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MANCHESTER BIRDING COUNTY LIFE LISTS |
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Please feel free to send me details of your
county life list and have it posted on here. I only need your total bearing in
mind the guidelines listed below (and not necessarily a list of all the where's
and when's) plus your highlights or any other details you prefer. Send them to
me at ianmckerchar1@gmail.com
Please note that these lists
follow strict BOU guidelines and so exclude Ruddy Shelduck, Greater Flamingo and
any other species not on the official British List. Barnacle Goose is NOT acceptable
(unless you can prove it's truly wild, this is due to their current status in
north-west England) but Feral Pigeon is under cat.C (I
know, I know...flying rats!). Species heard only in the county, those not accepted by the
County or National Rarities Committee or those not considered not to be of wild
origins are not acceptable to be included on these lists on this page .
Lists in the table below not
verified as following the above
guidelines are denoted by *
In the event of similar
totals, the birder achieving that total first claims the higher position
|
NAME |
SPECIES
TOTAL |
|
| |
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| Pete Berry |
246 |
By far and away the top county lister, Pete
has amassed some impressive species in the county over some 25 years, including
such blockers as Manx Shearwater (Carrington, in the back of an RSPCA van!),
Leach's Petrel (Pennington Flash), Ferruginous Duck (Chorlton
Water Park), Honey Buzzard (Heaton Park
Reservoir), Red-footed Falcon (Chat Moss and Burnt Edge), Pomarine Skua
(Pennington Flash), Common Crane (Sale Water Park),
Corncrake (Chorlton Meadows), Nightjar (Chorlton Meadows/Chat Moss), Red-rumped Swallow
(Denton), Nightingale (Pennington Flash), Red-backed Shrike (Shaw), Guillemot (Sale Water Park),
Yellow-browed Warbler (Ladybrook Valley), Little Bunting
(Adswood Tip) and Gannet (Watergrove Reservoir). He is currently more often than not to be found at his second
home in Dumfries and Galloway (or birding somewhere in South America), which has recently cost him dearly with Bufflehead
and Broad-billed Sandpiper glaring omissions from his list and Hawfinch and Red
Kite county
birds which continue to evade him. |
| Rob Adderley |
240 |
Rob is an Audenshaw Reservoirs regular (and
husband to Sonia, see below) and has been
birding in the county since about 1977 (as a school kid!) amassing some enviable
birds indeed. Blockers include perhaps one of the counties biggest, namely
White-billed Diver (Audenshaw Reservoirs, to read the account of this incredible
record click here) and others such as
Sabine's Gull (Audenshaw Reservoirs), Leach's
Petrel (Audenshaw Reservoir), Red Kite (Brushes Valley), Arctic Skua (Audenshaw Reservoirs),
Red-rumped Swallow (Denton), Alpine Swift (Audenshaw Reservoirs), Red-backed Shrike (Shaw), Hawfinch (near Godley
Reservoir), Yellow-browed Warbler (Hollingworth) and Gannet (Watergrove Reservoir). His omissions
include Broad-billed Sandpiper, Red-footed Falcon and a Bonxie at Audenshaw he missed by a couple of minutes and which still apparently hurts to
mention! |
| Judith Smith |
238 |
County Bird Recorder since 1992, Judith has
managed to see virtually all the usual suspects of recent rarities over the
years and has seen difficult county species such as Manx Shearwater, Velvet Scoter,
Alpine Swift (Audenshaw Reservoirs), Bufflehead, Dotterel, Broad-billed
Sandpiper, Arctic Skua, Little Auk (and not a dead one either!), Richards Pipit
and Hawfinch. Her omissions however include like so many others, Red Kite.
|
| Andy Makin |
233 |
Blockers - Leach's Storm-petrel, Pomerine Skua, Blue-winged
Teal, Honey Buzzard, Nightingale, Yellow-browed Warbler, Marsh
Tit, River Warbler, Red-footed Falcon. Misses- Bufflehead,
Broad-billed Sandpiper, Alpine Swift.
