kestrel Coal Tit
-- Edited by Raymond Ashcroft on Saturday 8th of May 2010 01:35:14 PM
Garden Warbler- 1 by the entrance to Windy Bank Wood from the main track. Blackcap- 6 Whitethroat- 2 Lesser Whitethroat- 2, one singng along the entrance track in Hawthorns in the sheep fields and one singing by the big pool in Windy Bank Willow Warbler- 5 Chiffchaff- 2 Great Spotted Woodpecker- 1 Mallard with 5 ducklings on the Glaze.
Windy Bank definitely improving - I could't match Dave's number of species from yesterday but did see Min 4 Buzzards 2 Kestrels Coal Tit Redwing (min 20) and a treecreeper plus usual stuff
Apologies if this place has been covered in the general Mosses thread - do move it if so. I had my first walk around this Forestry Commision site today, very pleasant. 32 species including Willow Tit, 2 singing Coal Tit, 20 Redwing, 150 vocal Starling between wood and sheep pasture, min 5 Buzzard in vicinity, 450 Woodpigeon and 5 Stock Dove on adjacent pasture, 2 Teal nearby on River Glaze, presumably blissfully unaware that they were swimming on the GM (Wigan/Warrington) boundary
-- Edited by dave broome on Saturday 6th of March 2010 10:14:33 PM
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Saturday 13th of March 2010 09:42:12 AM