After a long boring night shift the last thing I wanted to do was to trudge around the vale, but I forced myself out as there was a big yellow thing in the sky that I had not seen for some time so it seemed a shame to waste the morning. Glad i made the effort.....
Mill Ponds ------------
2 Tufted Duck 3 Grey Heron
Ross Lave Lane --------------------
1 Ad Herring Gull 1 Common Swift 1m Whinchat (Only my second ever record in the vale) 2 Swallow 1 Stock Dove 1f Wheatear
Horse Close Wood to Mill Ponds via River Tame and boardwalk -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Great Spotted Woodpecker 1f Reed Bunting c.20 Sand Martin plus 3 Swallow amongst them 2 Yellow Wagtail (Stunning in the morning light and a first record for me in the vale!) 1m Goosander 1m Mandarin
-- Edited by Tony Mossman on Monday 30th of April 2012 05:53:12 PM
Pretty rubbish morning, got well beaten by the dog walkers, as a result not much around, in fact only birds of note were 2 Drake Mandarin on the lower mill pond.
Horse Close Wood to Mill Ponds via River Tame and boardwalk ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 Sand Martin 2 Teal 1 Grey Wagtail 1 Goosander
48 Mallard 21 Coot 22 Canada Geese 3m Tufted Duck 2 Grey Heron 1 Willow warbler (1st of the year) 3 Mandarin Duck (1 Pair plus a drake that is attached to a female mallard)
Ross Lave Lane --------------------
3 Skylark
Horse Close Wood to Mill Ponds via River Tame and boardwalk -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11-1pm Male Blackcap between pond and path to Denton (just before viaduct) 5 Chiffchaff 2 Reed Bunting 7 Jay 4 Bullfinch 1+ Common Buzzard Grey Wagtail
Thanks for that update Scott, that's one heck of a trip that! Glad she was OK, I'm likely to be going this weekend to attempt some shots again, i'll certainly have a look out to check she's OK. It must happen more times than is seen, that's one incredibly lucky dipper!
These are Reddish Dippers though, they breed 'em tough in this county!
I was up and about at 6am this morning and heading down to Reddish Vale to get some footage of the dippers before I went to university. However, things turned out to be a little more dramatic than the peaceful morning by the River Tame that I'd anticipated.
After 20 minutes the male dipper appeared and perched on a branch by the weir wall but he seemed agitated, constantly stamping his feet and calling repeatedly. I thought nothing of it for the next 15 minutes until a pair of grey wagtails turned up and started hovering around a vegetated area coming out from the right-hand side of the weir wall. The female dipper was there hanging upside-down, she had got her left leg tied up in a piece of fishing-line and was flapping frantically to try and free herself!!!! I jumped into the river and waded upstream to the weir. With the water up to my waist I reached up and managed to get one hand around the bird and with the other hand pulled the embedded fishing-line out of the moss and shrubs. The line was too fine and too tight around her leg for me to untie it there and then, so I carried her back to the bank and pondered what to do next. I had nothing sharp with me and no way of cutting her free from the 40cm of wire trailing behind her. TESCO! I fortunately had a small drawstring bag with me - the perfect size for a dipper - so in she went. As I was leaving the river, the male was clearly distressed and flew to within only a few meters of me, calling and spreading his wings, understandably having a right go at me! If only I could have explained.
After driving to Tesco and purchasing a pair of surgical scissors, I sat in my car and managed cut her free, despite her attempts to savage my finger as much as she possibly could! Back in the bag she went and we set off back to the weir. On arrival the male was still flitting around looking extremely concerned, so I wasted no time in getting her out of the bag, giving her one last check-over and setting her free. She dipped into the water and scurried to the bank where she was immediately joined by her over joyed companion who circled her with open wings for around 30 seconds.
She remained on the bank for the best part of 3 hours, preening her waterlogged feathers between having the odd dip into the water. The male never really strayed too far from her side, however about two hours after I released her another male dipper arrived and our protective little fella took it upon himself to well and truly see him off in a frenzied chase up and down the river.
I was determined not to leave until I had seen her fly to put my mind at rest and eventually she did, as she joined the male to feed off a shingle island on the opposite side of the river.
I never made it to uni today, however I can't bare to think about what would have happened if no-one had found her. Long live the RV dippers!!!!
Photos of the bird and the disgusting sight of the fishing line around her leg are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/scottreidphotography
This really was an upsetting sight and it makes me wonder how many of these incidents occur on our waterways that go unnoticed. Could more be done to clear our rivers of discarded fishing-line or to prevent it from being discarded in the first place?
Other sightings throughout the morning included:
2 kingfisher 2 grey wagtail 2 goosander 1 sparrowhawk 12 jays (including a flock of 7 moving through high (north) together) normal?
Had a cracking few hours watching (amongst other things) a pair of grey wags, some really special views. Some shots on the blog for those interested in that sort of thing!