|
| Dave Broome |
232 |
Another county 'old timer' (for a youngish
chap!), Dave has blockers such as Guillemot, Honey Buzzard, Lapland Bunting,
Marsh Warbler, Yellow-browed Warbler (Scotsman Flash) and
Arctic Skua but still has afew much easier birds yet to catch up with. His
omissions include Broad-billed Sandpiper and Red-footed Falcon on the mosses
which he puts down to a combination of being away for most of it's stay and
incompetence on his own part! |
| Simon Warford |
230 |
Darcy Lever (Bolton) based birder Simon has
amassed a very respectable total given some of the omissions on his list, a
point he clearly aims to put right but Desert Wheatear, Bufflehead, Broad-billed Sandpiper are all 'serious' omissions that may be doubtful to
re-occur. As well as the 'usual suspects' of past county rarities he also has
blockers of Woodchat Shrike, Common Crane (Swinton), Alpine Swift (Audenshaw
Reservoirs), Nightjar (Chat Moss), Red Kite (Lees Hill) and
Gannet (Watergrove Reservoir). |
| Alan Warford |
228 |
Father of Simon (see above), Alan's list is similar in content, not surprising considering they do a
lot of birding together and includes all the 'usual' county blockers with also
Leach's Petrel and Ring-billed Gull (Pennington Flash), Nightjar (Croxdens),
Ferruginous Duck (Chorlton Water Park), Alpine Swift (Audenshaw Reservoirs), Red
Kite (Lees Hill) and Gannet (Watergrove
Reservoir). He still has afew
'easier' omissions yet to catch up with but Broad-billed Sandpiper and Desert
Wheatear whilst omissions, certainly don't fall into that easier category!
|
| Paul Heaton |
226 |
A long time county birder, Paul has no other
excuse other than laziness (☺) for his omissions
and (relatively few) glaring gaps which include Great Grey Shrike plus a few of the more
recently available county rarities. His best birds include Honey Buzzard, Manx
Shearwater (a very good county blocker indeed), Canvasback, Alpine Swift
(Audenshaw Reservoirs), River Warbler,
Black-faced Bunting and Desert Wheatear although his current favourite is a
split between Snow Bunting and Dotterel (the latter of which was self-found).
|
| John Rayner |
224 |
As a Hazel Grove based
birder, John has been birding in the county since 1975 and over those years has
managed plenty of the available county rarities but unfortunately has overlooked
plenty more! Having only recently counted up his county list from verifiable
records within his notebooks there remain some relatively easy species yet to
add (and possibly a few 'armchair ticks' in those archives) but his best
blockers to date include Bufflehead, Red Kite, Velvet Scoter, Corncrake, Alpine Swift,
Richard's Pipit, Yellow-browed Warbler, Woodchat Shrike and Little Bunting.
|
| Mark Rigby |
217 |
As an Oldham based birder, Mark has
caught up with most of the manageable county species and has seen most of the recent county 'biggies' (including the
Desert Wheatear) and has reasonable blockers of Velvet Scoter, Great
Grey Shrike, Firecrest and Black-throated Diver.
|
| Andy Bissit |
216* |
Pretty much a non-twitcher but a regular
patch worker, Andy prefers to find his own birds which have included 2
Firecrests, 4 Ospreys, 3 Marsh Harriers, Great Grey Shrike, Spoonbill, Red Kite
and Pectoral Sandpiper, although his list has recently 'un-blocked' omissions
such as Wryneck, Desert Wheatear and Shag to name but afew. His blockers include
Leach's Petrel, Guillemot and Spotted Crake. |
| Sonia Adderley |
215 |
Wife of Rob (see above), Sonia has many of
the 'usual suspects' on her list, including Whiskered and White-winged Black
Tern, Temminck's Stint (Audenshaw 2006), Pectoral Sandpiper, Alpine Swift
(Audenshaw Reservoirs), Bufflehead, Red Kite (Lees Hill), Gannet
(Watergrove Reservoir) and one
huge 'blocker' in the shape of Sabine's Gull (Audenshaw Reservoirs). There is
still the odd omission but they are rapidly being consumed one by one!
|
| Brian Fielding |
213 |
Having only started birding in the year
2000, Brian has been very active since then and has amassed a very reasonable
county list, especially for such a short period of time. He has added all the
recent county rarities, including Broad-billed Sandpiper, Bufflehead and Gannet
(Watergrove Reservoir), with
Ring-necked Duck (Rumworth), Temminck's Stint (Audenshaw) and Spotted Redshank
(Abram Flashes) all added this year, but
undoubtedly has afew 'easier' county birds yet to see, so I doubt this list will
remain static for too long! |
| Colin Moran |
212* |
Worsley based birder Colin has been birding in the county since 1988
and as such has some enviable blockers such as Guillemot,
Ferruginous Duck, River Warbler, Black-faced Bunting, Red-backed and
Woodchat Shrike and Bufflehead. Unfortunately he missed the Desert
Wheatear and also the Broad-billed Sandpiper but does have a few
relatively easy county species to catch up with yet.
