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If you'd like to receive an email when this website is updated - click here
Enter the 2026 Sand Martin Competition - click here
13th January 2026 ............ The Tatton Field Trip.
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The heavy snow showers predicted for Saturday (10/1) by the Met. Office and the BBC failed to materialise, but it was a bit nippy with a temperature of -3.1⁰ C as a hardy group of 14 KOS stalwarts met up in the Dog Lodge layby on Mobberley Road for our January field trip around Tatton Park.
The pavements were icy in places so a certain amount of caution was required, although the steep gradient of Middle Walk had been gritted
and everyone made it safely onto Knutsford Moor. We always rely on recording House Sparrow when descending Middle Walk to start the day list and this was the case on Saturday, but a Goldcrest in one of the front gardens was a bonus this year.The Moor pool was partially frozen over but there were patches of open water populated by Mute Swans, Mallards and Black-headed Gulls. Some of the gulls wore metal BTO rings on one leg and blue plastic rings bearing a unique identification code on the other. I managed to photograph one with the code 239A and, from this website, https://waterbirdcolourmarking.org/black-headed-gull/ discovered that it had been ringed in November 2021 on Knutsford Moor as a four year old, all previous records have come from either the Moor or Tatton except for one occasion when it was seen in Runcorn.
The Knutsford entrance to the park was closed to motor vehicles but open to pedestrians and on the walk down towards Tatton Mere we added Nuthatch and two very obliging Treecreepers to the list.
The mere was partially frozen but, as with the Moor Pool,there was plenty of open water that held Coot, Moorhen, Tufted Duck, Goldeneye, Pochard, Little and Great Crested Grebes.
It was as we stood in the pine plantation scanning the wildfowl that Phil Ashley heard the calls of two Crossbills as they flew across the mere before
vanishing into the tree tops, a short time later Phil saw the two leave, flying towards the north end of the park.Continuing on towards Melchett Mere we came across two Stonechats that posed nicely for the cameras, both in the lower branches of a young oak tree and on the ground, Geoff Blamire's image was the best of the bunch!
As we approached Melchett some of the group decided that they'd give the Melchett hide a miss and walk on, past the Old Hall and on to Millennium wood in search of the Crossbills - we're very flexible on our outings!
From the Allen Hide, overlooking Melchett Mere, Gadwall, Cormorant and Great White Egret, were ticked off as we enjoyed elevenses. I'm pleased to report that my Goostrey's sausage roll was still quite warm!
We returned back to the cars along the east side of Tatton Mere and through Dog Wood, a Great Spotted Woodpecker was drumming but there was no sign of the finch flocks I'd seen earlier in the week when doing my two recces.
The rebel group failed to make contact with the Crossbills but they did manage to add Meadow Pipit, Buzzard, Sparrowhawk and Green Woodpecker to the list giving us a combined total of 49 species for the morning, 6 more than last year!
The following morning (11/1) Geoff and Sheila walked across to Rostherne and were somewhat disappointed ............"I couldn't believe yesterday! Where were the birds, particularly wildfowl. Briefly I had 8 Wigeon before they drifted towards Bittern hide. Just 1 Canada Goose and 1 Coot. Few Cormorants and few gulls. Usually there are ducks along the edge of the mere – completely empty. Couldn’t see any Mallards, Pochards, Teals, etc. Why?
Ciceley Mill
Farm 18 Redwings and 10+ Fieldfares feeding on fallen apples and the usual Ring-necked Parakeet (also saw one at Rostherne). The pool was empty of birds but some signs of thawing there.Little Mere – again no wildfowl but some signs of thawing.".............
Over in Warrington Simon Smith has noticed an influx of winter thrushes ........"we had an influx of winter thrushes into our area this morning, mostly Blackbirds & Redwings (photos attached). "............ Thanks Simon (I've included one of Simon's excellent pictures at the start of this update.
Colin Butler has sent me an excellent report on the visit that he, Jude Halman and Phil Ashley paid to Fuertaventura. You can read it by clicking here. Cheers Colin some great images!
A reminder from Karina about some events coming up shortly.
Friday January 23rd
‘Yorkshire's Wild Beauty by John Gardner
Jubilee Hall, Stanley Road, Knutsford, WA16 0GP. 8pm start with time for a catch up with friends beforehand. This promises to be an engaging and useful talk.
‘Yorkshire is by far and away the biggest county in Britain and has a wide and diverse landscape from the Pennines to the Dales. With this rich habitat comes a great many species of birds, plants and insects and this talk is illustrated lavishly throughout with images of species from upland moors to lowland lakes
We hope you will be able to join us this month.
If you have any suggestions for the new KOS 2026-2027 programme, do pass on your ideas to any of the committee members. Thank you.
A reminder of our visit to Anglesey - Sunday to Tuesday, May 10th - 12th, 2026
We’ll be staying at the Holyhead Premier Inn. Contact: Sheila Blamire for further details. chairman@10x50.com
Of course, it’s also the time for the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, 23-25th January Big Garden Birdwatch. No doubt I will soon receive information on the local events for The Heath and The Moor and then I’ll pass them on to you.
