Sunday, April 29, 2007

Walshaw Dean

Before I get onto today's sightings, has anyone had any Swifts yet? I heard them calling briefly in Hadfield (near Glossop for those unfamiliar with this seething mass of inhumanity) on Saturday afternoon, so they're pretty close!
Walshaw Dean did not produce any major surprises, apart from a pair of Little Ringed Plovers, which is not a bird I can recall at this site. Also found:
1 F Whinchat briefly, by the reservoir house.
1 Redshank.
At least 4 Common Sandpiper.
A pair of Wheatear.
1 M Tufted Duck at top end of Upper Res.
2 chicks, apparently Mallard, in a stream to the E side, but no parent found.
A relatively small number of Canada Geese - no more than 40 over all 3 reservoirs, including a noticeably small bird in a pair, which were chased off the top reservoir by a 3rd bird.
1 M Kestrel.
Usual woodland stuff, including a lot of Willow Warblers.
Also a very brief Ring Ouzel, which my walking buddy confirmed was in the same area last week.


































12 comments:

Anonymous said...

No Swift yet, not even heard.

Nick Carter said...

One over Midgley this morning (29th)

Nick Carter said...

Please be careful when mentioning potential breeding sites of schedule 1 species on the Blog, this is a public blog and as such could be (and possibly is) accessed by eggers etc. Any posting that is considered innappropriate will be edited to remove site references, I hope everyone understands.

David Tattersley said...

I had one at Elland Gravel Pits on the 24th. There were 20+ there on 27th and 4 early this morning.

Matt Bell said...

That small canada goose looks interesting. Does anyone have any knowledge on IDing vagrant species?

AndyC said...

Richardsons are small,small bill and brown/less white on throat.?But i dont know it might just be small.

darrell j prest said...

very interesting anymore pics ?

richardsons shows a darker breast

heres a link that may be of help

http://www.oceanwanderers.com/RichardsonsCAGO.html

copy and paste into your url bar

AndyC said...

Lesser.?

Matt Bell said...

There's another good link here:

http://www.oceanwanderers.com/CAGO.Subspecies.html

that shows a Richardson's next to a 'standard' canada. If you click on the Walshaw pic you get a much bigger image

darrell j prest said...

as far as i understand the canada goose complex falls in to 2 catagory's

greater and lesser these are considered to be seperate from each other.

it looks good,from the lesser's ive seen, though the bill looks odd and not as dainty as would expect also appears to be the same plumage as the bird next to it(though with only one photo..more please)

size is'nt everything!

Phil Wood said...

Thanks for comments re Canada Goose. I wasn't really thinking this was likely to be a true vagrant bird, I was merely musing over the size differential in the feral population. For one thing, the pair came very close to where we were stood - those photo's were taken with the camera's own 6X zoom, not through the scope!
Nick's other point is taken - I'm afraid that in my enthusiasm, I overlooked the status of the bird concerned on this occasion.

Nick Carter said...

No worries Phil!