JCB Landpower, Leek Rd: the Barn Owl reported recently from the test track was seen well this morning around dawn and even perched on one of the JCB signs. MP

Hales Hall: a tremendous record this afternoon of a Merlin seen flying north over Hales towards Woodhead. RP

A stroll around Garston/Cotton Banks for the Winter Atlas produced nothing of note but did reveal a couple of spots worth checking' later in the year for Redstarts, Pied Fly's and Wood Warblers.

With temperatures considerably warmer than of late a thaw as begun and slightly more open water is available now and this did the trick with a redhead Goosander on the roadside pool at Blake Hall .

Hales Hall: Common Gull 1, Black-headed Gull c100, Canada Goose 15, Mandarin 1.

Blake Hall: Goosander 1, Wigeon 1, Mallard 40, Canada Goose 79, Black-headed Gull 24, Lapwing 2. AB

Late news from the Coleridge Drive area of a Common (Mealy) Redpoll coming to garden feeders with around 60 Lesser Redpolls. A crackin' garden tick! Birdforum

Late news for yesterday from Dimmings Dale: Siskin 10, Lesser Redpoll 2, Raven 2. TE

Cotton Banks/ Garston: very few birds around this afternoon apart from one or two Fieldfares and a calling Tawny Owl. AB

Croxden Quarry: a dawn stroll with the dogs produced excellent views of two different Tawny Owls still hunting in the early morning light. Also 2-3 Ravens overhead. AB

Ashbourne Rd: Barn Owl between the Thorley Drive and Moss Lane junctions near to Lightwood Fm at around 1500hrs. AB

The Park/ JCB Landpower track: no sign this evening of a Barn Owl that was seen three times last week by one of the JCB workers but the Little Owl is still present. MP

The temperature today reached minus thirteen. How many birds are dying in these arctic conditions is any body's guess but it must be in the millions. Visits to Brookleys Lake, Dimmings Dale and JCB Lakes at Rocester to complete this months Webs count produced just over two hundred birds. Apart from the ornamental lake at Rocester which had some open water, all three sites were completely frozen. Last month Brookleys Lake alone held nearly eight hundred birds, today it held just eight!

JCB Lakes: Goldeneye 1, Mandarin 5, Egyptian Goose 8, Mallard 46, Coot 87, Moorhen 2, Black-headed Gull 49.

Dimmings Dale: Mallard 4, Marsh Tit 1.

Brookleys Lake: Mallard 8. AB

Peakstones: seven Ravens over Peakstones Fm this morning. TE

Cherry Lane: two Woodcock flew over at 1635. Thirteen magpies roosted at Hales Hall Caravan Park. DP

Kingsley: 18 Whooper Swans flew east at c1600. RBA

Some cracking photo's taken today by TE at the Ramblers feeding station and the feeding station along the old Oakamoor-Denstone train line.

Today's plan to make the monthly Webs counts at all six of my sites was scuppered by the return of the arctic weather. In the end I managed to cover just Hales Hall, Blake Hall and Croxden. Unsurprisingly there were very few birds to count. At Croxden there were just nine birds on a tiny area of open water on the Sandy Lane pool. Normally at this time of year it would hold around sixty Coots.






Hales Hall: Mandarin 1, Mallard 43, Moorhen 1, Black-headed Gull 44, Greenfinch 20.



Blake Hall Fishery: Lapwing 15, Mallard 38, Black-headed Gull 20.



Croxden Quarry: Mute Swan 2, Mallard 7. AB

Morrisons car park: six Siskins feeding in Alders this morning. TE

Peakstones Inn area: two Barn Owls seen today. TE

Ramblers Retreat/ Dimmings Dale: late news from yesterday 11/12/10, 2 Marsh Tits at KC's feeding station. Also 35 Lesser Redpoll, 12 Long-tailed Tits and 2 Siskins. TE

Hales Hall: Bullfinch 7, Nuthatch 1 in the car park, Mandarin 1. No sign of yesterdays Water Rail by the footbridge. DP, MP, AB

Lid Lane: No sign of any Waxwings today along Lid Lane or in Basset Close.