We have received a communication from the Friends of the Moor
I hope you had an enjoyable Christmas wish you a Happy New Year !.
FOTM would like to hold our RSPB Birdwatch on the Moor on Saturday 24 January, starting at 11 am and would like to invite you and your colleagues at KOS to come along and lend their valuable expertise.
We should also like to invite Friends of the Heath members, together with as many Friends of the Moor members and supporters as possible.
Sorry for the delay in contacting you but FOTM had a recent Committee meeting to discuss United Utilities starting drainage work this year. This will include dredging in the Moor Pool, which is now expected to start in autumn 2026, but removal of fish will take place earlier- this spring!
Janet McCappin
Having reached this far today please spare another couple of minutes to enter our KOS 2026 Sand Martin competition. It's open to all, not just our members and will only take a couple of minutes of your valuable time! click here and all will be revealed!
Species recorded on the Field Trip around Tatton Park. Saturday 10th January 2026. |
A cold start to the New Year for Geoff and Sheila Blamire (1/1) ..........."We did a walk around Holford and Plumley this morning – gosh it was cold in the wind! The species we always look for are Curlews and Wigeon. We had 12 Curlews followed by another 28 Curlews at another site, but nothing like the 130+ on 1st January 2024!!! Sounds like the numbers are much lower now (53 NW of Birches Crem). The Wigeon are usually on a pond near Cape Of Good Hope Farm, but they are difficult to count as they hide behind trees/bushes on the nearest side of the pond. Last weekend we didn’t go close so as not to spook them so estimated 40+, but this morning we did flush them (sorry Wigeon!). As they took to the air I thought there were about 60, which is a brilliant count. Geoff took a photo of the flock – the count was actually 91!!!!! I can't
believe that such a relatively small pond would support that number. Other species included: Buzzard, Kestrel, noisy Jays, 2 Gt Spotted Woodpeckers in dispute, 400+ Starlings, 4 Fieldfares, 12 Redwings, 2 Mistle and 2 Song Thrushes. Good morning!"............It was to become colder though and on Monday (5/1) my weather station recorded a temperature of -10.2⁰C at 8:00am.
The cold snap sees to have encouraged some species into our gardens; on Saturday (3/1) Karina Stanley welcomed a male Blackcap and a Redwing into her Knutsford garden, also in Knutsford Jude Halman also had a visit from a Redwing, here in Mobberley a Siskin on our feeder was the first this winter (6/1) and Phil Ashley in Holmes Chapel welcomed four Bramblings to his plot........."work canceled due to weather but had a first today with garden birds, put plenty of food out, (special seed mix) and have had, coal tit, GSW, Greenfinch,Chaffinch, long-tailed tit,house sparrow Rooks and 4 Brambling, what a lovely morning garden birding "...........
We gave Rostherne a miss on Monday morning (5/1) but the Blamires ventured out ........." Monday morning walked to Rostherne Obs (no Tony!). Little Mere and Ciceley Mill pool were completely frozen and covered in snow. 10 Redpolls busy feeding in the alders by the outlet from Little Mere. The Obs was rather cold with sub-zero temps. As you'd expect no problem with ice on the mere with the usual wildfowl including Goldeneye, Mandarins, Pochard, Wigeon, Tufties, etc, but no Goosanders. The best bird was a Great White Egret perched on the edge of Mere Covert. Water Rail was very vocal. Female Bullfinch, GSW, etc. I had a suspicion that one of the gulls was one of the 2 adult Caspian Gulls around – several pointers to it but need someone (Mike?) to help me with the ID. When we left at 11.30am the temperature inside the Obs was -1.0c. (When we got up this morning it was -8c in the garden)"..........
Park ranger Darren Morris found that Tatton Mere had frozen over almost completely on Monday morning (5/1).........."Most of the meres at Tatton frozen over yesterday (5/1). The fishing bank on Tatton Mere still had some open water on. Here there were a few wigeon, shoveler and goldeneye but the most noticeable difference were the 100+ teal there. They had probably moved there as the smaller field ponds are frozen where they are normally found.
The corner of Melchett near to the gardens had gadwall, goldeneye wigeon and the great white egret.
One of the egrets was on one of the heron's nests in the Higmere heronry the other day.
There were two GW egrets on Melchett today and a colleague reported an egret on the Birkin Brook in the deer sanctuary.
Hope all the KOS members enjoy the Tatton visit on Saturday, I will keep a look out for you as I’m working.
I have repaired the bird hide door today in preparation for your visit!Also, as you all enter the Dog Wood gate by the railway bridge, can any members spot the mistake on the poster attached to the gate? The one that explains about the wood being a SSSi "............
