2017 Review

Its not been a bad year really at the Mere with 96 bird species being recorded and with two new species being added to the list which now stands at 145 . Some old favourites returning after a few years absence and a record number of Common Scoter being recorded in a single flock . Butterfly species stayed the same as last year with 17 out of the sites 22 being seen , while Dragonfly species were up by two with additions of Black-tailed Skimmer and Blue-tailed Damselfly. We also ran a couple of Mothing sessions at the site recording 167 species, a few more are planed for 2018. January started off well first with Andy Goodwin finding a female Long-tailed Duck on the 11th it was last seen on 17th Feb a stay of 37 days, the last record at the site was in 1996 .Then John Spottiswood found a female Common Scoter on 18th , followed by Mark Wootton seeing seven Whooper Swan's briefly on 20th . And then two Waxwings appeared at mid-day in the east corner found by Russell Stonier . February was quite as normal but Goldeneye , Shoveler and Wigeon could be seen on most days. March saw us have rather a strange report which came onto the Birdlines after dark on 11th of two female Bearded Tit in small reedbed in front of the visitors centre. This species is a very scarce bird in Cheshire and would obviously be a first for the site. But doubt fell as three of us were at the Mere during the day and surely we would have heard or seen them , no body knows who called the record in and they were looked for at first light to no avail . If you are the person reading this who sent the report in PLEASE get in touch. Our first Chiffchaff was back on site on 12th with three birds singing. Jack Swan found our first Common Scoter of the year with a drake on 19th , the first Sand Martin was sighted on 26th and the first Blackcap back on 29th. April brought the rest of our summer migrants back as the weather warmed up , and a Common Sandpiper was found by John Spottiswood on 26th. Now we don't get many Terns at the mere full stop so to find five Black Terns and have five Common Terns on 30th was something special. May started good with another four Black Terns on the 1st , to put it into perspective that's nine Black Terns in two days and our last record was one bird eleven years ago in 2006. June was very quite but Andy found another drake Common Scoter on 29th and then again on 4th July but this time not one but 17 (11 females / 6 drakes) our biggest flock ever at the site. With a lot of other activities around the mere going on during July , August and September most birders tend to stay away as do most of the birds . I turn my attention to Butterflies , Dragonflies and Moths at this time of the year. Into October and while I was on holiday in Norfolk Mark Stubbs found our largest flock of Wigeon for many years with twenty three along with a single Pintail cheers Mark. And on 23rd a Aythya hybrid duck turned up causing some discussion until finally identified as a Tufted x Pochard. With the large influx of Hawfinch's coming from the continent it was only a matter of time , and on 30th our first site record appeared with a single bird . November saw Jack find another Hawfinch so that was two in eight days . and on the 27th a very late Swallow was hawking insects over the water. December saw 27 Pink-footed Geese over heading north west on 1st , while the Swallow was last recorded on 2nd by M Ball , D Winnington. Another skein of 175 Pink-footed Geese headed north west on 3rd , and on the 12th our second new species of the year for the site when a single Snipe was flushed from a fishing platform during a very cold spell. As we come to the end of the year twenty two Pochard have taken up residence and will hopefully stay with us throughout the winter , certainly not the higher numbers as in recent years when figure's reached into the hundreds. It can be very frustrating and certainly a challenge working a patch day after day as good birds are being found all around you and the temptation to go and see them hurts, but I have enjoyed recording the species at Astbury Mere and I still get such a buzz finding something special . Thanks to all who read this blog , thanks to all the birders that visit the mere . We now have a sightings board at the visitor's center thanks to the Rangers at the site , and if anyone is interested I could do with some help with recording Butterfly and Dragonfly sightings for next year . Birds seen in 2016 but not in 2017 are ...Scaup , Lesser Whitethroat and Common Whitethroat. The challenge for 2018 is to record 100 species of birds for the first time at the site in one single year and hopefully add a Butterfly or Dragonfly to the list. All it remains to say is HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL and hope all your wishes come true. If you see me out and about come say hello I don't bite. Good Birding for 2018.

