On the golf course , partial song thrush serenade . On the large pond , veryvery first male and two female merganser . On the rough track , pair of reed bunting . Joy !
Along a path , by the golf course , in this glorious sunshine , a goldcrest searching for food , keeping just ahead of me , completely unconcerned . Breeze - borne banners of gossamer attest to the quantity of spiders and their prey . Joyful sight !
A cormorant circled , then landed , on the large pond on Walmersley golf club . Did not see it dive . Explored the water , then departed less than five minutes later . A first for me , here .
Deep Moss . A dozen lapwing feeding in field . Single curlew , partial song and partial display . Raven calling and quartering the hillside . Smashin .
Walmersley golf club, Deep moss, longcroft lodges and back to Walmersley.
walmersley golf. 4x pied wagtail on fairways,
Large flock of finches in the larches at the end of castlehill rd, Siskin,redpoll & goldfinch, plus a brambling ( m ) showing signs of a black hood developing.
Deep moss. A pair of graylag geese ( one of which is very pale, but not a farm goose )
Mixed flock of smaller gulls working their way across the moss 80/20% bh/common split.
10x lapwings over,towards Ashworth moor res.
2x greenfinch by Cabus nabb farm
50+ fieldfare in field across the lane.
longcroft. 12x long tailed tits
Nuthatch
Treeecreeper.
windacre lodge. 8x moorhens feeding together near the bridge
Walk through gorses quarry, Walmersley golf course Footpaths and into Chesham woods.
gorses quarry. 2x song thrush singing at full belt .......MAGIC !
Atleast 10x robins singing,
Plenty of tit activity with numerous pairs of blue, great and coal tits around.
Long tailed tits still in a flock ( of about 10 )
2x dunnock singing very quietly (still in pre-season training)
3x jay one of which gave a very good carrion crow impression. I have heard buzzard before, but not crow.
walmersley golf . All hedges were busy, 25+ Goldfinch, with chaffinch, bull finch & redpoll also present.
2x mistle thrush
4x pied wagtails on the fairways.
Looking across to leeks's water 54x rooks and similar number of jackdaws in the field . They all seemed restless, moving regularly , 40 woodpigeon were up in a tree. Then I saw the cause, a fox making it's way along the hedge.
This morning, walk through gorses quarry, Walmersley golf course, spring side and fields to east of ELR Burrs cp halt.
fallen branches from an aspen provided seeds for approx 40 goldfinches on Limefield Brow.
gorses quarry. At least 10 singing robins , 2x great spotted woodpeckers , 2x goldcrest, mixed flock of tits ( most long tailed) a small group of goldfinch joined by a small group of redpoll and Siskin in the top branches of silver birch And a grey heron ( adult ) surveying the frog pools.
walmersley golf course (holes 3-5 ) 2x male goosander on pond by 3rd hole/ 4th tee. Common gull, 2x pied wagtails and 40x Canada geese on the fairways. On the farm fields by leeks' water a mixed flock of rook and jackdaws, along with 10x magpies ( trying to look inoccent ). 2x Ravens over as was a constant flow of gulls , including 4x great black backed.
springside to burrs. House sparrows in good numbers , blackbirds and dunnock numbers up, 15x redwing.
east of ELR burrs cp halt. Common gull, black headed gull and 2x herring gull as is now usual. Plenty of finches in the bushes, gold,bull and chaffinches.
I heard a blackbird singing frantically. Across the field towards touch rd, it headed straight towards me with a sparrowhawk (m) in very close pursuit, another 6 ft it would have made the hedge, it didn't and after a brief struggle the blackbird numbers had dropped again.
Yesterday in field to the east of the east lancs rly Burrs halt.
A little egret, initially being harassed by magpies then shadowed by two jackdaws.
also a jack snipe flushed from boggy area by a common gull. The common gull is more or less resident along with a black headed gull ( often together ) and a pair of herring gulls.
today a yellowhammer feeding on the road up to Nangreaves.( seen from the bus by a friend of mine )
Last evening , 5 30 ish , on the golf course , flushed a snipe from the undergrowth , whilst retrieving golf ball . First one here in twenty seven years . Exhilarating .
Buckhurst (towards deeply vale from Nangreaves ) yesterday morning.
huge flock of fieldfare (at least 150 birds ) along with redwing and starlings. Very mobile, initially in fields by the path into deeply vale and then along tree line into Buckhurst. After a brew at Buckhurst lodge cafe (me not the birds ) the flock had split up with the redwing moving away towards Ashworth res area.
