An excellent morning's birding for the 9 attendees with drake Smew and Little Egret the highlights. 56 species were sighted:- Greylag Goose, Pink-footed Goose over, Canada Goose, Shelduck, Shoveler, Gadwall, Mallard, Teal, Tufted Duck, Goldeneye, Smew, Goosander, Pheasant, Red-legged Partridge, Litt...

A visit to Mere Sands Wood Nature Reserve Meet at the reserve car park at 9.00 a.m. for a look round the reserve. Please note that there is a £4.00 charge for the car park, whether you are a LWT member or not, so car sharing would seem sensible. (Grade One walk) Please note that all walks may be sub...

February's Indoor Meeting on Thursday 15th will be 'Earthworms in the Garden' by Dr Kevin Butt.
The meeting starts at 7.30 pm in St Mary's parish centre.
Apologies for the date error in the last newsletter.

Crossbill (4th) and Goshawk (10th) take us to 109

Birkacre Lodges:- Mute Swan 4, Canada Goose 2, Mallard 78, Mandarin Duck 2, Great Crested Grebe 2, Coot 10, Moorhen 8, BH Gull 139, Common Gull 1, Reed Bunting 2, Goldcrest Common Bank Lodge:- Mallard 5, Goosander 1, Little Grebe 1, Moorhen 3, Grey Heron 1, BH Gull, Kingfisher 1, Grey Wagtail 1, GS ...

A bit more life along Eyes Lane this morning with the following sightings:- Skein of 40 pinkfeet over, Shelduck* 14 on flood, Pheasant 2, Grey Heron 3, Stock Dove c50, BH Gull c100, Skylark 2, Meadow Pipit, Song Thrush (singing), Fieldfare c30, Redwing (several twittering in trees), Lt Tit flock, Ch...

Congratulations to John Frankland for being the first to 100. Next target 150!

The water level in Anglezarke Reservoir is as low as it was in summer. Presumably it's been drained for engineering works, so it could be good for passage waders in Spring. None today though. Just c20 Mallard and 2 Teal. Yarrow Reservoir had pairs of Mandarin Duck and Goosander plus a couple of male...

Curlew on 1st February takes us to 107.

Chiffchaff takes us to 106

Plenty of water in the flash pools after all the rain, but only heron and black-headed gulls taking advantage. A Chiffchaff, flitting along a hedgerow was the highlight. Full sightings:- Canada Goose 35, Mallard 5, Grey Heron, BH Gull c40, Buzzard, Woodpigeon, GS Pecker, Jay, Magpie, Jackdaw, Crow, ...

On the Douglas:- Canada Goose c100, Mallard c50, Teal 12, Moorhen 6
Flood west of Douglas:- BH Gull 90, Grey Heron
Asland Walks field:- Little Egret*, Kestrel, Lapwing c40 over, Woodpigeon, Magpie, Crow, Skylark (one or 2 singing), Fieldfare 5, Starling c50

* takes me to 68

Red Kite on 24th takes us to 105 for the year.

Oystercatcher on 20th takes us to 104 for the year.

2 adult Yellow-legged Gulls, 288 Herring Gulls, 244 Lesser Black-backed Gulls and 4 Great Black-backed Gulls in the roost on Saturday 20th. Info from Phil Rhodes via Manchester Birding Forum.