grey heron - 1 flew off the lodge at Plunge carrying a frog
Canada goose - 1pr on Scout Moor Res and 1 pr at Irwell Vale
mallard - 1pr at warth, 1pr in wet area at Plunge & 6prs around EBSW
goosander - 1pr flew up the Irwell Valley at EBSW
common buzzard - 3 sightings near EBSW including pair soaring over the beds
lapwing - 2 on Whinberry Naze
curlew - 1 flew from Cowpe Lowe towards Edge Cote and 1 calling at Plunge
woodcock - 2 at Warth and 1 at Plunge
little owl - 1 at Hurdles Quarry
black headed gull - 61 at EBSW
skylark - 1 in Plunge and 5 between Hurdles Quarry and Heights Quarry
grey wagtail - 1m at warth and 3 at EBSW
pied wagtail - 2 flying over Hurdles Quarry and c40 at EBSW
meadow pipit - 20 between Hurdles Quarry and Heights Quarry, 30 in Plunge and 2 at EBSW (many singing birds)
great spotted woodpecker - 1m at Warth
stock dove - 3 at Warth and 1pr at EBSW
woodpigeon - 3 at warth and 4 at EBSW
collared dove - 2 at EBSW
dipper - 1 at Plunge, 1pr at EBSW and 1 at usual nest site at Ewood Bridge
treecreeper - 1 at Plunge
wheatear - 1m at Scrubbing Mills and 1f at Plunge
stonechat - 1 pr at Plunge
redwing - 2 calls heard near Hurdles Quarry (Dave Haworth reports lots of redwings heading from Staghills Woods towards Rawtenstall this morning)
jay - 2 at Warth (first I've seen since 8th Feb!)
rook birds calling from rookery behind the soap works at Irwell Vale. There appears to be 9 nests in the area although I don't know if there all in use
linnet - 1 heard at Hurdles Quarry
siskin - 1 calling over EBSW ( 1 was sing in Park road Waterfoot on Thursday)
There was a large pipit (clearly larger than a meadow pipit) on the beds at EBSW which looked to have had a greyish head and white on its throat. The bird did not associate with the 2 meadow pipits that were on a different bed. It was more upright than a meadow pipit (it's stance reminded me of a mistle thrush). Sadly I couldn't get a great view as the bird jumped off the beds and stayed out of view for the remainder of my time there. It may be wishful thinking on my part but I wondered if it might have been a water pipit. Worth looking out for if anybody is down there tomorrow
cheers Kevin
-- Edited by KEVIN LISTER on Saturday 6th of April 2013 07:33:45 PM
I should have pointed out that the bird was seen in that rarest of things, bright sunlight, so the only thing I can be sure of was that it was clearly larger than a meadow pipit. It is possible that after Mr Ousey had told me there had been a few water pipits around that the power of suggestion could have pointed me erroneously in this direction. Unfortunately unless somebody else sees it we'll never know what it was