The Sidings: late news for yesterday 10/12/10, 3 Lesser Redpolls and good numbers of Redwings along the old train line. In 2005 around 150 Waxwings were feeding along here!

Hales Hall: a rather noisy Water Rail was calling and showed briefly twice by the footbridge this morning. Also 2 Mandarins and a female Siskin. AB

Lid Lane: 15 Waxwings present this afternoon. I checked the area this morning and couldn't find one! per TE

Lid Lane: still at least one Waxwing present and feeding in a garden in Basset Close. MP



Park Lane: a Little Owl visiting a feeding station this afternoon must have been a bit of a shock! SP, MP



Late news from last Saturday 4/12/10, of at least twenty Waxwings feeding in a garden on the junction of Coleridge Drive and Shelly Drive. NM

Lid Lane/ The Birches: six Waxwings present this afternoon. MP

Lid Lane/ The Birches junction: four Waxwings still present this afternoon. MP

JCB Landpower, Leek Rd: Little Owl still present near the test track. AB

The Birches/ Lid Lane area: still four Waxwings present this afternoon. MP

Peakstones: two Bramblings coming to a garden feeding station. TE

JCB Landpower, Leek Rd: Little Owl on fence posts near the test track this afternoon. A scarce bird locally nowadays. AB

Waxwings.

Basset Close: 8 Waxwings feeding on pink Cotoneaster berries in the back garden of a bungalow in Basset Close. Two birds were first seen at the junction of The Birches and Lid Lane at 1410 before the flock of eight was found perched in a large blue spruce tree nearby. They were typically mobile and were also seen at the junction of Glebe Rd and Town End. Although they are feeding in Basset Close they can be viewed easily from Lid Lane. These are the first birds I've seen locally since 2005 which were also at one point feeding along Glebe Rd. AB, MP

Hales Hall: Still 2 Mandarins among the Mallards and a Kingfisher in willows near the inlet. AB

Cherry Lane area: c100 Canadas feeding in fields below the Hammersley Hayes estate look ideally placed to pull in a Pinkie or even better a Bean Goose. DP

Winnothdale: male Blackcap and four Bramblings visiting a feeding station. RS

It was even colder than Sunday this morning with the temp' down to minus 16 at 0640!

Rakeway estate: adult Common Gull among Black-headed Gulls. AB

Hales Hall: Woodcock 1 flew through @ 1330 and headed off towards the Cecilly Brook area, Kingfisher 1 went to roost in willows @ c1600, Mandarin 2. No sign of the recent Brambling. AB

Peakstones: Brambling 1, Blackbird 40, Song Thrush 2, Fieldfare 4 and around 10 Robins coming to a garden feeding station. TE

Hales Hall: late news for yesterday afternoon Mandarin 2, Redwing 7, LTT 6. DP

Dimmings Dale area: late news for yesterday 2 Woodcock flushed from beneath gorse bush's. TE

Cherry Lane: Woodcock 2. DP

Hales Hall: Brambling 1 still with Chaffinchs under the Yew trees . MP

JCB Landpower, Leek Rd: 11 Lesser Redpolls feeding in Alders by the test track. AB

Croxden Quarry: 3 Ravens and an excellent count of 12 Bullfinch's. I wonder if any of those were of the northern race pyrrhula, the so called Trumpeter Bullfinch? MP

Hales Hall Pool: a Brambling this morning was a good bird for the site and two Mandarins were present. MP

Hales Hall Pool: Incredibly cold this morning, at Blake Hall the temp' was minus 14! With the pool ninety per cent frozen it was no surprise that some of the Canadas were frozen into the water and they were covered in a fine layer of ice! No sign of yesterdays Wigeon but a 1st winter Common Gull was among the Black-headed Gulls, the released drake Mandarin was among the Canadas and three Lesser Redpolls were around the car park. AB

Hales Hall Pool: 2 Wigeon on the ice among the Mallards this morning were a site tick for me! This species was once a regular winterer at Hales Hall forty or fifty years ago. Three Lesser Redpolls were in willows near the carpark. Also this afternoon 20 Long-tailed Tits and a Sparrowhawk chasing a Blackbird. AB,DP

Cheadle: unconfirmed report of c12 Waxwings circling over Ashbourne Rd this morning pers TE.



