cormorant - 1 flew down the Irwell Valley from Cowpe
buzzard - 1 soaring over Hurdles Quarry in the morning and possibly the same bird hovering over Cowpe Lowe in the afternoon
sparrowhawk - 1 male over Warth in the morning. Probably a different male flying high over Lench towards The Hile in the afternoon
kestrel - 3 hunting near Hurdles Farm and possibly a different bird hunting the east side of Cowpe Lowe later
grey partridge - droppings on Cowpe Lowe. Unfortunately I couldn't find the birds
lapwing - flock of at least 13 flying over Horncliffe
golden plover - 3 on Cowpe Lowe
snipe - 14 on Cowpe Lowe
little owl - 1 at the head of Lench valley
green woodpecker - 1 yaffling at Warth
stock dove - 1 at Warth
woodpigeon - c10 at Warth & Lench
meadow pipit - 6 near Heights Quarry & 2 on Cowpe Lowe
dipper - 1 on the Irwell in Waterfoot & 1 flying high over Hugh Mill and up Cowpe Valley to roost
great tit - 6 at Warth
blue tit - 7 at Warth
coal tit - 1 at Warth
long tailed tit - flock of at least 7 near Tippet Farm at Lench
goldcrest - 1 at Warth & a pair at Hugh Mill
nuthatch - 1 at Warth
robin - 6 at Warth. 1 on a drystone wall on the edge of Whinberry Pasture was a little unusual
blackbird - 10 at Warth
mistle thrush - 1 guarding rowan berries at Warth
fieldfare - 30 at Warth
song thrush - 1 at Hugh Mill
redwing - 9 at Warth, 14 over Hurdles Quarry flying towards Balladen & 3 near Tippet Farm
dunnock - 1 at Warth
wren - 4 at Warth & 1 at Heights Quarry
starling - c40 on Whinberry Pasture, min200 near Height's Quarry & 9 at Lench
magpie - c10
jay - 1 at Warth
carrion crow - c10
raven - 2 ranging across the hillside from Cragg Quarry to Hurdles Quarry
jackdaw - c140 wheeling over Warth at 15:25 in a pre roost gathering. Flocks of 12, 10, 6 & 48 then broke off from this gathering and headed towards Hailstorm Hill, presumably to roost in the Rochdale area
chaffinch - 4 at Warth
goldfinch - 5 at Warth
siskin - flock of 9 flew from Warth to Staghills Woods
bullfinch - party of 3 at Warth
Large numbers of gulls moved through Rossendale today. Birds seemed to be mostly following a line through Edenfield through Rawtenstall towards Cowpe and then possibly over Hailstorm Hill/ Cowpe Moss towards AMR, where large numbers of gulls have recently been roosting (see the Ashworth Moor Reservoir thread on the Manchester Birding Forum) Details as follows
c110 + 7 over Warth at 11:00
36 over Warth @ 11:15
34 over Warth @ 11:20
21 + 21 +21 + 25 + 70 over Hurdles Quarry
min 500 along the valleys from Edenfield to Cowpe between 13:00 + 13:10
min 150 over Scout Moor and another c40 over Holcombe @ 13:25
c70 & 43 over Cowpe Lowe @ 14:15
41 over Cowpe Lowe @ 14:23
80 over Cowpe Lowe @ 14:25
10 over Lench @ 14:45
10 over Lench @ 15:03
11 over Lench @ 15:15
This adds up to 1300 birds, and I no doubt missed a few. At a very rough guess 80% were herring gulls 15% lesser black backed gulls & 5% great black backed gulls. This would tie in with the counts at Ashworth Moor Res
