BIRD REPORT
April
May
June
April
April is possibly the most
exciting month of the year from the point of view of the birder.
Winter visitors are still around and summer visitors are arriving
daily. Other migrating birds are passing through and the local
residents are setting about the business of reproduction.
Of the winter visitors,
Fieldfare and Redwing could be found until mid-month. 50 of the
former were on Croston Moss on the 16th, the same day
as a good sized flock was feeding in fields at Eccleston. The
next day a Redwing was seen in Astley Park. A couple of Siskin
couldn't drag themselves away from a garden at Rivington until
the 13th. Of the wildfowl, a pair of Goosander was on
Anglezarke reservoir on the 10th, whilst Goldeneye
lingered throughout with four still being present in the centre
of Upper Rivington reservoir on the 26th. Other
wildfowl of note was a pair of Gadwall on the River Douglas at
Croston on the 22nd.
But the real interest comes
from the summer migrants. If you recall from the last newsletter
we had some early records this year, which I have repeated here
to give a complete picture:-
It's beginning to look as if
Blackcap and Swallow are going to have to be removed from the
list of April arrivals! Other birds of note on passage included
23 Whimbrel flying east over Croston Moss on 30th. For
those in the right place at the right time it was also a good
month for passage raptors. On the 2nd an Osprey was
seen flying north along the A6 from the direction of Blackrod.
Another was seen flying low up Lower Rivington reservoir on the
13th. A pair of Buzzards was over Bank Hall Bretherton
on the 18th. A male Marsh Harrier was watched for 15
minutes over Croston Moss on the 30th. Finally a
female Merlin was seen over Anglezarke Moor on the 7th.
May
If April is the most
exciting month then May runs it a close second. May this year was
also the month when the bird race was held, on the weekend of the
6th & 7th. 98 species were seen and,
whilst nothing exceptional was noted, the Garganey at Cuerden and
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker in Astley Park were good records.
May is probably a good month
to do the report by site rather than by species just to have a
look at what's about. Starting at Heapey lodges a couple of
Garden Warblers were in song on the 20th. A pair of
great Crested grebes were at the nest, Tree Sparrows were in
evidence and a distant Cuckoo could be heard. Moving on to White
Coppice all the site specialities were to be seen throughout the
month, including Cuckoo, Green Woodpecker, Little Owl and
Redstart with Curlew, Tree Pipit, Whitethroat and Red-legged
Partridge thrown in for good measure.
At Anglezarke, a late
Goosander was present on the 1st. Both Pied and
Spotted Flycatcher had set about breeding as had Redstart and a
Wood Warbler was on territory. On the water, there were two or
three pairs of Great Crested Grebe and Mallard had chicks.
Over to the west, several
pairs of Lapwing on Croston moss had well grown young by the 7th.
Singing passerines in good numbers included Skylark, Whitethroat,
Blackcap, Willow Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Corn Bunting, Reed
Bunting and Yellowhammer. Other birds of note included Cuckoo,
Oystercatcher, and Common Sandpiper along the river. Lesser
Whitethroat and Wheatear were recorded on the 21st. At
Bretherton, Barn Owl, Cuckoo, Grasshopper Warbler and Ruddy Duck
were noted.
At Cuerden, birds with young
included Dipper, Grey Wagtail and Great Crested Grebe, and Green
Woodpecker was seen on several dates. Sand Martins from local
breeding colonies were seen frequently over the water.
At Birkacre, the pair of
Great Crested Grebes produced three young, and on the 26th
the resident Mute Swans hatched four cygnets. Great Spotted
Woodpecker and Nuthatch could be seen at the nest, and other
birds on territory included Garden warbler, Sedge Warbler and
Whitethroat. Kingfisher was seen on several dates.
June
One of the cygnets at
Birkacre had disappeared by the 10th and one grebe
chick had died. A pair of Canada geese with 4 young appeared from
nowhere. Two of the young had disappeared by the 18th,
and eventually they all vanished, allegedly killed by the swans!
Grey Wagtails were feeding young and by mid-month family parties
of Blue, Great, Coal and Long-tailed Tits were in evidence.
On the 17th in
the Kem Mill area of Whittle, Green Woodpecker, Grey Wagtail,
Whitethroat, Tree Sparrow, Reed Bunting and Yellowhammer were all
to be seen.
Other records of note
included Lesser Whitethroat at Croston Moss (18th),
and at twin lakes, Bretherton (19th). A pair of Tufted
Duck was roaming between Lower Rivington and Anglezarke on the 14th
& 15th.
Thanks to the following for
submitting records, without which the compilation of this report
would have been impossible:-
D.Barker, D.Beattie,
J.Burgoine, T.Darbyshire, R.Hoyle, C.Johnson, G.Leather, C.Rae,
J.Riley, P.Ross, N.Southworth, R.Spencer, A.Stott, N.West
And to Jean Southworth for
her original drawings.
Please continue to submit
your records to the editor.
Neil Southworth (Editor)
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