December 28th

Twenty two Pochard on the mere this morning with around eighty five Tufted and good numbers of Coot . No sign of the Kingfisher this morning possibly it has moved back onto the canal . Redwing and Fieldfare are around in small numbers and a single Raven flew west. The female Goldeneye is still present along with the Aythya hybrid Tufted x Pochard. Long-tailed Tits , Goldcrest and Bullfinch can be found around most of the mere , but Nuthatch and Treecreeper are a little more elusive .

December 19th

Four Teal , 3 Wigeon , 151 Coot , 19 Pochard , 85 Tufted Duck , 9 Great Crested Grebe , female Goldeneye , single Little Grebe. John Spottiswood.........A large skien of Pink-feet flew over A34 just south of the mere heading west at 14-00 well over 100 birds Mark Stubbs. Mark and Tracey also had four Goosander over the mere late afternoon and a flock of 32 Goldfinch by the sailing club , and around 1000 Black Headed Gulls going to roost.

December 18th

A walk around in the fog this morning didn't produce a great deal but did manage to count the Coot with number's now upto 143. Also nineteen Pochard (5 females) and a single Raven over.

Snipe Site Record

With overnight temperature's around -6 and still snow on the ground from the day before there was a good bet that something new would be around. Snipe and Woodcock where on my mind with the freezing temprature's and Snipe it was , it seems strange that its never been recorded before or just possibly overlooked anyway its on the records books now . It was on one of the fishing platforms and by the time I got my bins onto it , it had took flight and to late to get a photo. Also present are nineteen Pochard ( 3 x fem / 16 drakes) , ten Teal (3 drakes / 7 fem) , 6 Wigeon (3 drakes / 3 fem) and a single female Goldeneye. Redwing were photographed in the snow this morning with eleven seen on the grass in front of visitors centre along with two Mistle Thrush and four Song Thrush , also two Nuthatch calling and photographed in the visitor's centre car park . Sparrowhawk patrolling overhead and a Grey Heron flushed from the shore. Seven Bullfinch looked stunning in the frost covered bushes but always out of reach of the camera. Jack had a single Lapwing over going east a scarce bird here at Astbury with only a few records each year.

Redwing.

Redwing.

Nuthatch.

December 8th

Female Goldeneye on the mere ...J Spottiswood.

December 4th

So the Swallow has finally moved on last sighting was Saturday the 2nd, it attracted a steady stream of admirer's over its six day stay. Fairly quiet this morning just a female Wigeon new in overnight . Pochard numbers are up by one but we have had a swap around as we now have four females and eight drake's all in the north west corner.The Aythya hybrid duck is still present and looking a lot different from when it first arrived . Around the mere this morning just the usual birds , Goldcrest , Kingfisher , Grey Wagtail , Raven , Great Spotted Woodpecker , Bullfinch etc.

Pink-footed Geese

Sitting at work around 15-10 I heard Pink-feet calling overhead , I quickly dashed outside to see a skien of around 175 birds flying towards Astbury Mere about half mile from were I work . I called Mark who I knew was there and sure enough around 175 plus birds flew over the mere heading north west. Mark and Jack could not find the Swallow today , but present were two drake Wigeon and three Raven over.

Part of the skien of Pink-feet going over the mere taken by Tracey Stubbs with her mobile phone . Nice one Tracey.

Swallow

Swallow still present at 13-30 thanks to M Ball , D Winnington.

Snow and Swallow

Somehow snow and freezing temprature's and Swallow in mid winter don't go together but in the birding world strange things do happen and today yes December at 8-45 in the morning we still have a Swallow at Astbury Mere . Its hawking god knows what over the water but seems healthy and settled . Also today we have seven Teal (3 drakes) , 68 Mallard , 117 Coot , 83 Tufted Duck and eight Great Crested Grebe . Also noted Grey Heron , Grey Wagtail and Raven. Twenty seven Pink-footed Geese flew over heading north west at  11-30 and Swallow still present mid day. Jack Swan. Swallow still present at 14-30 D Robinson. The Chiffchaff was seen again in same area by S & G Barber who thinks there could possibly be two birds.