September 2012 archive

Sep 30 2012

Summary September 2012

Summary September 2012

Garden

The start of September saw an improvement in the weather and by the end of the first week we had seen a few sunny days. On 7th we had a Great Spotted Woodpecker on our nut feeder in the garden which is a rarity. It had a rather stripy red head so was probably part way through its moult. By the middle of the month the weather was wet again. Plenty of Goldfinches and a few Great and Blue Tits. Still no Blackbird, though. On 20th September we had a Sparrowhawk perch briefly on top of the bird feeders but it didn’t hang around.

Birding Group Days Out

The birding group resumed their days out this month starting on the 11th at Pennington Flash where we had fantastic views of a Kingfisher and also ticked Greenshank and a Knot as well as all the usual Pennington suspects. On the 17th we went to Burton Mere Wetlands where we had good sightings of Curlew Sandpiper and Bar-headed Goose. We were on holiday between 23rd of September and 3rd October so we missed the visits to Etherow Park and Neumann’s Flash

Walks and Days Out

Sep 17 2012

Birding Group Visit to Burton Mere Wetland and Inner Marsh Farm 17th September 2012

Birding Group Visit to Burton Mere Wetland and Inner Marsh Farm 17th September 2012

The Second date of the new birding term for our group was to Burton Mere Wetlands. In the main hide we could see a large number of  Greylag and Canada Geese. There were high numbers of Lapwing around thirty Black-tailed Godwits. A single Little Grebe was there and a small flock of Shovellers. Mallards were plentiful and from the side window of the hide we could see four Buzzards in the sky and a single Marsh Harrier. There was also a Black Swan but the best sighting was undoubtedly a Bar-headed Goose that was keen to give everyone good views.

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Sep 15 2012

Open Day at Rostherne Mere 15 September 2012

Open Day at Rostherne Mere 15 September 2012

We attended an open day at Rostherne Mere nature reserve organised by Natural England. and CAWOS (The Cheshire and Wirral Ornithological Society). This was to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Boyd Observatory. We had been to Rostherne Mere before but the hide is reserved for members of CAWOS who operate it. We had the opportunity to go inside the hide which had tea making facilities and a toilet and enough room for about 13 to 14 people viewing. The hide is in an elevated position and it looks over the Mere which, at 30 metres, is the deepest of the Cheshire meres and does not freeze over due to this great depth and its general surface area which is considerable. Whilst we were in the hide we saw a Buzzard perched on a branch overhanging the water and a Kestrel also perched on a branch but spent most of the time we were watching preening.

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Sep 11 2012

Birding Group Visit to Pennington Flash 11th September 2012

Birding Group Visit to Pennington Flash 11th September 2012

This was the first day of the new term for the birding group and there was quite a good attendance. The weather was very changeable and when we first arrived it started to rain and stayed that way on and off for the rest of the morning. Although there had been some good weather over the previous week, the several weeks of rain before that had taken its toll on the site and the water levels were generally very high and the path that runs down towards the canal was waterlogged and impassable. As a result we only visited some of the hides but, even then, there were some good sightings.

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