Birding Group to Visit to Moore Nature Reserve 9th April 2013

Birding Group to Visit to Moore Nature Reserve 9th April 2013

The first birding group morning out of the term was to Moore Nature Reserve was a little under-attended due to holidays and other commitments so there were only six of us. Still we hoped we might hear or see some summer migrants and perhaps also get sight of the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker again. In fact there had been reports on the Manchester Birding Site of someone getting a “Woodpecker hat trick” there recently so we wondered if we would get lucky. It helped that is was a dry day, if a bit cold and grey.

We started off by walking to the left of the car park and going uphill across the grassy knoll towards the Sedge Hide. As we did so we heard first one, then another, Greenfinch singing and managed to locate one of them. We could also hear the one of the first Chiffchaffs of the year for us. At the Sedge Hide we could see int he trees behind water, four or more Redwing still to migrate back. A pair of Cormorants were roosting in the near tree in the water and a Little Grebe was roosting at the edge of the Reed Beds. Our second first for the year was a pair of Sand Martins whizzing back and forth across the water. On the water itself were the usual Canada Geese, Tufted Ducks and Mallards, Coot and Moorhen.

We walked down to the Forestry Commission hide and had a look there but there wasn’t a great deal to be seen there. We wondered whether it was worth taking the longer walk to Upper Moss Side to look at the hide there and to walk past the farms where we have seen Hirundines, Grey Partridge and Yellowhammers but we concluded that it was perhaps a little early in the year for that to be productive and also a bit dull and not particularly warm.

Instead we headed back towards the Canal Bed hide but that was just the reverse view from the Sedge hide and there was nothing we hadn’t already seen, though in the woods there were Treecreepers and Nuthatches and Long-tailed Tits. We continued on through the woods and decided to head off in search of Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. We came out by the woods near the Lapwing Lane end of Lapwing Lake (on the path that leads down to Canal Bed Hide) which I think is called Round Moss Wood. We had had great views of a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker there last year (on 20th March 2012). There were other birdwatchers a little further up the path and they looked distinctly like they hadn’t seen anything of interest so after about ten minutes we decided to come back later but in the meantime walk down to the Feeding Station  hide.

When we got to the Feeding Station  hide there were the obligatory bird photographers who seem to be everywhere these days so we couldn’t all fit into the hide – even though there were only six of us – but we managed as best we could. We were rewarded fairly quickly by a Great Spotted Woodpecker feeding on a “fat log” hanging from a tree (which reminded me that we should hang one of the cherry tree in our garden). There were also lots of Reed Buntings and the usual range of tits including Willow Tit (or were they Marsh Tits ?)  We also spotted a Jay in a tree behind the feeder tables.

We walked back to the bit of the woods where we had been looking for the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker earlier and patrolled the path up and down keeping a keen eye and ear open for sight or sound. After about ten minutes one of the group beckoned and we could see a beautiful male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker going up and down a tree just a few feet from the path. It was excavating for insects this time rather than nest hole making so it went round the tree bit by bit frustrating us slightly. Eventually it dropped down to the bottom and we had fantastically close views (fifteen feet away, perhaps) We could not really have asked for better – or closer – views and we stood there reluctant to leave until we could pass the bird off onto other birders so they would not have to find it for themselves. Two birders did come by and it was nice to be able to point out a sought-for bird to someone else rather than the other way around. Anyway, we could not stay there all day and some of the group had to get back to Manchester so we headed off to the car park but I was still hoping to get the missing bird of our potential hat trick – a Green Woodpecker.

We went back to the car park and then went across Dog Field and dropped down to the clearing at the Grebe Hide. The water was still extremely high and the little island was just a small mound barely rising out of the water. There were a pair of Little Grebes there and the usual Canada Geese and some Gulls but nothing else of interest. So, in the end, we did not ge our Woodpecker hat-trick, though I was willing to keep on looking. Still it was a memorable day with a couple of year-listers to our name, Chiffchaff and Sand Martin as well as fine views of two of the native British Woodpeckers. Not too shabby !

Bird Sightings : Moore Nature Reserve