September 29th

Ten Wigeon flew around the Mere but did not land along with four Teal and a Shoveler .Also noted were two Tawny Owls calling before daybreak , and 17 Pied Wagtails came from a roost site . Along with three Grey Wagtail , seven Rook and six Raven.

September 23rd

Yesterday Mark had six Raven over also a decent count of 164 Meadow Pipits . Along with 11 Swallow's , 27 House Martin's , two Siskin , five Pied and one Grey Wagtail , Kingfisher and two Chiffchaff. A total of 45 Species in two hours. Today two Goosander were on the mere first thing along with Kingfisher and Grey Wagtail. Skylarks and Collared Dove were also noted making this morning's goal one more than yesterday's with 46. Comma and Large White Butterflies a single Common Darter and Brown Hawker. A skien of around 35 Pinkfeet flew north/west at 12-30 , Siskin , Sparrowhawk and two Raven now added to list (50).

1 Mute Swan
2 Pink Footed Geese
3  Canada Geese
4 Mallard
5 Tufted Duck
6 Goosander
7 Cormorant
8 Grey Heron
9 G C Grebe
10 Buzzard
11 Sparrowhawk
12 Moorhen
13 Coot
14 B H Gull
15 L B B Gull
16 Wood Pigeon
17 Feral Pigeon
18 Collared Dove
19 Magpie
20 Jay
21 Jackdaw
22 Rook
23 Carrion Crow
24 Raven
25 Goldcrest
26 Blue Tit
27 Great Tit
28 Coal Tit
29 Long-tailed Tit
30 Swallow
31 House Martin
32 Kingfisher
33 Pied Wagtail
34 Grey Wagtail
35 Meadow Pipit
36 Skylark
37 Chiffchaff
38 Blackcap
39 Wren
40 Starling
41 Blackbird
42 Song Thrush
43 Robin
44 Dunnock
45 House Sparrow
46 Chaffinch
47 Greenfinch
48 Bullfinch
49 Goldfinch
50 Siskin

Mark Stubbs.

September 20th

Ten Cormorants over this morning along with twelve Meadow Pipits and a Grey Heron. Also noted Collared Dove , Nuthatch , Great Spotted Woodpecker , Grey Wagtail, Buzzard and a single singing Chiffchaff.

September 19th

Three Snipe flew over at 15-45 this afternoon unusual record for the site. Also three Greylags over yesterday another scarce bird for Astbury. Today three Cormorant , Nuthatch calling by gorsey corner , a couple of Chiffchaff still in song along with Coal Tit , Jay and Goldcrest. M & T Stubbs.

September 15th

Eight Raven over all together the biggest flock seen over the Mere possibly came from roost site nearby. Also single Meadow Pipit and Pied Wagtail , two Sparrowhawk and two Buzzard. M Stubbs

September 14th

Five Meadow Pipits over along with two Swallow's , four Pied Wagtails , two Grey Wagtail , four Chiffchaff , Goldcrest , Treecreeper , Sparrowhawk , Jay , Grey Heron , Raven and fifteen Canada Geese. M Stubbs.

Coot

Coot numbers on the Mere always start to increase around this time of the year. With numbers reaching around one hundred and fifty species through the winter period. We have 71 on the Mere at present that's about normal for the month of September. Birds start to disperse during the spring months leaving us with around six pairs which attempt to breed . Birds are seldom seen in flight they mostly migrate at night , so little is known about the origins of our wintering Coot.

September 11th

A female Pochard in amongst the Tuffties , 71 Coot and eight Great Crested Grebe's . Also Sparrowhawk ,3x Buzzard's , a couple of House Martin , seven Swallow's , Chiffchaff , Great Spotted Woodpecker , Collared Dove , a flock of seven Bullfinch and Treecreeper. Singles of Large and Small White Butterflies along with a Small Copper and Speckled Wood. A single Southern Hawker dragonfly still on the wing. MS.

