LOS Blacktoft Sands RSPB Fieldtrip Date Changed

Please note that the date of the LOS fieldtrip to Blacktoft Sands RSPB near Goole has been changed to Sunday 18th May.  Everyone is welcome to come especially prospective new members.

Photo of the Week - Cetti's Warbler at Pennington Flash

Adult Male Cetti's Warbler at Pennington Flash - 11 April 2014  (c) John Tymon

L.O.S. member John Tymon, a well known local birder and photographer, has sent us this very rare photograph of a Cetti's Warbler taken recently in our recording area.  Although these secretive and elusive little brown birds have been well known at the Wigan Flashes for some time, this is the first recorded Cetti’s Warbler ever at Pennington Flash where it has been skulking around singing loudly with it's distinctive song for about six months. You can listen to it's song here: Cetti's Warbler on Xeno Canto.

Almost impossible to see, even when they are singing just a few feet away in a bush, it's an accomplishment to even get a tiny glimpse of this bird nevermind photograph it. Many have tried and failed, but after six months of trying John has finally got the shot everyone wanted to see - naturally he is very pleased with the outcome.

As far as we know, this is the first time this bird has been photographed at Pennington Flash and only the second ever shot of one in Greater Manchester, as it's still a real rarity in this county.  So well done to John and thanks for sharing this excellent photograph with us.

Peaceful protest against Hen Harrier persecution

There will be a peaceful protest against Hen Harrier persecution somewhere in the north of England on or around (probably before) the ‘Glorious’ 12th August this year.

Let me know if you would be interested in taking part and wish to be kept informed by emailing mark@markavery.info

The number of people expressing an interest is now well into three figures and emails keep coming in.

It’s time for those who are disgusted by the scale of illegal persecution of this bird to raise their voices. Remember there should be around 300 pairs of Hen Harrier in the north of England and last year there were two. That is something to be angry about – or ashamed – depending on who you are.

Hen Harriers are reported to be holding territory on National trust land in Derbyshire in a general area where they have attempted nesting before. We urge the National Trust to do everything it can to protect these birds from persecution.

Original posting on Mark's blog : Peaceful protest against Hen Harrier persecution

Wildflower Planting in St. Catherine of Siena's Wildlife Garden

Today some members of the LOS Young Birders' Club Team went back to St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Primary School in Lowton to do some wild flower planting in their wonderful wildlife garden with Mr. Clegg's Year 3 class. LOS Conservation Officer Roy Rhodes very kindly donated many plants from his own garden to boost the stock here with the aim of increasing the biodiversity in this excellent school resource.

Roy Rhodes demonstrating planting to a group of St. Catherine's pupils

Greenfingers! 

In our previous visit here we had carried out a short bird survey as part of the RSPB's Big Schools' Birdwatch with Year 4 pupils.

Today it was the turn of Year 3 pupils and the aim was to increase the number of plants which would attract insects, spiders, moths and butterflies in the summer months when we hope to be back to do another 'bioblitz' day.

Getting 'stuck in'

The pupils came out well-prepared with their wellies in three separate groups of ten, each time accompanied by a member of St. Catherine's staff and they quickly got kitted up with gloves and trowels ready to start work.

Roy gave each group a short talk about why we are doing this activity followed by a demonstration of how to plant the wild flowers in the holes which we'd prepared earlier in the day.

Teamwork 

All the pupils were very enthusiastic and keen to 'get their hands (well gloves) dirty' on the job. The LOS members worked with them in groups of three or four showing the pupils where to put the plants and talking to them about nature and wildlife in general.

Roy selected these plants from his garden because, fingers crossed, he thinks that they should do well in the soil conditions here.

We explained that some of the plants should grow and have flowers this summer, some will flower next year and many should self seed and produce even more plants for the garden.

The plants will attract insects and in turn we hope that these will attract more birds into the garden.  This is what is meant by increasing the biodiversity of an area.

Jeff showing an interested pupil what to do

Here's a list of what we planted:

The pupils were very keen to answer questions

• St John's Wort
• Wild Garlic
• Vipers Bugloss
• Foxglove
• Mullein
• Yellow Archangel
• Dame's Violet
• Red Campion
• Jack-by-the hedge
• Feverfew
• Forget-me-not

The LOS Young Birders' Club Team hope to be back sometime in July with Roy's Moth Mobile to do another mothing session and to see what else the new plantings have brought to the garden.

Year 3 Pupils from St. Catherine's holding the wildflowers before planting them

It was a great couple of hours and everyone worked well together. Thanks must go out the LOS members who volunteered for this session - Jeff Hurst, George Pike and Martyn Jones as well as our Conservation Officer Roy Rhodes who planned and lead the group today.

More Year 3 pupils from St. Catherine's in their Wildlife Garden

All photographs (c) Martyn Jones 2014
You can click on any of the photographs to enlarge them

Free Wildlife Recording Conference

The Greater Manchester Local Record Centre is holding its first Wildlife Recording Conference on Saturday 29^th March at Manchester Museum.  This event is supported by the National Lottery, through the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The day will be a celebration of wildlife recording and a thank you to all the dedicated volunteers who spend time recording and submitting records. The day will be a chance to discover new opportunities for recording, meet like-minded recorders and find out what happens to data once it has been submitted.

