Risley Moss 18th Oct

Sunny 19 degrees, light winds, 4pm Saturday afternoon

We only had about 30 mins, with around 15 in the woodland hide and 5 at the tower hide area

1 GS Woodpecker
2 Nuthatch
3 Blue Tit
5 Great Tit
10+ woodpigeon
4+ magpie
2x chaffinch
1x willow Tit
100s of mixed gulls over the rubbish tip
4x grey squirrel

Staring at cattle (again) at Burton Mere RSPB

With reports that the Cattle Egret is still around at Burton Mere, we headed back over there to see if we would be more successful than our visit a few weeks prior. No Cattle Egret for us, although the RSPB warden said it had been there with the cows that morning again. It seems am is the best time to go for it so maybe we will be lucky another time if the bird remains.

It was a quiet day at Burton Mere but we still saw a few other birds. Notably a Black Swan (which I didn't add to the list as assuming it's a captive escapee) and the only one new for the list - Greenshank, bringing my year total to 112 so far  :)

Canada Geese

Greenshank

Greenshank

 

 

 

Birds seen: Lapwing, Greylag Geese, Pink-Footed Geese, Canada Geese, 9x Greenshank, 2x Kestrel, 5x Buzzard, Teal, Shoveler, Black Swan (Escapee), Mute Swan, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Wood Pigeon, Tufted Duck, Coot, Moorhen, Magpie, Mallard

Just another Jay at the office..

We've been noticing Jays near some local offices in Birchwood so we stopped by one quiet Sunday to see if we could take a few pictures. Sure enough, within a couple of minutes of us arriving a Jay started showing, proof that once you know an individual birds habits it is likely to be in the same spot!

 

We later went on to Dovestone RSPB for the first time, traffic getting there was hideous, with the route going through the centre of Manchester so it would have had to be good for us to want to go back. Unfortunately when we got there it turned out to be some kind of local blackpool resort rather than the peace and tranquillity we were hoping for. people were everywhere!

 

Dog walkers, people with prams, groups of youths and families out forcing their kids for a walk. Every time we thought we saw a bird it was immediately scared off by a child/dog running at it.  The only sanctuary we found was a small memorial garden but it was virtually paved in dog crap so after an hour or so we called it quits and left.

Buzzard at Dovestone

View from the field of crap (or Memorial Garden as it is otherwise known).

Unknown hawk - we watched this flying, hunting and perching for a good half hour and it displayed no Kestrel-identifying hovering behaviour despite looking like a Kestrel in the below picture.

 

Martin Mere 19th Sept 2014

 We went to Martin mere, expecting to stay 2 or 3 hours but ended up staying for 6!  Now I see how it is worth the £10 entry fee! Part of the park is a zoo type enclosure with birds from around the world trapped in and part of the park is a nature reserve with free and wild birds. Below are some of the highlights but I really recommend it!

Avocet (not wild so couldn't add to the list)

captive black bellied whilstling duck

Black Headed Swan (captive)

One of the very cool hides on the nature reserve bit!

weird duck hairdoo

wild Dunnock

Eider

Still unidentified duck (haven't got around to looking it up)



Grey (or yellow?) wagtail

Pink footed and Greylag Geese

Friendly juvenile moorhen that stalked us!

Kingfisher

Mallard

Mandarin

Marsh Harrier - we watched a spectacular display of the marshie chasing lapwing, trying to snare tea

Muscovy Duck (captive)

Nene Goose (captive I think)



Male Shoveler

Pochard

Some kind of foreign teal (ringed teal possibly?)

Shelduck

Female Shoveler

Goldeneye or Scaup? cant remember so I need to look in the book!

Whooper Swan, there was also mute and Bewicks swans there

Female Shoveler (again!)

Burton Mere RSPB, Parkgate (Boathouse pub), Dunham Massey

Burton Mere RSPB:
hundreds of Canada geese
blue tits
goldfinch
a snipe
kestrel
mallards
Grey Heron
coot x 30

missed out on a Cattle Egret which was reportedly there but despite us watching the cattle field periodically over the 2 hours we were on site, no view.

Parkgate (Boathouse pub)
30+ Little Egret
5+ Grey Heron
Mallards
various gulls (nothing special noted)
woodpigeon

Dunham Massey Park
Little Grebe x1
Grey Heron x2
Coot x 5
woodpigeon x many
magpie
black headed 1st winter gull (took a lot of research to identify!)
Tufted Duck x 2

Black Headed Gull 1st Winter?

Lots of Canada Geese at Burton Mere RSPB

No sighting of the Cattle Egret by anyone in the hides that I heard

Fallow Deer at Dunham Massey

Grey Heron fishing at Dunham Massey

Little Grebe at Dunham Massey

Little Egret at Parkgate, viewed whilst we had our lunch outside The Boathouse pub

Little Egret at Parkgate

General view of Parkgate

Parkgate group of Little Egret