|
| John Tymon |
211* |
One of the original Pennington Flash
'moochers' and dedicated patch worker, as a certified 'non'-twitcher John's list
is surprising considering a huge proportion is made up from sightings at
Pennington Flash only! His biggest blocker is Tawny Pipit at Pennington (found
by John and fellow 'moocher' Paul Brown), with afew others all at Pennington of
Temminck's Stint (that he found in the late 70's), Leach's Petrel, Ring-billed
Gull, Pectoral Sandpiper (another Tymon/Brown find), Osprey feeding in Rammies
and finding the first ever Pied Flycatcher for Pennington! |
| Paul Hammond |
207 |
Paul's county life list includes such
blockers as Temmincks Stint, Red-rumped Swallow and Alpine Swift (Audenshaw Reservoirs), not to mention the 'big gripper',
Sabine's Gull (Audenshaw Reservoirs). |
| Steve Collins |
204 |
Rochdale birder Steve only really started birding in 2003 but
was lucky enough to be at Pennington Flash during the stay of the Whiskered Tern
in 2002, saw the Alpine Swift (Audenshaw Reservoirs) and has since also managed a rather sought after county blocker with a
Red Kite at Watergrove Reservoir! He does though, have serious omissions which
will take some catching up with the Wryneck at Horwich which he was a day too
late to see, Broad-billed Sandpiper when he was at a cup final match at Cardiff,
Gannet at Watergrove when he was leading a coach trip to Bempton Cliffs, to see
Gannets (!), Great Northern Diver which he puts down to laziness and Bufflehead
and Desert Wheatear which he was unfortunately stuck at work for.
|
| Andy Isherwood |
204 |
Despite only living in the county for afew
years, having migrated from East Yorkshire, Andy maintains a reasonable county
list, particularly considering 170 of these have been at Pennington Flash, Hope
Carr or in the Astley area! There are of course, many common county birds yet to
make their way onto his list and a concerted effort to catch up with these would
certainly boost his total considerably. |
| David Winnard |
203 |
Rochdale stalwart Dave, despite having never
twitched much outside of the Rochdale area still has more than afew enviable
blockers on his list, such as a self found Red Kite at Watergrove Reservoir,
Hawfinch and Black-throated Diver with more recent ventures into the county
adding Grey and Red-necked Phalaropes and Whiskered Tern. His only real miss
though was the Watergrove Broad-billed Sandpiper which occurred whilst he was at
work! |
| Simon Hitchen |
203 |
Hollingworth Lake regular Simon, despite
having never paid much attention to county listing (until now!), has seen county
blockers of Whiskered Tern, Black-faced Bunting, Canvasback, Wryneck, Grey
Phalarope (at Pennington Flash) and most enviably of all, Collared Pratincole
(Hollingworth Lake, 1983), a species which few other county listers have
managed! His work however, has cost him severely and prevented him from getting
to see Desert Wheatear, Broad-billed Sandpiper and Gannet and there still
remains one or two relatively easy county species he has yet to catch up with.
|
| Iain Johnson |
203 |
Aside from the usual recent rarities, Iain has seen some very
desirable county birds with amongst his blockers, Arctic Skua (Audenshaw Reservoirs), Velvet Scoter (Audenshaw
Reservoirs), Black-throated Diver (Castleshaw Reservoirs) and Purple Sandpiper
(Audenshaw Reservoirs).
|
| Karen Foulkes |
202 |
Karen's
biggest county blockers are Collared Pratincole at Hollingworth Lake,
Little Bunting at Adswood Tip, Black-faced Bunting, Whiskered Tern,
Blue-winged Teal, Ferruginous Duck at Chorlton Water Park and
Ring-billed Gull all at Pennington Flash, plus Red Kite at Rumworth,
Nightjar on Chat Moss, Eider, Black-throated Diver and Velvet Scoters on
Audenshaw. Worst misses include River Warbler and the Rindle Road
Great White Egret in 2008, which had gone to roost on the last day it
was seen, the day Karen decided to visit and was never thereafter!