After this news I had a good look round the area this afternoon but couldn't find any Waxwings. There are however plenty of berries available on Thorley Drive, Rockingham Drive, Stokesay Drive, Millbrook Way and the Kingfisher estate. The Master Potter estate has one or two nice Pyracanthas that are heavy with berries as well.

No news today but these photo's of Waxwings taken by Terry Eyre of the Leek birds should wet the appetite in readiness for some local birds.

Keep checking those berry bush's folks.

Croxden Quarry: an unconfirmed report of Waxwings feeding in the Hawthorn hedge that runs alongside the underground reservoir at the end of the old Counslow Rd recently. RS


Winnothdale: 3 Bramblings on garden feeders. RS

Dimmings Dale: c120 Lesser Redpolls and several Siskins and Bramblings seen over the last few days. TE

Leek Rd: a single Raven flew over heading west @ 1310. AB

JCB Land Power, Leek Rd: Female Siskin feeding with c15 Goldfinchs in Alders alongside the test track. Also 10 Redwings overhead. AB

Croxden Quarry: 18 Whooper Swans flew low over the clearfell area at 1240 heading s/e only my second local record. Also at Croxden this morning were a single Raven and a male Peregrine. AB

Hey up folks welcome to Birding Cheadle a source of both site information and the latest local bird news and what I hope will become a record of the bird life of my home town and the surrounding area.


I've been birdin' around this area all my life so I know full well just how hard it can be to try and avoid the avian delights of top county sites like Blithfield and slightly further afield the mighty Belvide! Uttoxeter Quarry is quite good too. But if you like to spend less time in the car and more time in the field just birdin' locally can still be rewarding.


Although we don't have top sites like these on our doorstep we still have enough sites within a five or six mile radius of Cheadle to enable you with a little bit of effort to see around one hundred species plus during the year.


Croxden Quarry is probably the best site locally with the potential to turn up anything. Recent highlights have included Avocet, Red Kite and Marsh Harrier. Blake Hall Fishery was very good for passage waders, terns, wagtails and chats when it was first excavated back in the mid nineties but very little is recorded nowadays at this very busy site. It does however, seem attractive to geese with both Brent and White-fronted Geese being recorded recently. Hales Hall Pool is thee site to look for Water Rails in winter as well as being excellent for warblers with both Reed and Sedge Warbler regular. Grasshopper Warbler is recorded some years but can be difficult to see as they tend to favour the marsh north of the boardwalk. Just up the road from Hales Hall is the oldest nature reserve in Staffordshire, Hawksmoor. Owned and maintained by the Natural Trust in spring this beautiful woodland reserve is home to my favourite woodland bird the Wood Warbler, a true gem of a bird. Also to be found here in spring are Tree Pipits, Pied and Spotted Flycatchers and Redstarts. Crossbills although not regular can be found with a bit of luck. Oakamoor picnic site in the Churnet Valley is a regular spot for Dippers and if you fail there you can try up the road at Cotton Dell. The fields above the dell can be good for Wheatears and chats. A recent discovery as been the area around Tickhill/ Banktop Road, which with its elevated position could well produce the goods one day. All it needs is regular coverage during spring and autumn and that little bit of luck we all need.


Nowadays though I'm not the only birder living locally, there's at least seven of us! The benefit of this is that more birders means more birds being found locally and that can't be bad, can it?


So if you've got any bird news please email me at rockbirder@fsmail.net


Andy.