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Those who have been around long enough may recall the inception of the Manchester Birding website (but not the forum which came a month later), way back in September 2006. Its aim, simply to collate birding in the county of Greater Manchester. To give birders somewhere to post their photos, trip reports and anything else they felt the need to get off their chests, to distribute county birding news and along the way, to try and improve and enliven county birding with articles such as identification, birding tales, rarity accounts and the likes. To that aim it was an overwhelming and resounding success too but, time waits for no man of course. With the dramatic rise in social media, personal blogs and the likes the amount of those contributing to the website has much declined but nevertheless, its usefulness remains apparently intrinsic. Its popularity has wained little and for a website predominantly for a little inland north-west England county, I personally think that’s quite remarkable, certainly after 20 years. Whilst I personally do not wish to think of all the time, effort and not to mention money invested in the website by myself over those 20 years, it remains all still worth it thanks to those who continue to enjoy its content and much of that is also thanks of course to those who contribute with their photos, videos, information and articles. Without those it would considerably poorer and my heartfelt thanks to everyone who does or has contributed, no matter how large or how little. Back in the day, the website looked like the below image, built with little to no understanding and an awful lot of time and effort by myself on a very rudimentary platform but in January 2017 it took on a totally new design and platform to what exists today, something which I might add is much easier to administer.  And what for the website’s future? As long as it is continued to be used and enjoyed it will most probably remain. It is more of a family member than a website to me these days after tending it daily for all that time but whatever comes, I can only thank you all for browsing its pages and for making it the success it has been.
Cheers, Ian
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A study of birding sewage farms and one man’s association with them. This new, short ‘Gone Birding’ article, covers some of the history of those within Greater Manchester and that of birding them and their cousins abroad. Head over to the ‘Gone Birding’ page with a nice brew and enjoy a read.  Dr Steve Christmas has complied the ringing report for Greater Manchester from 2011 to 2025.
Complete with a downloadable excel file of the complete data, head to the ‘articles’ page and then ‘miscellaneous’ to browse these excellent documents and the fascinating information within.  Some may recall and even have seen the May 2015 Red-throated Pipit on Ludworth Moor, found by John Rayner.
A monumental county find, its story has never really been told, until now! Lost in the depths of my computer I recently came across its account and there is never a bad time to reminisce about such a glorious county rarity. So, enjoy. Head to the ‘articles’ and then ‘rarity accounts’ pages. As of 1st January 2026, Bonaparte’s Gull has been removed from the British Birds Rarities Committee’s list of species considered and as such any future records within Greater Manchester will now be assessed by its County Rarities Committee.
There remains only once accepted record of Bonaparte’s Gull in the county, at Heaton Park Reservoir on 26th January 2019 and we look forward to the next record with eager anticipation, though hopefully it will hang around enough for more than two people to see it this time! Ian  As of November 1st, 2025 Great White Egret will no longer be recognised as a Greater Manchester county rarity and has been removed from the County Rarity List. Full details of the decision and some analysis of past records can be found in the document below. 
Whilst there's no real such thing as a mid-summer birding lull anymore, not even in our county, there certainly isn't on this website as mid-July brings you two excellent birding articles to read while you enjoy the sun and start of return migration. Firstly, Rob Adderley writes about the sensational Surf Scoter he found on Audenshaw Reservoirs in June 2025 which can be found on the 'Articles' page and then 'Rarity Accounts'. And then, sit back and relax to Chris and Vicky Harper's fantastic and lavishly illustrated trip report about their visit to Costa Rica in February/March 2025 in the South America section of the 'Trip Reports' page.
 Like buses, another fantastic trip report comes in quick succession, this time from South Africa courtesy of Chris and Vicky Harper.
Head over to the Africa section of the Trip Reports page to have a read and enjoy!  Feel like you're in the fabulous birding destination of Ghana, if only in John Rayner's wonderful and fully illustrated trip report on the Africa section of the Trip Reports page.
March 2025 Ross’s Goose, the long-distance North American migrant, was added to Category A of the British List back in 2021 with a record in Lancashire and North Merseyside during the winters of 1970/71 and 1973/74 but recently a review was undertaken by BBRC of all records since then and that found many more individuals acceptable. This included one record for Greater Manchester and as such, Ross’s Goose is now formally accepted onto the County List. The accepted record is as follows:
Ross’s Goose (Bird J), 2008 Greater Manchester, Abram Flashes, 3CY+, 7th November (Rob Thorpe) |
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Birds, birders and birding in Greater Manchester and way beyond...
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