Dave Riley was on no1 bed on the Sunday morning, catching 50 birds with 32 new, including a huge Common Redpoll along with 3 Lessers and 2 Goldcrests, while 5 new Chaffinches was a high catch for the bed. Amongst the retraps was a Chaffinch, originally ringed originally ringed on 5th September 2009 along with a Great Tit ringed on 25th November of the same year.

Sightings during the session included 3 Fieldfares and a Chiffchaff, while 30 Redwings were feeding along the No2 bed track.

Mike Miles was joined by Margaret Rawlins, Nicky Edmonds, Kieran Foster, Mike Baron and Chris Piner on the Saturday morning. There had been sharp overnight frost and at dawn it was minus three degrees with no wind. There were some thrushes moving around the bed with many Redwings calling overhead. They sampled this movement catching 4 Blackbirds, 1 Song Thrush and 2 Redwings and catching was steady throughout the morning. Mike had placed two sunflower feeders in a semi open position on the edge of the sacrificial crop as an experiment and the single 18 metre sited there which usually catches about 6 birds per morning caught 29 birds and this was the main reason why they ended with 83 captures, 36 new and 47 retraps. Other highlights were single Lesser Redpoll and Goldcrest and a wintering adult Chiffchaff .

Sightings on the bed included a flock of 40 Fieldfares, a drake Wigeon and a single Brambling on the Morgan feeders.

Dave Riley set three nets on No1 bed on the Saturday morning, catching 33 birds of which 22 were new, including 14 Greenfinches, 2 Lesser Redpolls and a lo0ne Goldcrest.

Sightings during the ringing session included 1 Water Rail, 2 Collared Doves (unusual on the bed) and 16 Redwings flying south at dawn.

The No3 bed team enjoyed a couple of short midweek sessions whilst doing assorted chores which yielded 21 (7 new and 14 retraps) captures with nothing of note other than our first Sparrowhawk of the year, a first year male.

On the Saturday, Mike Miles was joined by Kieran Foster, Jason Atkinson and Mike Baron. They made 56 captures (27 new and 29 retraps) , the highlights being 2 Lesser Redpolls and a first winter male Blackcap. Four new Goldcrests might imply that a few winter visitors are moving in. Two small flocks of Long-tailed Tits were caught, all known age retraps, they noted that one flock comprised entirely adult birds and the other entirely first year birds.

Sightings during the session included a Raven flying south, about 12 Redwings moving around the bed, the female Mandarin on the old river under the footbridge and two Kingfishers flying under the footbridge.

Dave Riley was on No1 bed on the Sunday, catching 38 birds with 19 new including 5 Goldcrests. Four Goldcrests were also caught on No3 bed on the Saturday along with one Redwing.

Sightings included a female Mandarin on the river by the footbridge.

A Visible Migration Watch was carried out on Saturday at the eastern end of the reserve, with movements of Woodpigeons and winter thrushes noted, as well as some good counts of more local birds. It was cold on top of Butchersfield Tip at first, with a bitter wind from the south but warmed up well when the sun eventually made itself felt. Totals included: 6 Ravens, 260 Pink-footed Geese, 1,697 Woodpigeons, 560 Fieldfares, 205 Redwings, 639 Starlings, 5 Yellowhammers, 9 Redpolls, 313 Tufted Ducks and 220 Lapwings.

Full totals of the 09/11/2013 Migration Watch can be found in the Wildlife Survey tab.

Dave Riley’s visit to No1 bed produced 24 birds of which the highlight was 10 Lesser Redpolls. Sightings include 1380 Woodpigeons, 176 Fieldfare, 25 Lesser Redpolls, 30 Redwings and 1 Chiffchaff.

On No3 bed I was joined by Kieran, Margaret and Sam Bayley, visiting from Surrey. our 83 captures included 44 new birds with a Redwing and 2 Goldcrests notable. Sightings were restricted to 2 Buzzards and a light southerly movement of Skylarks.

A late report of a sighting in mid-week described a “small grey Robin constantly flicking it’s tail” which could only have been a male Red-breasted Flycatcher. This was along the track between the old river and No.2 bed towards the weir.

A really nice morning’s birding with a good movement of thrushes and sightings of some species which are uncommon at Woolston. Dawn at Woolston Weir produced 1 Kingfisher and 5 Goldeneyes among the score or so Tufted Ducks. Thrush totals across the Reserve were of 456 Redwings, 310 Fieldfares and 52 Blackbirds with the lack of Song Thrushes again noticeable. On No.3 bed most of the Teal stayed in cover but it’s likely that c.250 were still present. 100+ Greenfinches and 70 Chaffinches were around the feeders and North Meadow, while 1 Coal Tit, 2 Willow Tits, 1 Lesser Redpoll, 2 Goldcrests, 3 Sparrowhawks, 2 Little Grebes plus a westerly movement of c.120 Herring Gulls were notable. At the eastern end of the Reserve we walked to Bollin Point and on to Rixton Paddocks - with the highlights being: 11 Grey Partridges, 8 Yellowhammers, 1 Green Woodpecker, 2 Peregrines, 3 Sparrowhawks, 52 Stock Doves, 47 Chaffinches, 260 Tufted Ducks, 2 Little Grebes, 4 Great Crested Grebes and 5 Collared Doves.