Walk from pigslea brow down towards Burrs country park, but stay on the east side of the railway.
whitethroat and song thrush singing near pigslea brow, chiffchaff further along.
drop into the valley and turn sharp right for the scrubby area. Bull, gold, green and chaff finches all with young. Chiffchaff, willow warbler & lesser whitethroat (family group). Jay, magpie and jackdaws.
across fields to the railway. 4x herons roosting on hawthorns near station. 4x magpies sat looking all innocent nearby (as I have a springer spaniel I know this look to be far from innocent!) & whitethroat along the railway line.
Pigslea brow, just a quick burst of grasshopper warbler this morning, whitethroat still vocal along with dunnock, song thrush & chiffchaff. Hilarious encounter with a young song thrush that wasn't tall enough for the huge worm it was trying to pull out of the ground. Lots of l b b gulls in a steady flow south.
For Fred Ford, pigslea brow is the dip in Walmersley road just to the Bury side of Walmersley traffic lights.. The area in question is on the right as you travel towards Bury. A good footpath skirts the grassland (heading towards Burrs c p.)
This circuit is similar to yesterday but extended through Nangreaves and over Harden moor to the cheesden valley,through Deeply vale then deep moss and Walmersley golf club.I only put on one thread because I start and finish in Walmersley, please let me know if this is ok or if you would prefer to have it split onto separate threads.
Nangreaves and over Harden moor was very quiet, except for a lot of Ravens about, this was a feature of the day with more Ravens than I have seen in this area.culminating with a display of flying by 4 together which was spectacular.There were plenty of buzzards about all circling on thermals, one thermal also had two smaller birds of prey, probably sparrowhawk but did look more falcon like at times.
deeply vale was very busy with people but up on top overlooking Deep moss much quieter. The pond on deep moss had 24x teal, 2x curlew & 2x snipe. A pair of stonechat and 2x skylark were the only small birds, no meadow pipits! I counted 7x pairs of lapwing & 2x pairs of curlew from this point and at least 20 x lapwing & 30 x starling swirling about over the moss.
walmersley golf club. Each pond had mallard and moorhen pairs and each fairway had black headed gulls, jackdaws and wood pigeon. A pair of stock doves , 3x goo sander ( heading to Ashworth moor res ) numerous gulls flew over ,as did a peregrine falcon with purpose,not hunting heading towards Heywood, or Rochdale .
Circuit of long rift mill lodges, deep moss, Walmersley golf course footpaths.
longcroft. 3x treeecreeper, blue, coal, great & longtailed tits, song thrush, blackbird, robin & wren all singing. A nice surprise was a kingfisher on the top lodge ( now partially refilled ) .trees a little further up towards Buckhurst held approx 30x redwing & 15x fieldfare.
Deep moss. 15x fieldfare flew over ( but not the redwing ) around the pond on the Deeply vale side were 24x teal, a grey heron and approx 40x lapwing, more lapwing were in pairs across the moss.Also across the moss were 3x pairs of curlew and 2x groups of starling ( both about 25x birds each.
Walmersley gc. 20x goldfinch, 15x black headed gulls and 2x skylark.
Walk up to Deep moss ( bridle path between castle hill rd & croston close rd, Buckhurst.)
field between M66 & Walmersley GC. 100+ black headed gulls, 3 common gulls, jackdaw, rook, carrion crow & 4x pied wagtails.
Deep moss . c 200 x starlings, 4x carrion crow, 4x skylark ( low level singing and chasing each other , right up to the point I got my bins focused). A bit early for the spring visitors And with the fields now all cultivated it remains to be seen what will actually visit!
long craft mill woodland. Blue, great, coal & long tailed tits, grey wagtail, 2x grey heron. Buzzard over Howarths fields.
A female Long-tailed Duck is present on a mill lodge in Walmersley.
The lodge is situated immediately behind the conservative club on Mather Road; park in the area around the club and take the footpath by the side of it to the bridge along the edge of the lodge to view the area.
Please note a small percentage of the water is not viewable from here, or anywhere else and the bird does disappear into this area occasionally. Under no circumstances attempt to trespass as the owner of lodge is not birder friendly! The bird has been present for approximately 7 days apparently.
Info thanks to Peter Whitehead (finder) and Simon Warford
** Photo of the bird now on the website galleries
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Monday 26th of June 2017 11:00:00 PM
