June 2012 archive

Jun 30 2012

Summary June 2012

Summary June 2012

Garden

The good weather that was a feature of the end of May was promptly replaced by heavy rain for the start of and this lasted for most of the month. Our pair of Blackbirds had three fledglings that they were feeding in our garden and a little later that appeared to be four fledglings. A Coal Tit and two fledgling Coal Tits have been visiting the feeders, several Blue and Great Tits and their young and around ten Goldfinches are regular on the feeders. A Dunnock is often to be seen but perhaps less obvious than usual. We think that we have seen a fledgling Dunnock some times. A pair of Bullfinches, a male and a female, have been daily visitors to the feeders, sometimes several times a day. The House Sparrows from over the back seem to spend a bit more time in our garden and we still have to fend of the Woodpigeons and Collared Doves so that the other birds can get a look in. On the downside there are still no Robins or Starlings to be seen. We found a large bundle of feathers on the lawn one day early in the month which made it look like we had had a visit from a Sparrowhawk but we haven’t seen it ourselves – or rather we hadn’t seen it until 30th June when Anne walked into the garden disturbing it and it flew to the tree next door and then away from there. Unfortunately, by the time she had called me it was gone which was a shame because I still haven’t seen one this year yet.

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Jun 26 2012

Birding Group Day Out to Martin Mere WWT 26th June 2012

Birding Group Day Out to Martin Mere WWT 26th June 2012

This weeks birding day was at WWT Martin Mere. Unusually for us we started at the United Utilities hide first because there had been talk of a Barn Owl flying as late as 11am. Unfortunately we didn’t manage to see it but, as is often the case, we did get great views of the Marsh Harriers and some nice views of some of the years new arrivals.

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Jun 18 2012

Birding Group Visit to RSPB Burton Mere Wetland 18th June 2012

Birding Group Visit to RSPB Burton Mere Wetland 18th June 2012

Our birding group day out this week was on a Monday rather than a Tuesday and this was to match up with the high tide which should push more birds onto the reserve. As it happens there has been so much rain recently that the water levels were very high on the reserves and this seemed to mean that the high tide had little effect really. However Burton Mere is usually good so we were hoping for a good morning. We started at the visitor centre where by far the biggest attraction was the presence of a fair number of Avocets and lots of Avocet chicks. Their notice board had it as 34 Avocets from 13 pairs. They were also listing breeding Lapwings and Redshank as well as Common Tern nesting which they said was rare for them but we didn’t manage to see them at all.

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Jun 12 2012

Birding Group Visit to Goyt Valley 12th June 2012

Birding Group Visit to Goyt Valley 12th June 2012

Our morning outing today was to the Goyt Valley which is located between Macclesfield and Buxton in the Peak District National Park. The valley is close to the Cheshire and Derbyshire county border. The River Goyt that flows through the valley rises high on Axe Edge Moor near the Cat and Fiddle Public House and flows north through Taxal, Whaley Bridge and New Mills before joining with the River Tame near Stockport to form the River Mersey. We went to the part that is know as the Upper Goyt Valley which is close to the source of the River Goyt. There are two main reservoirs in the valley, Fernilee and Errwood , both provide drinking water to Stockport and its surrounding areas. As usual we parked at the southernmost of the car parks opposite the Errwood Reservoir and crossed the road to the reservoir side.

The first bird we spotted was a Willow Warbler calling from a short tree right in front of us. However, in general, there seemed to be very few birds about which was surprising considering that it was the first dry day in ages. Presumably we should have been there earlier because although there were few birds about when we were there there were some quality sightings if not much in the way of quantity.

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