|
| Alan Nuttall |
200 |
Despite Alan's more regular
patch of Whiteholme Reservoir being rather disappointingly classed as not in
Greater Manchester, he still has an enviable list which includes amongst other
excellent birds, Leach's Petrel, Spoonbill and the huge self-found blocker of Collared
Pratincole (at Hollingworth Lake). |
| Barry Hulme |
198 |
Pennington Flash devotee Barry is rarely to be found away from his
second (or perhaps first!) home and unsurprisingly his county list is
only four more than his flash list! His best county birds include Desert
Wheatear, both Grey and Red-necked Phalarope, Turtle Dove and Great
White Egret. |
| John Baxter |
196* |
Another long serving county birder and
Pennington sufferer (visiting there 250 occasions in 1987 alone!), although John
still just about lives in the county, his work is in Merseyside and now so is
much of his birding. Highlights at Pennington include the site's first ever
Mediterranean Gull and Treecreeper, whilst his county blockers include Little
Auk, Blue-winged Teal, Marsh Warbler (a huge blocker!) and Osprey all at
Pennington, with his omissions including Whiskered Tern, which apparently
continues to break his heart! |
| Neil Calbrade |
196* |
Despite having lived in Norfolk for the past
few years, Neil was a very active Manchester birder and his local patch of the
Piethorne Valley regularly turned up the goods with Honey Buzzard, Red Kite,
Mealy Redpoll and Firecrest all self-found there. His other county blockers
include Red-backed Shrike (Shaw), Leach's Petrel (Pennington Flash), Red-footed
Falcon (Chat Moss), Great White Egret (Dover
Basin) and most of the usual suspects (River Warbler, Black-faced Bunting,
Blue-winged Teal etc). |
| Craig Higson |
191 |
With over 95% of his list made up from the
Wigan area alone, Craig has afew expectable omissions but atleast he has all the
Pennington Flash 'usual suspects' of rarities from the past years and his list
will undoubtedly benefit with a little more effort venturing out into the east
of the county. His blockers (other than the 'norms') are Shag, Spoonbill and
Avocet all at Pennington Flash, whilst a Raven seen there is an outstanding site
tick, not surprisingly though, his most painful omission is the 2007 Desert
Wheatear which he missed by 15 minutes- ouch! |
| Ian Campbell |
189 |
Elton Reservoir regular and only occasional county twitcher. His
best birds away from Elton include White-winged Black-Tern,
Red-throated Diver, Smew, Snow Bunting and a 2008 self-found Red
Kite. Now caught the county listing bug (?), could add regularly to
his current total. |
| Jimmy Meadows |
187 |
A long-time county birder, Jimmy is a
regular and dedicated patch worker who isn't unaccustomed to the odd county
twitch! |
| Geoff Hargreaves |
186 |
Having done some serious catching up recently, Geoff still has
many more to come but his efforts so far have been very commendable and he has
been rewarded with great county birds of Great Northern Diver, Marsh Harrier and
Glaucous Gull to spur him on. Keep it up Geoff...nobodies ranking is safe!
|
| Simon Johnson |
185 |
Moving to the county from the
Bradford area, having only had his own local patch for the past few
years and not being generally able to twitch county birds (through lack
of transport) has hindered progression with his county list although he
does have Leach's Petrel (Heaton Park Reservoir), Lesser Scaup, Alpine
Swift (Audenshaw Reservoirs), Nightjar and Pectoral Sandpiper (seen at
Pennington before he, Simon not the Pec., moved to the county). He is
though, missing several terribly easy county birds which should be
'mopped up' with great haste!
|
| Rob Thorpe |
182* |
Despite having been birding from an
early age Rob has been 'getting back into birding' over from around 2002 and
although he has several relatively easy omissions that should see his ranking
rise rapidly he still has managed Osprey, Glossy Ibis and atleast didn't miss the Black-faced Bunting.