Photo of the new wader scrape from the Morgan Hide

Cheers David (with Dave Steel, Dave Spencer, Les Jones, Al Warford, Brian Baird and Paul Hazlehurst)

Another meeting with the contractor on No.3 bed today, where the new scrape is looking very promising. Plenty of wildfowl were present, with c.250 Teal, 26 Shovelers, 19 Mallards and 5 Shelduck noted. Other sightings included 2 Snipe, 35 Redwings, 10 Fieldfares, 2 Goldcrests and 16 Goldfinches.

Cheers David (with Dave Spencer)

A good morning’s birding with a meeting with the contractor, who is developing a wader scrape for us in front of the Morgan Hide followed by a BTO Thrush survey on Nos.3 and 4 beds. Some nice birds along the way included: a Woodcock on the No.2 bed track at dawn, 2 Green Sandpipers on the Loop of No.4 bed, an over-flying Raven on No.3 bed, a male Blackcap ringed by KieranFoster, Jason Atkinson and Mike Baron and a female Mandarin from the No.3 bed footbridge. Along with reasonable numbers of Redwings, Fieldfares and Blackbirds, a handful of Song Thrushes, Redpolls and Siskins were among the many common birds noted.

Photo of progress with the No.3 bed wader scrape.

Cheers David (along with Les Jones, Al Warford and Brian Baird)

Another meeting with the contractor today - the view from the Morgan Hide is already looking better in terms of bringing birds closer to the hide. A female Manadarin was near the footbridge as I walked on and c.90 Greenfinches were around the feeders, along with the usual Willow Tits and Bullfinches. A few Snipe were also moving round the muddy edges and 50 Redwings and 45 Chaffinches were on the North Meadow. No sign of the Green Woodpecker which has lately been feeding on the recently cut flower meadows.

Cheers David

Another meeting with the contractor today - the view from the Morgan Hide is already looking better in terms of bringing birds closer to the hide. A female Manadarin was near the footbridge as I walked on and c.90 Greenfinches were around the feeders, along with the usual Willow Tits and Bullfinches. A few Snipe were also moving round the muddy edges and 50 Redwings and 45 Chaffinches were on the North Meadow. No sign of the Green Woodpecker which has lately been feeding on the recently cut flower meadows.

Cheers David

Met up with the contractor this morning, who is now working to improve the scrape area in front of the Morgan Hide. Despite the disturbance quite a few Shoveler and Teal were still out on the lagoon and the feeders were jumping with Greeenfinches plus Willow Tits and Bullfinches. Expect another couple of weeks of disruption, after which the viewing should be much improved.

Photo of the new channel to the left of the Morgan Hide

Cheers David

Welcome Visitor

Warm and sunny Morning. Found this Mandarin to the East of the footbridge which quickly sought the overhanging trees in the corner to Roost, typically on a log. No sign of a drake, but excellent sighting of the Kingfisher in the same spot.

Brian & Helen Burnett

Another lovely time at the reserve we picked the best day of the week to go.We started with a walk around the perimeter no 3 bed.We had sitings of longtail tits greenfinches and what we believe to be redwing.Strolling along the path we where 10mtrs fron a sharp right hand bend when we came face to face with the fox.Don’t know who was more startled us or the fox.We continued along had a look in the hides on the way to the new hide not a lot happening.From the new hide we saw willow tit greenfinches aswell as the g/s woodpecker.There where about a dozen greylag geese lots of teal and a dozen or so canada geese.There is a lot more water in the reedbed than there was on our last visit think this could have had an effect on the wading birds.We met other members which is always nice to have a chat with.Look forward to our next visit soon Gill and Roger

Another enjoyable Visible Migration Watch at Woolston, with some nice movements of Woodpigeons and winter thrushes, as well as some good counts of more local birds. It was cold on top of Butchersfield Tip at first, with a bitter wind from the south but warmed up well when the sun eventually made itself felt. Totals included: 6 Ravens, 260 Pink-footed Geese, 1,697 Woodpigeons, 560 Fieldfares, 205 Redwings, 639 Starlings, 5 Yellowhammers, 9 Redpolls, 313 Tufted Ducks and 220 Lapwings.

Photo of early morning view north from Butchersfield Tip

Cheers David (with Dave Steel, Dave Spencer, Al Warford, Brian Baird, Paul Hazlehurst and Jane Cullen)

With the weather becoming sunnier as the morning wore on, we covered Nos.3 and 4 beds before ending up at Woolston Weir, checking to see if any Salmon were running (we didn’t see any, though Sue Haddock had seen a few jumping earlier in the week). Highlights were: 1 male Goldeneye, 3 Snipe, 6 Willow Tits, 2 Kingfishers, 55 Fieldfare, 129 Redwings, 120 Teal, 88 Lapwings and 3 Sparrowhawks.

Photo of the view west from Woolston Weir.

Cheers David (with Dave Steel, Les Jones, Al Warford, Paul Hazlehurst, Brian Baird, Ste Dodd and Jane Cullen.)