Thanks Darren and a good time to remind members that it's our KOS January field trip on Saturday (10/1) when we'll be doing a walk around the park, meeting in the usual Dog Lodge layby on Mobberley Road at 09:15am.
With the approach of a storm, named Goretti by the French meteorological service, likely to bring heavy snow to our area on Thursday and Friday, as I'm the trip leader this time, it's more important than usual to let me know if you're coming along. (tony.usher@zen.co.uk or 07710508544) in case there is a last minute change of plan.
I did a recce yesterday (6/1) of part of the proposed walk.
"-7.2°C overnight but by 11:00am it was a balmy 0°C. I had hoped to park at the Knutsford entrance and walk down to the west side of Tatton Mere where Darren had reported so much activity yesterday (5/1) but unfortunately the Knutsford entrance was closed to motor vehicles due to ice on the Knutsford Drive. So it was plan "B" and I parked at the Dog Lodge layby and walked through Dog Wood as far as the concrete jetty below the Outdoor Centre.
There was plenty going on and I was greeted by the sound a Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming on the dead branch of an oak tree close to the gate. As well as the anticipated Blue, Great and Coal Tits, numerous finches were feeding high up in the trees alongside the path down through the wood; against the light but I did manage to pick out Goldfinches and Siskins and, at one stage, I thought I heard a Brambling call.Lower down and much easier to see, numerous Dunnocks with Blackbirds and a Song Thrush scavenging amongst the leaf litter. Moving on I could see the strips of clear water that Darren had described on the far side of the mere, I only found Mute Swan, Mallard, Coot, Tufted Ducks and Canada Geese. I could see people walking along the far bank, a good sign that meant that, although the drive was closed to vehicles, pedestrians had access and this will hopefully be the case on Saturday for our January field trip.
I was in the park again this afternoon (7/1) doing another "semi-recce" when I met Darren and Saul checking some of the nest boxes in Dog Wood"
.........."We did one of the jobs that I will miss today; checking the bird boxes and cleaning them out ready for spring.
We have a variety of 30 boxes targeting species such as blue and great tit, nuthatch, spotted and pied flycatcher and robin. There are also several barn owl boxes mainly in the deer sanctuary.
While out today we saw three stonechats, three woodcock and a green sandpiper in the deer sanctuary.
Two of the young rangers are pictured checking the boxes. "................ Thanks Darren, it won't be long now!!
I've set the 2026 Sand Martin competition in motion, you can find details and enter by clicking the link at the top of this update or you can click here. As usual it's free to enter (only one entry per person please) and there will be a small prize for the winner.
It's open to anyone, not just KOS members and you can read more on the link provided. Any KOS member not entering will be hung upside down over a picture of Donald Trump. Other politicians are available!
Finally, once again a look back at what we were up to at the end of the last century!!
......"10/01/99 At last some "decent" Winter weather with sub zero temperatures for the last few days, the Christmas holiday period was marked by mild, wet and windy weather ideal for the incubation of the latest 'flu virus which seems to have flattened most of the population of North-west England for up to a week at a time. The first trip of the year today found us in Tatton for an easy morning walk, the weather was crisp and sunny and prompted some early song, Mistle Thrushes have been prominent for some time now they were joined today by a Song Thrush on Knutsford Moor. The Moor pool itself was frozen over, moving the resident Teal onto Melchett Mere and forcing a couple of Water Rails out of the reedbed where they were feeding along the unfrozen feeder stream. Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers were both much in evidence the latter already drumming loudly in Dog Wood where we watched a pair of Kestrels in display flight, a superb sight in the cloudless Winter sky."......
1st January 2026 ......... A splendid end to 2025.
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I finally caught up with Tatton's Crossbills on Sunday (28/12)
Just 5°C this morning in Tatton but only a light easterly blowing, so it didn't feel too cold. I drove in about 11am and it was already crowded with the Christmas people
- long coats, wooly hats, scarves and gloves carrying the obligatory plastic cup of coffee!I parked at the Melchett car park and walked to the Millennium Wood via the Old Hall, Swan Clump and the Mill Pool. Only the "usual" species, although I did see two Green Woodpeckers one of which was in full "song" from behind the pool.
Millennium Wood seemed quiet - a few Blue Tits and single Goldcrest but I caught a quick glimpse of a Song Thrush and stood still hoping it would re-appear. It was then I became aware of "things" dropping into the leaf litter under a conifer on the edge of the wood. That could only mean one thing - Crossbills!
I could make out about four birds at the top of the tree but I was looking against the light and my camera was struggling (there is a setting somewhere for back-lit subjects but I've never read the manual properly). I managed just one half-decent record shot of a male bird.
Eventually the birds moved away but I did catch up with them as I walked back to the car park; there were 11 of them. eight flew back into the Millennium Wood and the remainder to the Swan Clump.