September 10th

Not a great deal to mention , a flash of blue 100mts out dashing from right to left was the resident Kingfisher .

And it was nice to get a scarce bird at Astbury on camera when the male Great Spotted Woodpecker gave itself up briefly as he flew and perched next to me on top of the pine trees .

Also noted Chiffchaff , Bullfinch , Rook , Jay , Grey Wagtail , Coal Tit and two Buzzard's. Walked around for hour late afternoon with mark managed Sparrowhawk , Buzzard , Swallow's x 3 , Cormorant , Grey Wagtail and fourteen Goldfinch.

September 9th

Kingfisher early morning along with , 7x Swallow's , Coal Tit , Jay , Grey Heron , Goldcrest , 3x Sparrowhawk , Bullfinch and Chiffchaff.M Stubbs.

Monthly Species Totals

                              Monthly Species Totals
                            2017                             2018
January.              59 .                                 60

February.            59.                                  64

March .                56.                                  81

April.                     61.                                 76

May.                      56.                                 64

June.                     55 .                                 57

July.                       54 .                                 58

August .                56.                                  65

September.          59 .                                 52 ( so far).

September 8th

A Black Tern flew in at 7-30 this morning and flew off at 8-35 after being harassed by the local gulls. It is only the sixth record in last eighteen years. Also Reed Warbler , Little Grebe , Sparrowhawk , Buzzard , Chiffchaff , Treecreeper , Goldcrest and a single Stock Dove on the ground amongst Wood Pigeons. M Stubbs.

September 6th

Great Spotted Woodpecker mid morning a scarce sighting at the mere. M Stubbs.

September 4th

Went down to the mere around 2 o'clock to see if this morning's rain had brought anything new in. To my surprise the first birds I but my bins on were two drake Common Scoter sitting pretty much in the centre. They drifted closer and closer allowing a few reasonable images albeit in poor light. This is the 19th record of Common Scoter since 1996 at Astbury.

Sept 3rd

Spent a couple of hours early morning before the rain set in . Nuthatch at back of sailing club quiet scarce at this site also , Kingfisher , Buzzard x 3 , Swallow's x 10 , Grey Heron , Chiffchaff calling , Bullfinch and Cormorant.

Common Scoter

Well what can I say another call at 6-20 this morning from Mark , this time he had found a drake Common Scoter . On my arrival it was distant and very nervous taking flight a few times. It was very overcast so photography was near on impossible , I got a couple distant flight shots. I arrived at 6-40 and by 6-55 it flew off high in a North Westerly direction. Before I left for work I managed 65 Coot , Raven , Grey Wagtail , Cormorant , 8 Swallow's , Buzzard , 5 Chiffchaff , Grey Heron , 6 Great Crested Grebe's and a Jay . We usually get one or two sightings a year of Scoter , this is the first one so far.

A very distant dark shot of a drake Common Scoter leaving the mere this morning before sunrise . Not ideal conditions for photographing an all black duck in the gloom.

It is a Common Scoter honest.

Little Egret

Our first Little Egret at Astbury has been well overdue , with other lakes , reservoirs and mere's all around us getting them on a regular basis. I suppose we can only put it down to the size of our mere and the disturbance it gets through water sports etc. We know have low water levels due to the three months previous with very little rain and that has obviously contributed , giving a very attractive shoreline for wading birds at Astbury. If this continues we have high hopes that it could attract another first for us. As this was our first Egret I hope you will excuse me for putting a few more images on.

September 1st

In a one hour walk around this morning myself and Mark managed 40 species . The highlights were the first Kingfisher back this autumn also a Hobby over . Along with six Meadow Pipits , single Buzzard , single female Teal which is two months earlier than last year's record. Around 55 House Martin's passing through along with a dozen Swallow's. Others noted Goldcrest , Rook , Grey Wagtail and a couple of calling Chiffchaff. Hedgehog scats were found by the sailing club proof that they are around. Also not mentioned the other day we had two separate Vapourer Moths. August finished with a count of 65 species nine up on August last year.