Moore - I saw an owl!

Having read a lot about Moore Nature Reserve near Warrington, I headed down there today, Its quite a big place by the side of the Manchester Ship Canal, with lagoons and woodland, so a chance to see a variety of birds.
Sadly, I am not very good at spotting and recognised birds I dont know and after a good hours walk I had hardly seen anything I could a name too. I finally arrived at a hide where 2 guys were sat. I had heard that there was a Tawny Owl that was regularly seen during the day and so I asked them if they knew where it was. One of them generously offered to show me as it was quite close to where we were, and sure enough there it was in the ivy on a tree trunk, just its head showing but clearly an owl. In all the years I have had an interest in birds I have never knowingly seen an owl in the wild so this was a big first for me and here he or she is.

I barely got round half the the reserve and am going to have to go back, hopefully with people who can spot and recognise birds.

Dunham Massey

Well after a few days stuck indoors due to the weather, I finally got out today and set off for Dunham Massey near Altrincham. it is a house, gardens and park managed by the National Trust and a place I have visited before. I was particularly looking for birds today and so I spent my time in the gardens and the park. The gardens are quite colourful even in january with snowdrops, crocus and daffodils on show, I spent most of the time scanning the trees, there were plenty of tits and nothing new until I spotted movement on one of the tree trunks, it was a Nuthatch, I have only ever seen one before so it was a nice spot, they are quite pretty being bluey grey on top and buff underneath and behave a lot like treecreepers. I tried to get a good photo but it promptly ran rounf the otherside of the trunk, but I did manage this.

I then had a wander around the park, there is a deer sanctuary and using binoculars I did see a small group of Roe Deer through the trees.

That was about it for interesting spots although there were plenty of Great and Longtailed tits, Jackdaw, tufted duck as well as the far more common birds.

Twitching

Since I have retired, I have taken to going out for  a bit of fresh air and exercise but going to places where I can expect to see birds. I thought I would these trips to my blog.
The weather has been excellent these last few days so here is a catch up on where I have been.

Thursday, I went for a walk around Worsley Woods, these are situated between the M60 and the A572 Worsley Rd. They start at The Delph, which is a pool where the old underground canals from the coal mines emerge to join the Bridgewater Canal. I had heard a Kingfisher is often seen here so I set off with high hopes of seeing on, although on a previous visit here I had failed. I had a good look in the Delph when I arrived but my quarry proved to be elusive and so I set off up the path into the woods themselves. After all the rain the paths were very muddy, but there were very few people around so it boded well. Parts of the wood are quite marshy and there is also a small man-made lake called old Warke Dam. I looked at every sign of movement but more often than not it was a Grey Squirrel, there must be hundreds here, although one movement did turn out to be a treecreeper, a first for me.
In the woods there were lots of birds. Great, Blue, Coal and Longtailed tits, Chaffinch, Jay, Crows,Magpies and a flock of around 50 Woodpidgeons.
As I got to the lake, I saw Mallard, Mute Swans, Teal and in the trees overlooking the lake 6 Grey Heron. There is an impressive house in the woods and the lake was built and stocked with fish, but apparrently isn't fished now except by the herons.
On the way back to the car I stopped again at the Delph and this timw I rewarded, the Kingfisher was perched on the branch of a dead tree in the pool, and I got a few pictures before returning to the car and home.

Friday

I decided to go to Dovestone Reservoir, near Oldham, the area managed by the RSPB so I was hopeful of some nice sightings but when I arrived the place was full of dog walkers and people with small children, it was very noisy, even the bird feeding station was full of feral pigeons so after a short walk to take a couple of photos, I drove a little  way up the road to a place call Binn Green, which over looks the reservoir. Here there was another feeding station but it was much quieter so I had a wander around and saw a good number of birds, all the usual tits there were at Worsley but also a lot of Goldfinches plus Greenfinch, Siskin and Lesser Redpoll, the last two being firsts.

Sunday

I ventured farther afield and drove up to the Leighton Moss RSPB reserve with the hope of seeing a family of Otters. Having found out where they were likely to been seen I set off for one of the hides, most of the water was frozen but there were patches with plenty of birds, I enquired about the otters and yes they had been out all morning but despite a long wait they didnt not re appear  for me, however I did see several Bittern including one flying over, they stand in the reeds and blend in so well that it is diffult to spot them but no mistaking them in flight. Also I saw Marsh Harriers and Sparrowhawks covering the site looking for prey, there were also a couple of Snipe on the edges of the lagoon, also a Water Rail, another shy bird. On the water there were Teal, Tufted Duck, Shelduck, Gadwall (a first) and Cormorants, I then waited as it was approaching dusk for the starlings to flock, While waiting I saw a Glossy Ibis and several Little Egrets flying in to roost, both firsts for me. (someone pointed both these out to me). Then the starlings started to arrive, you could see flocks building up in the distant and merging together as they approached the reeds were they roost, there must have been thousands as the seemed to perform for the viewers flying right by the hide several times. A starling on its own is no big deal but seein g so many together is quite stunning, still photographs cant do them justice.

Monday

Off to Pennington Flash, a popular site for me being only 20 minutes away. The site is on what are flooded mine workings with a large lake ples small lagoons and reeds and also woodland all in quite a small area. In the big lake there were a lot of gulls, Black Headed, Great and lesser blackbacked and Herring, a bout a dozen Cormorants, loads of Mallard, Canada Geese Coots and MuteSwans after scraps visitors throw for them. I walked around the smaller lagoons again most were frozen but did see Tufted Duck, Gadwall again and Shelduck.
I then headed for my favourite place, a hide overlooking a feeding area, on the way there I was walking along a path the runs next to a golf course, when  I saw a flash of blue flying up the stream between the Flash and the golf course, another Kingfisher! The feeding area is  always popular with tits and finches I saw a lovely Bullfinch, plud a Reed Bunting ( a first), Moorhen, Dunnock, Pheasant, and Squirrels. I then returned to the big lake as the sun was setting to get a few sunset photos, also saw a Grey Lag  Goose.
On the way home I pulled into a layby to take some photos of the Headgear at the old Astley green Colliery.

Tuesday

Today I was very close to home on the bank of the River Irwell in Salford, suprisingly, it was a quiet area near Agecroft Bridge and on the walk I saw some nice waterfowl, especially Goldeneye and Gossanders (a first) I also spotted a pair of Green Sandpipers (a first) as they were disturbed several times and fly up and down the river.

So a lovely few days, several new spots and a total of 52 species of birds.