Carr Mill Dam

Monday 27th June: 8 young Great Crested Grebe in two broods of 4; 3 Cormorant; 67 Mallard; 1 female Tufted Duck; 5 Common Tern; 4 Oystercatcher chasing and calling high overhead; 1 Kingfisher; 2 Nuthatch.

Derek Evans

Reed's Farm/Mossborough Roundabout

Tuesday 21st June; 80 Lapwing (failed &/or non-breeders?); pair Oystercatcher; one Red-legged Partridge; 2 singing Corn Bunting.

Derek Evans

Lapwings

Counted 34 Lapwings in the fields opposite Havannah flash this morning, 6-8 is the norm for this area.
SteB.

Moss Lane

All the usual cast along Moss Lane this afternoon, the only unusual sighting were the three painted lady butterflies...

Corn bunting 4+ heard
Yellowhammer 8+
Tree sparrow 12+
Skylark 3
Oystercatcher 3
Lapwing 5
Buzzard 2
Kestrel 1

Painted Lady 3
Small white 1

Damian P

One of three Painted Lady butterflies

Moth

Caught this lovely looking Elephant Hawkmoth in my garden last night, after a poor start, things look like they are picking up.
SteB.

Bats

Pipistrelle bats were detected at the following locations last night, around Haydock. 10pm.
Clipsley lane .
Cooper lane footpath .
Woods behind Station road .
No other species of Bat was detected.
SteB.

Pond dipping

Spent an hour pond dipping with the Grandchildren this afternoon, the pond behind Chain lane estate.
Smooth newt.
Water stick insect .
Tadpoles.
Stickle back.
A good afternoon to get the kids interested in nature
SteB.

Tawny Owl

Thursday 2nd June: 1 Tawny Owl adult with 1 young in woodland east of Barrow's Farm, Chadwick Green, Billinge at 0800.

Derek Evans

Near/north-east of Carr Mill Dam

Saturday 28th May: 1 Oystercatcher near Hollin Hey; 4 Tree Sparrow along Arch Lane; Redpoll in song flight near Charity Farm along Arch Lane.
Monday 30th May: 12 Greylag Goose in flight over fields east of Carr Mill Dam; confirmed breeding of Lapwing with 3 chicks in fields east of Chadwick Green; confirmed breeding of Grey Wagtail at Deer House Farm along Garswood Old Road with adult male carrying food; 2 Tree Sparrow along Arch Lane.

A Fox caught, killed and carried away a Hare at 0645 near Carter's Fold Farm along Garswood Old Road.

Derek Evans

Banded demoiselle

Several Banded demoiselle seen on Havannah flash this morning,the first ones for me this year.

Birds present.
Cormorant 1.
Buzzard 1.
Kestrel 1.
Reed warbler several.
Mute swans 2 over Tesco early morning.
Ste.

Today

Wednesday 25th May 1 Tawny Owl mobbed by Blackbird at 0640 along Garswood Old Road near Carr Mill Dam.

Derek Evans

Havannah flash

Mink spotted crossing the path into reed beds on Havannah flash 11 30am.
Buzzard was also seen being mobbed by three crows.
SteB.

Arches Pool/Dig Pit at Carr Mill Dam

Tuesday 24th May No sign of Night Heron 0600-0900. Confirmed breeding of Grey Wagtail (3 juveniles) and of Goldcrest (adult feeding 2 young). Also 1 Willow Tit present.

Derek Evans

Sighting

Spotted around 11.30 a.m. Sunday 22nd May at The Arches, Carr Mill Dam, St.Helens. Pretty sure its a Night Heron.

Des

Today

Monday 16th May
1 Hobby flew east over Merton Bank Open Space, Sankey Valley at 0630.

Derek Evans

My Elephant Hawk Moth has hatched.....sort of

I found this Elephant Hawk Moth caterpillar in the summer whilst strimming my mother in law's garden. I decided to keep it as we'd destroyed it's habitat and to hopefully show the kids a beautiful moth.

