Where are all the birds

bornwild · #1 (**permalink**) 13-10-2009, 04:53 PM

Hi all im in the north west and as me and the bf have been moving moved and settled in we havn't been to any rspb reserves for 5 weeks last went to leighton moss and it was very quiet
old moor is our nearest but does anyone know if there is anything interesting about or numbers of birds for us to look at we will be out saturday this week

at long last

x

Morph · #2 (**permalink**) 13-10-2009, 05:23 PM

There is tons around you but mostly woodland birds, In Stalybridge itself is (to the eternal shame of the RSPB) Eastwood it was the 1st ever RSPB resverve but they gave it up a few years ago and handed it to CWT. You can get to it thru Cheetham Park old website here
Also Etherow Park, Compstall. Swallows Wood And Lees Hill, Hollingworth. Dovestones Reservoir (soon to be a new RSPB site), Greenfield.
A little further afield, Pennington Flash, Leigh. Wigan Flashes, Wigan. Carrington Moss, Urmston. Hollingworth Lake, Milnrow. Elton Reservoir, Bury.
I could go on forever try Manchester birding website they have a bigger list.

Picidae · #3 (**permalink**) 13-10-2009, 05:51 PM

The warm weather may be deterring the large numbers of wintering ducks/waders and geese from moving south at the moment and obviously the bulk of summer visitors have left now.

My garden is still quiet for this time of year but I was out in the countryside yesterday and there were lots of 'garden' birds along with an unusual amount of natural food around with a combination of insects (including butterflies and dragonflies in good numbers) and late summer berries so that may explain it - it's been like summer again the past few days!

There were also a lot of Chiffchaff around along with a few WW still too.

Jonathan · #4 (**permalink**) 13-10-2009, 06:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bornwild

Hi all im in the north west and as me and the bf have been moving moved and settled in we havn't been to any rspb reserves for 5 weeks last went to leighton moss and it was very quiet
old moor is our nearest but does anyone know if there is anything interesting about or numbers of birds for us to look at we will be out saturday this week

at long last

x

Hi,

Parkgate, on the Wirral, isn't too far away from you. If it's a fine evening on Saturday, especially if there's little wind, you should see an excellent display of raptors from the Old Baths carpark. I'd get there for 3.30pm and look out over the marsh - there will be other birders there who should help you find birds or ID any birds seen. I was there last Saturday and saw two hen harriers, two peregrines, three short-eared owls, a barn owl, sparrowhawk, buzzard and loads of kestrels, plus large numbers of little egrets flying in to the roost at Inner Marsh farm. Just before it went too dark I nipped down to Burton Marsh on my way home and found another barn owl and a merlin.

Lots of other great spots nearby too, take a look here:

Dee Estuary Site Guide

The write-up for Parkgate is a little misleading, you don't need a high tide for evening raptor watching in winter.

Inner Marsh Farm is an RSPB reserve just down the road from Parkgate:

The RSPB: Dee Estuary - Inner Marsh Farm

Cheers
Jonathan

JB9302 · #5 (**permalink**) 13-10-2009, 07:20 PM

Plenty of places around Stalybridge to walk and sight birds , I tend to avoid weekends as prefer less people about .
Unfortunaltley the Eastwood reserve Morph refers to is only opened on Sundays , get out on the moors above Stalybridge when its quiet , seen buzzard/kestrel/pinks/stonechat/grouse/pheasant this week .
Went to Ladybower this morn at sunrise and really enjoyed 2hr walk , saw Sparrowhawk mobbing Buzzard plus Dippers.
Little bit farther up the Derwent Valley you see Ring ousels.

Julian

bornwild · #6 (**permalink**) 14-10-2009, 02:11 AM

Thanks everyone if the weathers ok looks like it will be Parkgate, on the Wirral, as we love raptors

and hopefully get round eastwood on sunday as its just a 3 min walk away and me being here for nearly 3 years its somewhere i still havn't ventured yet slap wrists

x

Neil UK · #7 (**permalink**) 14-10-2009, 08:26 AM

Leighton Moss is currently a hive of activity, Bearded Tits, Bittern and Water Rail showing alot.

captaincarot · #8 (**permalink**) 14-10-2009, 02:50 PM

Oh god best not tell bornwild she will have me driving over thereto prove warter rail and bitten arn't figments of peoples imaginations like i told her

Neil UK · #9 (**permalink**) 14-10-2009, 03:38 PM

Hahahaha I'm thinking of dragging the wife there this weekend much to her disgust. Wish I could take a day off work as would be up there like a shot!!!

captaincarot · #10 (**permalink**) 17-10-2009, 08:57 PM

in the end we ( me an bornwild) started off at inner marsh farm where we saw lots of golden plovers, lapwings, a few black tailed godwits and the two long billed dowagers, plus an entertaining starling which was perching between the ears of a sheep right on top of it's head.

then we moved on to parkgate where we saw at least 2 hen harriers, loads of kestrels, a barn owl very close and hunting for about half an hour, and a coiuple of short eared owls. plus a couple of stonechat which were also very close.

we both really enjoyed it the hen harriers and dowagers being life time firsts for both of us. thanks for the advice everyone.