If you would like to come along to this free event please fill in the on-line application form by Friday 28th February. Because places are limited we will let you know if your application is successful after this date. Full details of the programme and the booking form can be found here: http://www.gmwildlife.org.uk/conference/

It would also be helpful if you could complete the feedback questions with the application form as we will use the information collected to feed into the day’s event and help plan our next year of activities.

We look forward to seeing you on the 29th March.

Suzanne Waymont MCIEEM, Senior Ecologist
Greater Manchester Ecology Unit

Council Offices, Wellington Road, Ashton-under-Lyne
Tameside OL6 6DL

Tel: 0161 342 2771
Website: www.gmwildlife.org.uk

LOSYBC visits 8th Wigan Boys' Brigade in Hindley

Young Birders in the Making

The LOS Young Birders' Club Team of Tony, George, Brian and Martyn paid a very successful visit to the 8th Wigan Boys Brigade Company at St. Peter's Pavilion in Hindley last week.  It was initially thought that this presentation would be something of challenge due to the large 8 to 16 age range of the boys there, but it went very well.

You can read a full report of the evening's events on our LOS Young Birders' Website here:  LOSYBC visits 8th Wigan Boys' Brigade

Our next presentation is on Monday 24 February at 13th/18th Leigh Beavers who meet at the Scout hut next to St. Thomas' Church in Bedford, Leigh.

Conway & Tal-y-Bont Fieldtrip – 16th February 2014

Snowdonia (c) Joan Disley

In the middle of all the chaos with our recent terrible weather, somehow we managed to get a decent day for our trip. As we traveled nearer and the distant Welsh mountains came into view, we could see they were covered in snow on their tops.

A few stints at sea watching at Pensarn and Llanfairfechan gave us a few different gulls and some of the Black-headed Gulls were now getting their dark heads returning, Fulmar and Cormorant were seen flying past, as was some Common Scoter but way out at sea, Great Crested Grebe and the odd diver were seen again out at sea and a few members even saw a Surf Scoter. Joan managed to spot a few Grey Plover flying past and we could also hear a Dunnock from a nearby railway embankment.

The Spinnies, Tal-y-bont (c) Joan Disley

On to Tal-y-Bont but unfortunately by now the tide was fully in so most of what could have been there to see had been disturbed by the incoming tide. Out on the water we could see some Goldeneye, Shelduck and a Merganser was seen. We had a close look at some Curlew flying past us and Oystercatchers and Redshank were seen. Although it was a distance from us we could make out a single Heron perched on a dead tree by the edge of the water. While we were walking to “The Spinnies” reserve some Greylag Geese were seen in one of the fields and a few Starlings were feeding in another field. From the hides overlooking the pools we saw a few Teal, two Little Grebe and just one Little Egret, a Goldcrest was seen and coming to some feeders were 4 species of Tits, House Sparrow and a Great Spotted Woodpecker amongst others. A Buzzard and Sparrowhawk flew past again although this time it took one of the Blue Tits with it.

Near this reserve were clumps of Snowdrops in flower but I wonder if these are from garden escapees; despite all the bad weather spring is trying to get started as the leaves of Cuckoo Pint are showing through.

Conwy Castle from the RSPB Reserve (c) Joan Disley

Our last stop was at the RSPB reserve at Conway were we saw more Goldeneye plus Pochard, Teal, Shoveler, Shelduck, Merganser and both male and female Scaup. In waders we saw Lapwing, Curlew, Snipe and Oystercatcher. A Kestrel was seen hovering not far from the path and we saw more House Sparrows, Greenfinch and a beautiful Song Thrush singing from the top of a bush.

At this reserve the Gorse bushes were covered in their bright yellow flowers and the male catkins on the Hazel were a few inches long although I have been seeing these on our local Hazel for the past few weeks.

It was then time to start off back for home, so it is thanks to Al for organising the trip and to Joan and Jim for giving Jen and myself a lift.

Jeff Hurst

Iolo Williams and the 2013 'State of Nature Report'

Have a look at this impassioned speech by Iolo Williams relating to the UK's 2013 State of Nature Report (and don't worry, it's not all in Welsh):

Click the button in the centre of the video to play it

and then double-click on the video to make it go fullscreen.

Read or download the full report here (PDF format): State of Nature Full Report

or a summary of the report here (PDF format): State of Nature Report Summary

New L.O.S. Facebook Group

In an attempt to keep our members better informed as well as to help attract new members, I've setup a new L.O.S. Facebook group:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/leighos/

A permanent link to this address can be found on the right side of this page. You'll need to login to Facebook to see the group - please invite anyone you know who may be interested in birding, wildlife, nature and the environment.

Please feel free to use this group to publish your bird sightings and photos, give details of events relating to our Society and ask questions or provide information that will be of interest to our members. I hope everyone will find it useful.

Martyn Jones

Bird Walk on the Salford Mosses - Saturday 1 February

There will be a guided bird walk on the Salford Mosses with Dave Steel this Saturday, 1 February 2014 from 9.00 am. You can find out where the birds live, the different species and the fascinating history of the Moss on Barton and Chat. We will visit the old Peat Extraction site and the Lancashire Wildlife Trust reserve and the walk will last approximately 3 hours.

Park and meet in the layby next to the entrance to Barton Moss Road and wear sturdy boots and waterproof clothing.

James Walsh (reprinted from Manchester Birding Forum)