I set merlin running when I was trying for a picture but all it came up with was Long-tailed Tit!! The birds were singing as well as just calling and I was looking forward to reviewing what merlin
had captured and perhaps enhancing the sound. I had though failed to notice that Merlin has been "improved" and there's now a save button that has to be pressed if you want to keep the recording and it doesn't save automatically. Again, as they say in Amateur Radio circles, RTBM - read the ****** manual! I returned to the park yesterday morning (31/12) in the company of Karina, Jude and Phil A. It was a pleasant enough day, slightly overcast, 0⁰C ( -4⁰C overnight) but at least it was dry. We walked to Millennium Wood via Swan Clump and the Mill Pool. Nothing of note except a "yaffling" Green Woodpecker and a Great Spotted Woodpecker overhead. Despite spending some time in the wood there was no sign of the Crossbills but Tatton is a big place with conifers spread right across the park.
Walking back towards the Old Hall we passed a lone conifer from where I saw them fly on Sunday, it has a good supply of cones and Phil gathered a selection from the ground underneath. As you can see from the picture they show typical damage caused when the birds prise them open to remove the seeds.
My three companions had walked through Dog Wood and along the eastern shore of Tatton Mere on the way in, they paid special attention to the wildfowl as, the previous day, a male Smew had been photographed by a fisherman. Unfortunately it appeared to have moved on; at one time back in the 1970s they were regular Winter visitors to the park, favouring the Knutsford end of the main mere.
Also on Sunday Geoff and Sheila Blamire were out and about doing the Winter bird survey .........." Spent the morning doing the 2nd visit for BTO UK Winter Bird Survey on our (BBS) tetrad. Had to do the survey before 31st December – 1-2 weeks ago would have been much too wet.
The instructions said to choose a day without rain (drizzle is okay) and not windy (breezy okay) – quite difficult in the winter. Also we had to get permission to walk over a property which didn’t clash with any weddings – over Christmas was okay.
Anyway, plenty Woodpigeons, Jackdaws, Carrion Crows and Magpies. Very few passerines. 3 Mistle Thrushes. That was it. It takes longer to fill in the habitats recording form (very complicated). But we did have a skein of c260 Pinkfeet over – of course nothing to do with the tetrad and the habitats…….
"Tuesday (30/12) found us enjoying our KOS Christmas walk, led by Sheila who took us from the Witton Mill Bridge car park, near Neumann's Flash in Northwich to Budworth Mere and back (6.7Km).
Walking along the path towards Butterfinch Bridge our day list started with Cetti's Warbler, Mallard, Teal, Redwing and the usual Magpie, Dunnock, Robin Wren and Blue Tit. In the small wood just before the bridge we had Nuthatch, Siskin and Song Thrush before crossing the canal and into Big Wood. This area of woodland provided us with Treecreeper, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Raven and a "singing" Stock Dove. We also recorded Tawny Owl a bird located by Phil Ashley using his Hikmicro thermal binoculars, an incredible piece of kit!!
Budworth Mere was crowded with wildfowl, as well as the expected Mallard, Coot, Moorhen, Pochard, Shoveler, Wigeon etc. this year it was graced by the presence of a male Scaup that had been on the mere for a couple of weeks, Geoff and Simon managed to get some great images of this lovely little duck. A first Winter Little Gull was also located, again this had been around for some time and was an expected addition to our list.
Walking towards the viewing screen overlooking the Coward reedbed, a Kingfisher hurried by and we were surprised by the number of Goosanders present, again a very photogenic species - look at the feather detail of Simon's image!
The feeder at the screen was very busy with the usual Blue, Great and Coal Tits plus fleeting glimpses of a very active Willow / Marsh Tit that didn't call to confirm its identity nor did it linger long enough for any pictures to be obtained.
We'd been out for more than three hours so Sheila decided that we'd not walk up to Pod's Hide overlooking Neumann's Flash this time, nevertheless we'd accrued a total of 56 different species, six more than last year.
An excellent morning's birding and our thanks go the Sheila for acting as our leader for the day.
Our next get together comes a week on Saturday (10/1) when we'll be enjoying a walk around Tatton Park. 09:15am at the usual Dog Lodge lay-by on Mobberley Road. I'll be leading this trip so you may want to let me know if you're coming along. Tony@10X50.com.
Finally a look back at today 26 years ago, the first day of the new millennium.
"01/01/00 The last time we visited Carrington Moss, in February last year, we had good view of the Long-eared Owls that were overwintering in overgrown hawthorn bushes close to the Sewerage farm.