I found some info on a few blogs and kept it in some dried willow-herb until it pupated a few days later.

I've been keeping it in my garage in a biscuit tin, and transferred the chrysalis to a butterfly house a few weeks ago, and have been checking it every day since.

This evening, I've just been in to check and found this....

Amblyjoppa Proteus

Not quite what I was hoping for but pretty interesting all the same. It's huge - 23mm not including the antennae.

It's obviously a parasitic wasp of some type, I'm assuming the caterpillar must have already been infected when I found it. The closest ID I've found so far is amblyjoppa proteus as this seems to be the only Ichneumoninae wasp that parsitises elephant hawk moth. I'll try and find an appropriate forum to post photos on to find out what it is for sure. I'm still trying to decide what or if to tell the kids!

Damian P

Today

Friday 13th May

At Merton Bank Open Space, Sankey Valley: 1 Sedge Warbler and 3 Reed Warbler.

At Double Locks, Ravenhead Greenway: another pair of Grey Wagtail.

Derek Evans

Havannah flash

Sightings from around Havannah flash this morning.
Common tern 2.
Kingfisher 1.
Buzzard 6 in total.
Reed warbler 3.

Orange tip.
Speckled wood
Small tortoiseshell
Tadpoles.
SteB

Bluetit hatching

I've found the moment a chick hatches.  Watch the egg on the left just before the 2nd adult comes in...




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwplXJdMW4Y&t=287m15s

Bluetit camera

The bluetit chicks are doing well, both adults are feeding them regularly. There were 9 eggs, and we've seen up to 8 chicks at any one time although they're very hard to count, may well be 9. I'll be leaving the camera on as much as possible until they fledge.

Damian P

Today

Monday 9th May
6 goslings with adult pair of Canada Geese at St Helens Canal near Technical College towards town centre.
1 Common Tern over Burgy Banks South.

Confirmed breeding of Grey Wagtail - pair of which female collected food for young at St Helens Canal near Chamber of Commerce towards town centre.

Derek Evans

*Whinchat* Dairy Farm Road - Old Coach Road Lap

I did a lap of the Rainford Mosslands this afternoon hoping to see the recent whimbrel. There was a bird in the last sheep field on the right but I'm not sure if it's a whimbrel or a curlew. The bill shape looks good for whimbrel on some photos but I'd expect the medial crown stripe to be visible on some of them and it isn't...

Bill shape looks ok to me for whimbrel on some of the photos...

But - no medial crown stripe...

And on this one, the bill looks distinctly curlewy..

I'm thinking this is a curlew but would be delighted if anyone says differently! Maybe it was too distant to see the crown stripe clearly?

Also today was this whinchat which was on the ploughed field on the left of the public footpath which runs from Inglenook Farm to Dairy Farm Road. It had me really confused because it was behaving a bit like a wheatear at first and was also quite distant and into the light. It was only when I got home that I worked out (via stonechat!) what it was...

Whinchat 1

Curlew? 1

Shelduck 2

Oysercatcher 3

Wheatear 2 (1m,1f)

Stock Dove 3

Whitethroat 5+ heard along the way

Blackcap 1 heard

Willow Warbler 2 heard

Chiffchaff 1 heard

Skylark 15+

Lapwing 25+

Damian P

My garden, Eccleston

Male siskin again on the sunflower heart feeder today - I thought they'd all gone by now.

Goldcrest heard singing this morning too.

Damian P

Sankey valley

Birds present this afternoon.
Buzzard 3. Near common road, Newton le willows.
Sparrowhawk 1 Havannah flash.
Common tern 3.Havannah flash.
House martin.
Swallow.
Swift.
Butterflies.
Peacock.
Orange tip.
(Stoat).
Rabbit.
SteB.

Today

Friday 6th May
1 Peregrine atop brick chimney in St Helens Town Centre.

2 Reed Warber and 1 Sedge Warbler at Merton Bank Open Space, Sankey Valley.