|
| Mike Passant |
180 |
Although now residing in
County Durham, ex-county birder Mike's county escapades have lead him to see
some very sought after birds, including Ferruginous Duck, Velvet Scoter,
Yellow-browed Warbler, Corncrake, Little Bunting and Collared Pratincoles. Did
you notice it? What, I hear you ask? The 's' at the end of Collared Pratincoles,
yes, Mike has seen both county records of this species and that's just being
plain greedy ☺ |
| Sean Sweeney |
178 |
Sean moved to Manchester from Chester in 2000 and
although having always casually birded here since his arrival he only really got
going during 2003. He has seen many good county birds including Cattle Egret,
White-winged Black Tern, Shag (self-found), Little Stint,
Cetti's Warbler and Lesser Scaup and has blockers of Alpine Swift, Nightjar and
Caspian Gull. Now has one eye on cracking 200 species in the county
☺ |
| Tim Wilcox |
178 |
Tim has done much of his county birding by bus and bike but
now has a car and hopes to do some catching up but his total does include Great
Northern Diver, 5 species of Grebe, Common Redpoll, Long-tailed Duck and Ring
Ouzel amongst some good birds.
added Iceland Gull at Audenshaw Reservoirs,
04.02.12 |
| Paul Wilson |
176 |
Although Paul had until
recently never kept a county list he intends to rectify this and has already
managed some quality county birds including Temminck's Stint, Shag, Osprey and
Pectoral Sandpiper. |
| Declan Savage |
173* |
Despite having only really 'got into' county
birding with the inception of the Manchester Birding website in 2006, Declan's
total includes many of the more recent well-watched county rarities and some
omissions which should be fairly easily added too, not to mention some
heard-only species which his concerted efforts in seeing should see quickly
indelibly inked-in! |
| Nick Hilton |
172* |
Highlights of Nick's county life list are true
county blockers of Common Crane (Chat Moss 1983), Ferruginous Duck (Chorlton WP)
and Red-backed Shrike (Shaw). He unfortunately missed the Black-faced Bunting,
still needs Short-eared Owl and has a couple of species pending, depending on if
he can remember if he actually saw them or where his records containing them
are! |
| Ian Peters |
166 |
County blockers include Blue-winged Teal, Ring-billed Gull, River
Warbler, Woodchat Shrike and Black-faced Bunting. |
| Nick Isherwood |
160 |
|
| Neil Southworth |
157* |
Lancashire birder Neil
concentrates mainly on his Chorley area but does venture into Greater Manchester
has seen some good county birds with blockers of River Warbler, 'the'
bunting, Whiskered Tern, Wryneck and Ring-billed Gull. |
| Tony Coatsworth |
156 |
Despite spending most of his time over
the past few years contributing to the CAWOS bird atlas survey, part of Tony's
'square' is in Greater Manchester which has enabled him to spend atleast some of
his birding time in the county. |
| Phil Owen |
153* |
Whilst not a county
twitcher, Phil has nevertheless managed several good county birds including
Pectoral Sandpiper, Eider, Grey Plover, Wood Sandpiper, Yellow-legged Gull, Rock
Pipit and Smew. added Yellow-legged Gull at Audenshaw
Reservoirs, 28.01.12 |
| Henry Cook |
150* |
Being away at University has meant Henry has only been able to
go birding in the county during his holidays or around his home of the Hale
Barns area, but fully intends to rapidly improve his current total, especially
once he has passed his driving test. |
|
Alan Rimmer |
148 |
Secretary of the Wigan RSPB Local Group, old-skool birder Alan's best
birds are River Warbler, Black-faced Bunting and Great Grey Shrike.
|
|
NEW! Keith Mills |
146 |
added 04.02.12 |
| Dean MacDonald |
136* |
As a long time, but previously rather
sporadic birder, Bolton based Dean has once again caught the 'bug' and sets to
increase his total somewhat in the future which already includes the Horwich
Wryneck, Wigan Flashes Great Grey Shrike and Black Redstart in Gas Street,
Bolton town centre in 1975! |
| Adam Jones |
122 |
Having
only started county birding in April 2010 Adam has lots too add,
with his most recent being Black Redstart in Manchester City Centre,
01.06.11 |
| Andrew Newall |
110 |
Andrew only started birding
fairly recently but has already added one or two good birds and has plenty more to come!
|
| Ollie Wright |
101 |
New to birding as of February 2010, Ollie travels the county by
bus, bike and train. Despite this he has accumulated some good
county birds such as Scaup, Tree Pipit, Little Egret, Black
Redstart, Black-necked Grebe and Wood Sandpiper, plus even
finding the time to self-find his own Waxwings in the centre of
Chorlton-cum-Hardy.
added Lesser Redpoll at Chorlton WP, 31.01.12
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