This Winter's star attractions are finches; lots and lots of them, in fact I've never seen a bigger flock, we estimate between 1200 to 1500 birds, they were mostly Chaffinches but we saw at least one brambling and heard many, many more as they flew overhead. They were feeding on a huge field that had been used during the Summer for the cultivation of beans these are allowed to die off and are used as high protein animal feed, it's not immediately obvious what the birds were feeding on as the beans are small and very hard. Also present were large numbers of Skylarks, probably in the order of 250, they were recent arrivals and seen to have replaced the usual Yellowhammers that were nowhere to be seen! T.A. Coward is the most well known Cheshire Ornithologist and he knew this area well, in fact he was brought up in Bowdon and the tower on Bowdon church is visible from the Moss. In his book "Bird Haunts and Nature Memories" published in 1922 he tells of the area as it was when he was a lad - a proper moor with Red Grouse, Curlew, Twite, Short-eared Owls and nesting Nightjars! - but that was in the 1880's and by 1922 the heather and peat had gone to be replaced with "night soil" from Manchester and the establishment of numerous small holdings and nurseries. Today it's a hotchpotch of waste ground and chemical works with farms round the perimeter and Manchester United's new training complex dumped in the middle somewhere!Coward was the author of many books - not all Ornithological, he was an historian and Chairman of the Manchester Philosophical Society - but he is best remembered for the 3 volume work "The Birds of the British Isles and Their Eggs" published in 1920. Much of the content is based on his own observations and Coward often talked of the importance of accurate note taking in the field. In the past we have often postulated as to what happened to the great man's notebooks on his death in 1933 and what interesting reading they would make, well I think I've found them! They appear to be kept in the Archive Cupboard of the Alexander Library which is part of the Zoology Department Library at the University of Oxford - The power of the Internet, I assume plebs like us will be allowed a supervised viewing!! "
In fact, yes we were allowed access to the Coward archive! read an account here.
Species recorded during the 2025 Christmas Walk from Neumann's Flash to Budworth Mere and back. |
KOS members have been out far and wide over the Christmas period, none more so then our Hon. Secretary Karina. She'll be home for our annual Christmas walk on Tuesday (30/12) but sent me an email before leaving Hong Kong .........." While you were visiting WWT Martin Mere, we were at WWF Mai Po. It’s on the border with mainland China and we had to go through a very high, barbed wire security fence!
We were lucky to see ~40 of the critically endangered Black-faced Spoonbill which are very similar in appearance to the common Royal Spoonbill I saw in Queensland.
So I asked if these were the same species. Apparently not! The two types have subtle differences, a different range and variations in their mitochondrial DNA. "..........
Meanwhile a little closer to home Geoff and Sheila Blamire enjoyed a Sunday morning stroll around the Plumley area (21/12) ..........."Sunday (21st Dec) morning walk around Plumley/Holford. Ridge Farm: 5 Curlews. Cape of Good Hope Farm area: 50+ Fieldfares, 200+ Starlings, 130+ Pink-footed Geese in 2 skeins flew over. Plumley railway: a perched Raven was ‘singing for ages with a long series of varied, mainly soft sounds, not the usual ‘kruking’ of Ravens in flight. I was expecting another Raven to fly in and to witness a display flight include them rolling together. But no response – such a shame."...........
Phil Rowley headed our way again on Tuesday (23/12)......."Well, that's enough driving for one day!!
I headed back up to Burnágé (as in Farage) to drop off family prezzies and then over to Parkgate for 12.30; the 8.6m high tide was due around 1pm.
A Male Merlin came right overhead at the Old Baths, 7 x Marsh Harriers, several Skylark & Redwing, lots of Brent Geese & Stonechats with big numbers of Curlew, Lapwing and Golden Plover.
Time to put my feet up!".........
On the same day I drove over to Tatton Park, as expected it was very busy so I parked at the Melchett car park and took the path to the Mill Pool. The birds seem happier
in this quieter part of the Park. A Great White Egret had joined the resident Mallards, Coots, Moorhens, Tufted Ducks, Gadwall and Little Grebes.A male Stonechat perched on the wire lattice fence close to the pool, a couple of birders from Crewe had also seen a female - we've learnt over the past few years that where there's a male Stonechat there will be a female nearby (and vice versa) - as is the case with Bullfinches.
On Christmas day Derek and Jean took a walk down nearby Sudlow Lane ......" We went down Sudlow Lane for just over an hour this afternoon, boy was it cold, east wind - the birds had more sense and kept hidden. We saw about a dozen Fieldfare two or three Dunnocks one Blackbird and several Crows and Black headed gulls that was the lot, yet in our garden lovely Great, Blue, Coal, and LT Tits Dunnocks Blackbirds Nuthatch, Collared Dove, Goldfinches and House Sparrows, all from the warmth of our house.
Yesterday a Great Tit was prospecting a bird box and we had a Song thrush in garden, a pleasant surprise "......
Needless to say the Blamires were also out on the big day ......." We did our walk around Holford and Plumley this morning – there was a very, very cold wind – the whole area is really open with no shelter. But it was brilliant! One field opposite Inovyn offices held 60+ Curlews and 54 Lapwings, then close by 40 Fieldfares, then Cape of Good Hope Farm 20+ Wigeon (could have been considerably more). Plumley 20 Fieldfares and few Redwings. Also 1 Buzzard and 2 Kestrels. No Ravens today…."..........
