Nov 30 2012

Summary November 2012

Summary November 2012

Garden

This surely must have been the quietest November in our garden for years. For the whole first part of November there were very few birds around except the usual Goldfinches and a few Tits. Towards the middle of the month a Blackbird started visiting the garden and a Robin comes occasionally but mostly can be seen singing from a neighbour’s tree. I saw three Starlings in a tree in the park from our back door but that was all. I haven’t even seen the usual thrushes that we see from our front garden. I found a dead squirrel in the garden but couldn’t figure out what killed it. I put it in the bin thinking that at least it wouldn’t be on the bird table but as soon as I had shut the door there was another one – alive and eating on the bird table. Continue reading

Nov 29 2012

Waxwings in Hulme 29 November 2012

Waxwings in Hulme 29 November 2012

I had been following recent reports on the Manchester Birding Forum’s sightings page of a large number of Waxwings feeding from some Rowan trees around the Hulme Estate and, in particular, at Arnott Crescent.

Waxwing Hulme Manchester 29 November 2012

Waxwing Hulme Manchester 29 November 2012

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Nov 27 2012

Birding Group Visit To Marbury Country Park 27th November 2012

Birding Group Visit To Marbury Country Park 27th November 2012

Our morning trip to Marbury Country Park was a bit damp though the rain faded away as the morning went on. We started at the hide nearest the car park where the bird table was laden with Blue, Great and Coal Tits. There were a couple of Moorhens at the waters edge and a couple of Great-Crested Grebes further out on the water. As we walked along the edge of the mere we could see more Mallards and Tufted Ducks and a mass of Coots all together grazing on the grass at the opposite end of the mere. Continue reading

Nov 25 2012

Day Out to WWT Martin Mere 25th November 2012

Day Out to WWT Martin Mere 25th November 2012]

It was the North-west Bird Fair over the weekend so we managed to get up there on the second day. There were lots of interesting stands and displays and I attended a half-hour seminar on digiscoping with Swarovski scopes but we still managed to find plenty of time to get to the main hides and so some good birding. The highlights at this time of year are obviously the Whooper Swans and The Pink-footed Geese which were plentiful, but there were also lots of birds of prey about – though we did not manage to catch them all we did get a great sighting of three Peregrine Falcons all at the same time, on the same fence about eight posts apart from each other. But that wasn’t all.

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Nov 21 2012

Day Out To RSPB Conwy 21 November 2012

Day Out To RSPB Conwy 21 November 2012

We had stayed over from the previous day staying at the Deganwy Spa hotel which was pricey but nicely located on the estuary. The RSPB site at Conwy had opened up again so we headed off there first thing in the morning. We took a walk down the long permiiter path until the coffee shop was opened. There were unbelievable numbers of Robins; I would guess that we must have seen 30 dotted every few yards around the site. There were large numbers of Blackbirds as well and a few Wrens.  There were plenty of Goldfinches fluttering around and a few Greenfinches and Dunnocks were also to be seen. There were quite a few birders hanging around various locations all in search of the Firecrests that one birder told us he had seen at first light. Later on in the day we found that nobody had seen them after this but they were usually to be found – if you could find them – by the little bridge over the pond.

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Nov 20 2012

Birding Group Visit To Conwy and Llanfairfechan 20th November 2012

Birding Group Visit To Conwy and Llanfairfechan 20th November 2012

Our visit this week was supposed to be to RSPB Conwy but at the last moment we noticed on their web site that they were closed on the 19th and 20th for repair work to their car park. This was a bit boring for Anne and I as we had wanted to spend a couple of days there and had arranged to stay at the Deganwy Spa Hotel overnight to take advantage of the reserve. Anyway, we had to quickly rearrange our plans so it was decided that we could have a walk along the estuary at Conwy before going on to Llanfairfechan.

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Nov 06 2012

Birding Group Visit To Moore Nature Reserve 6th November 2012

Birding Group Visit To Moore Nature Reserve 6th November 2012

Our birding group visit to Moore Nature Reserve was somewhat marred by poor weather but we made the most of it anyway. As we got ourselves sorted out in the car park we could see a small group of Redwing in the nearby trees which was a good start since it was the first certain sightings of the autumn. We walked around Middle Moss Wood going round to Birchwood Pool. On the pool there were a large number of gulls, Black-headed, Herring and Lesser Black-backed. More interestingly there were a few Tufted Ducks, some Gadwall, Little Grebe and Great Crested Grebes.

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Oct 31 2012

Summary October 2012

Summary October2012

Garden

The start of October was very wet with some really torrential downpours. A few days towards the middle of the month were sunny and cold but the rain kept coming back in, sometimes, biblical quantities. October saw the return of Blackbirds and we have had a noisy pair in the garden recently. We also had a Nuthatch on the peanut feeder on 6th October and our neighbours told us they saw a GS Woodpecker on the feeders one day. There seems to be fewer Goldfinches around at the moment. We have been away for ten days and the weather was apparently very wet and cold so perhaps they have dispersed a little. On the other hand, a Robin visits occasionally and a Dunnock is singing frequently. By the last week of the month everything seemed to have gone a bit quiet again and apart from a few Goldfinches and a couple of Great tits there wasn’t much bird life to be seen. On 29th we found a dead squirrel in the garden looking entirely unharmed but laid out on its back and clearly  a goner. We noticed it when a Magpie was pecking at it on the lawn in a gruesome manner ! By the end of the month we had a return to wet weather and then the temperature dropped and it dried up a little. Everywhere we go, however, displays signs of the huge rainfall we have had over this summer.

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Oct 30 2012

Birding Group Visit To Frodsham Marshes 30th October 2012

Birding Group Visit To Frodsham Marshes 30th October 2012

As soon as I got out of the car I had a quick look at the telegraph wires that run across the field to the left side of the parking place we use and they had scatterings of Starlings lined along them. Occasionally something would get them going and many more would rise up from the field that the posts edged. Then it became clear that there were several hundred of them roosting in the field. Obviously autumn was upon us. When we were last at Frodsham Marshes it was spring and the air was full of Skylarks. In October it is a little different and there are no Larks around at all. We had a very, very  muddy walk along a ditch to the river and when we got there, unfortunately, the tide was high so our chances of seeing waders was small.

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Oct 22 2012

Birding Group Visit To Hilbre Island 22nd October 2012

Birding Group Visit To Hilbre Island 22nd October 2012

Usually when we go to Hibre Island we have to brave a lot of wind and usually some rain as well. Today was completely different and the day was warm and completely windless. This mean that a t-shirt would have been the best attire because after a brisk walk across the sands we got pretty warm. We were surprised to see three  Mergansers on the sailing lake although it wasn’t too clear what they could find to eat there. As we walked across the sand we started to see Curlew which were scattered about the place and getting more frequent as we neared the island. We could also hear the eerie “singing” of a large number of Common Seals relaxing on a sand bar.

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