I thought I was lucky to see six Crossbills in Tatton recently, Phil Ashley has gone one step further ..........."I have been looking for nesting crossbill in Macc Forest and Goyt Valley but no luck as yet and unfortunately not a lot of suitable seed cone on conifer trees, fortunately a trip to North Wales came good and found two pairs just finished building, so eggs due next week I reckon.
Also been watching our local covey of grey partridge, 9 in all. I found their night ground roost in the field at the back of Gleave House Farm - with the help of my thermal binoculars!
ironically not seen a roost site for 20yrs in Cheshire, so a nice surprise. "..............
With our Christmas walk coming up on Tuesday, I thought you'd like this reminder of the same outing in 1998.
"27/12/98 Cheshire ornithologist A.W. Boyd always recommended spending part at least of the holidays of the Church out of doors a fine sentiment
and one we have tried to follow at some stage over the Christmas period for some years now. By tradition those able to attend meet at Arley Hall and follow the public footpaths to picturesque Great Budworth (now the home our independent MP and ex-BBC correspondent Martin Bell, probably the most famous white suit wearer in the world!). The dreaded flu bug reduced numbers somewhat but the most original excuse must go to Pete Hall who felt unable to attend this year owing to the fact that his roof was removed by last night's 80 mph+ gales! Despite the wind and recent rain the going was not too bad, Winter Thrushes were everywhere especially Redwings who seem to outnumber Fieldfares at the moment, a flock of 30 Tree Sparrows was nice to see but the best bird was a superb male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker watched at close range in the grounds of Arley Hall shortly after setting off from the "walker's car park"."OK that's it for another year of fun and frolics with the KOS. It only remains for me to wish all members and anyone else who passes this way a happy, peaceful and healthy new year.
Some statistics.
This page of latest news contains 66,276 words and 202 images and has been accessed by 5,237 people since January 1st 2025.
Since I installed the counter in 2015 folk from 88 countries have arrived and read all about what we get up to!!.
Tony Usher.
22nd December 2025 .............. The winter solstice.
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Yes, yesterday - the 21st December was the shortest day of the year, today we'll have a full 2 seconds more daylight and our thoughts can turn to Spring!
The birds seem to share our, probably mistaken, optimism; yesterday along Gleavehouse Lane in Mobberley Song Thrushes and Dunnocks were both singing, something Geoff and Sheila Blamire found on their daily walk last Tuesday (16/12) ..........." Tuesday: Mereside Lane a Song Thrush was singing in the sunshine! Peacock Lane, High Legh were c24 Fieldfares and c6 Redwings feeding on berries in a hawthorn tree; c12 Goldfinches and 2+ Siskins feeding in an alder; then 2 skeins of Pink-footed Geese (c200) flew overheard. On Moss Lane we watched a Goldcrest feeding close by us (we had 2 Goldcrests yesterday).".............Derek Pike was feeling optimistic too on a journey back from Macclesfield .........."On the way back from Macclesfield Hospital yesterday afternoon (20/12) having to drive slow behind a tractor in Ollerton there was a Rookery in full swing several pairs of birds, soon be Spring! "............
I've been spending some time in the quieter part of Tatton Park......" I thought it might be a bit busy in Tatton today with an improvement in the weather. It was! The Knutsford drive was crowded with pedestrians, so I drove to the Melchett car park and walked to Millennium Wood via the Swan Clump hoping to bump into some Crossbills.
Plenty of activity in the trees surrounding the Old Hall, mainly noisy Jackdaws but a small flock of Long-tailed Tits moved through the lower branches. Walking along the bank towards Swan clump I thought the stand of Sweet Chestnut trees looked good in the bright sunlight. They look even better in black and white. The clump was quiet, no Crossbills just a couple of Coal Tits and a single Siskin. Only a couple of distant dog walkers; this is the best part of the park at this time of the year.
The Mill Pool held Moorhen, Coot, Little Grebe, Cormorant, Mallard and no less than 10 Gadwall. The Fieldfares I saw last week are still around in large numbers, I guessed about 50, I assume there were some Redwings in the flock as well but they were a good distance away.
Millennium Wood was quiet - Robin, Blackbird, Blue Tit and Goldcrest.
A few new species for my list at Melchett - Black-headed Gull, Pochard (6), Mute Swan (2). Great Tit and Great Spotted Woodpecker on the feeders. More Siskins in the alders at the south end of Tatton Mere.
Heading back to the car I met Darren who confirmed his last day as a ranger will be 27th February, so he'll miss our meeting that night as his colleagues are insisting on going for a quiet(?) drink."........
........." Nice to see you Tony, and Sheila and Geoff earlier.
I had a quick scan of the meres too but not much to report…. A few goldeneye and 6 little grebe on Tatton Mere.
Sorry I missed the pavlova and the Christmas party. I was on driving duty taking my daughter to her work Christmas party in Crewe.
Yes, not long until I join you and get to spend more time birding. Just in time for spring migration!"...............
Thanks Darren - I'm looking forward to being inundated with records for the website once you've hung up your ranger's boots!!
Also enjoying her retirement is our Hon. Secretary, Karina who's hopefully recovered from the disappointment of the Brisbane test match and is now in Hong Kong. She's kindly sent me one her "special" snaps.
Simon and Lyn have paid a second visit to the Southport area ........." We made a return visit yesterday to Marshside, to have a look for the Smew on the Marine Lake. No luck there, but the Pink-footed geese were showing nicely near to the edge of the marsh. We returned via Lunt Meadows,
which has changed since we were last there: more & better paths, a learning centre with the possibility of a tearooms opening soon and a ? parking charge. However, the highlight was the appearance of a Short-eared Owl that quartered the field alongside the drive, giving close views in the winter afternoon sunshine. "...........Thanks Simon a great picture of the owl.
The highlight of our November field trip to Burton Mere Wetlands was the discovery of an Eastern lesser Whitethroat on the walk down to the Border Hide: it's apparently still there and attracting a good deal of attention, according to the Burton Mere Facebook page, although I don't think anyone has managed any photos yet.
Saturday (20/12) Geoff and Sheila now have four Goosanders on their local patch! ............." Little Mere: 4 Goosanders (2m 2f) – bearing in mind that the size of Little Mere is only a little bit bigger than Ciceley Mill pool and a fraction of Rostherne Mere it gets some tremendous birds! Song Thrush singing close by.
Ciceley Mill pool: Water Rail squealing and pair of Mute Swans.
Rostherne Mere: 1f Goosander, Cetti’s Warbler heard and 2 pairs of Mute Swans (1 male wasn't happy having the other pair there). All the other usual wildfowl there except for any Goldeneye.".............
A reminder that it's our Christmas walk on Tuesday 30th December. This year around Neumann's Flash and Dairy House Meadows. 09:30am meeting at the Witton Mill car park CW9 5LN, Sheila Blamire will be leading so please let her know if you're coming along. chairman@10X50.com
Finally a reminder of what we were up to at the end of the last century!!
"21/12/97 Overwintering Blackcaps have been increasing in numbers over the past 20 years, this year though we have not had any locally so a male of the species on the Moor today was a welcome sight, it was in the company of a loose, mixed flock of Tits and finches. Also present in the flock was a single male Brambling and a super little female Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, nice to see one at this time of year when they are very elusive - we normally have to wait until the breeding season when one or two pairs can be located by call."
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker - those were the days!!
15th December 2025 .......... The trip to Marshside and Martin Mere.
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I'm afraid this update begins with some sad news. David Cogger died recently (3rd December); At one time he was Secretary of CAWOS (The Cheshire and Wirral Ornithological Society) and had been a KOS member since January 2015. David accompanied us on many field trips over the years and was an ever-present figure at our indoor meetings. Our thoughts are with his wife, Fran, at this most difficult of times.
The BTO is organising a new Bird Atlas covering four Summers and Winters.
.........."In November 2024 BTO announced that we would be leading on another atlas - Bird Atlas 2027-31. This is really exciting and we’ve spent the last year working with potential partners which we plan to announce in the New Year. We’ve also been working hard on considering the fieldwork methods we are going to use, and how we might incorporate new technology such as passive acoustic recording. We’ve established a working group on engagement and inclusion to consider how we can engage with birdwatchers and also reach new audiences to take part. Finally, we’ve had a group working on conservation impact and legacy and how we can have the greatest impact from the atlas on birds, science and people.
We plan to start fieldwork on 1 November 2027 and finish at the end of the breeding season 2031, with four winters and four breeding
seasons of fieldwork.As in Bird Atlas 2007-11 we plan to support bird clubs and groups who would like to undertake a county or regional atlas - we call these ‘local atlases’. We plan to support local atlases as we did last time with data entry, validation, visualisations on progress towards Timed Tetrad Visit coverage, species richness and breeding evidence, plus basic map production and provision of data."..........
The Cheshire and Wirral Ornithological Society will be organising a County atlas that will run concurrently with the national survey.
So, fieldwork will end in mid-2031 and then, of course, the data generated will have to be analysed, maps and text produced before the publication. I think we're looking at 2033.
My proof and sensitivity reader did a quick calculation and suggested that I shouldn't bother ordering one in advance!!
We're currently sitting under a slow-moving belt of rain, so far today (15/12 : 4:30pm) we've had 35.1mm and there's probably more to come. The roads were awash this morning as I drove to Rostherne, the water was yellow with runoff from adjacent fields. This was also evident at Rostherne and a brown stain of sediment was spreading across the mere from Rostherne Brook. I was joined in the obs by Jude Halman, Phil Rowley, Geoff and Sheila Blamire. The wildfowl, like us, didn't seem to be enjoying the rain. The Wigeon, a grazing species, floated in the shelter of overhanging vegetation but five Goldeneye, including a fine adult male, weren't affected as they dived for food just beyond the boathouse. A little male Sparrowhawk passed quickly in front of the obs but didn't bother with the birds on the bird table which was quite busy today with Blue, Great, Coal and Long-tailed Tits. As I left Phil spotted a small group of Siskins flying past
and later one fed on the table; a pity I'd gone, they're very photogenic, but then again the light today was very poor.Geoff and Sheila noticed that a lovely male Goosander had joined the female on Little Mere: it was on its own on Friday (12/12) when they walked past .........." Over the last couple of days heard Coal and Great Tits singing, and this morning 2 Song Thrushes singing along Ciceley Mill Lane! Female Goosander still on Little Mere, along with 12 Tufted Ducks, 7 Gadwalls, 4 Shovelers and numerous Mallards, Coots and Canada Geese."...........
Rain today and rain on Sunday (14/12) for our field trip to Marshside and Martin Mere, heavy to begin with when we arrived at Marshside but by the time we got to Martin Mere it had largely passed over.
Marshside held the usual species we've come to expect with huge flocks of Lapwing and Golden Plover, Mallard, Wigeon, Teal, Shoveler, Coot and Moorhen. Pink-footed, Canada and Greylag Geese fed out on the marsh but this year they'd been joined by a Snow Goose that was initially way off in the distance, before it flew a little closer in the company of a Greylag. It was still hundreds of yards away though and Simon did well to get such a good shot of the pair. The Snow Goose didn't seem to be ringed.
Most of the party decided against visiting any hides other than the Sandgrounders' but Phil Rowley walked to Nell's Hide where he added Brent Goose, Cetti's Warbler, Redshank and Black Swan to our overall day list (any bird seen or heard by any member of the party). Rather than travel to Martin Mere Phil went to Hesketh Bank where he had Skylark, Linnet and Barn Owl.
After a quick visit to the cafe for a coffee our first port of call on the reserve at Martin Mere was the Discovery Hide. As usual it was choc a bloc with birds - Pintail, Tufted Duck, Pochard, Whooper Swans and Mallards but the star of the show was undoubtedly a male Ring-necked Duck that sped about amongst the other wildfowl, constantly diving for food, weaving in out of the scrummage! All of us with cameras took some good shots of the RnD but John's, reproduced at the top of this update, was the best - a real cracker!
Moving on to the Ron Barker Hide we met up with Bob Groom who'd already had a Sparrowhawk plus five Marsh Harriers in the air at the same time. Four Cattle Egret flew by in the distance and, even further away, a Short-eared Owl was picked up as it approached the reserve; it eventually vanished from sight over the far side of the reserve. We had a long trek down to the Harrier Hide but had only two Gadwall, nevertheless a day tick! We sat in the Discovery Hide for the feed at 3pm, I took a bit of video, you can see it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2sEb0h4pY0.
We ended the day with a total of 63 different species recorded, slightly down on last year's 68 but a fine effort considering the prevailing weather.
Our thanks go to Frank Dearden for leading this trip, which included a recce the previous weekend!
Further thanks go to Frank, this time with his KOS Treasurer's hat on, for speedily calculating the profit from this years Christmas party on Friday (12/12)
My thanks to all those who attended last night’s party, for all the work that went into arranging and preparing for it and for the many contributions of delicious food. The raffle table was also well loaded with generously donated prizes. And, finally, thank you for your company.
In addition to having a most enjoyable evening, we also raised substantial funds for KOS operations. These were as follows:
Admission £112.00
Raffle £68.00
Bring and Buy £52.20
Donations £30.00
Total £262.20
A great result. Best wishes to all.
Frank
Well done Frank and thanks to everyone who attended, especially those who provided such wonderful food, ranging from Goostrey's pork pies through to that incredible pavlova prepared by Hillary; it stood no chance and vanished in the blink of an eye!
Our next get together is on Tuesday 30th December with our traditional post-Christmas walk. This year around Neumann's Flash and Dairy House Meadows. 09:30am meeting at the Witton Mill car park CW9 5LN, Sheila Blamire will be leading so please let her know if you're coming along. chairman@10X50.com
A look back at Christmas 1999 and our first encounter with a digital camera!
4/12/99 The now annual "Budworth Walk" will take place on Tuesday 28th December, a gentle stroll from Arley to Budworth
and back, with lunch at the "Red Lion" always marked by the appearance of one or two non-birders anxious to prove that despite their predilection for warm fires and a good book they're as fit as the rest of us! Another much anticipated event, the KOS Christmas party took place last Friday - the food gets even better, it must be worth joining the Society just to enjoy this yearly feast!! - what's more Barbara's trifle, made to an old Mobberley recipe, made a welcome re-appearance - magic! A further first this year with the appearance of a digital camera (this images was taken using the said instrument). After 40 years helping to push conventional photographic technology as far as it would go I have to admit it's very impressive and can I have one please!
Species recorded on our trip to Marshside and Martin Mere 14th December 2025 |
All 2025's updates and the update archive.................Homepage