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It's been a while since I last blogged, with news of Common Redstart at Dove Stone, being the last update to the Dove Stone reserve 2013 Bird List . Saturday saw my first sighting of Swfits at Dove Stone for this year with one flying over Dove Stone reservoir, and on Sunday there were several flying...

On Sunday we had our first record for this year of Common Redstart , that's a new one for the 2013 Dove Stone Birdlist , which brings our species total up to 63 for this year. There were also some very good views of the Peregrines at the weekend. No signs of Redstart this morning but I did...

Here's the latest from Dove Stone. Good additions to our reserve 2013 birdlist with Mealy Redpoll (59) being seen earlier in the week up at Binn Green. In terms of id, Mealy Redpoll are larger and paler than Lesser Redpoll. Today we've had Whinchat (60) in the Chew Road/Chew Brook area. Whinchat...

Sightings of Willow Warbler and Swallow at Dove Stone today, bringing our Dove Stone Birdlist for 2013 up to 58 . Last year's Swallow's arrived a full week earlier, on April 12th. Up at Binn Green today I saw a female Brambling , quite late really. Last year we had a record of Brambling at the...

Latest sightings from Dove Stone. On Saturday there was a Common Tern flying over Yeoman Hey ( one of the ide features for Common Tern is a black tip on the bill; though not particularly distinct in this photo ) from the direction of Greenfield Brook towards Dove Stone reservoir. Great to see, it will...

A quick update with what's been around at Dove Stone today. First reports of Chiffchaff calling heard from Ashway Gap today and within minutes, the first sighting of both a male and a female Wheatear in the fields adjacent to Ashway Gap. Also new for the Dove Stone 2013 reserve list is Red Legged...

Time for a Dove Stone update. Just to recap on how the Dove Stone 2013 birdlist is going, Oystercatcher was our last addition to our list posted on the blog at the beginning of March, which have continued to stay around on the main Dove Stone res. Black Headed Gulls are in good numbers too and there...

The big draw at the moment are the number of Siskins at Binn Green on both the feeders and on the Larches, where they're feeding on the cones. And the sound of such a large number of Siskins is great to hear. So how many are there up at Bnn Green ? On the bird ringing session two weeks ago we ringed...

An update on the weekend at Dove Stone. Exciting news of 60+ Waxwings , roosting in one of the plantations past Chew Brook. It's been an influx year for Waxwings and there's been quite a few reports of them in the local area ( Uppermill, Greenfield, Springhead ) but these are the first sightings...

Pretty wild at Dove Stone today with a strong, freezing wind blowing the snow across, particularly when walking along the main reservoir wall and between Dove Stone reservoir and Yeoman Hey. Accessbility-wise, not too bad getting into the main car park earlier today but we have had another snow fall...

Lots of activity today on the feeders at Binn Green which was incredibly noisy with some big groups of Siskin and Goldfinch. Also a good number of Greenfinch around with plenty of Coal, Blue and Great tit as well. Also at Binn Green today we've had sightings of two Treecreepers, Great Spotted Woodpecker...

The brooks are really full since yesterday's snow melt and the Dove Stone is visible on the horizon once more ! A quick update of sightings this weekend. Starting with Binn Green , lots of activity on the feeders with Lesser Redpoll, Coal, Blue and Great Tit and Siskin . Also around Binn Green sightings...

A quick update from Dove Stone with recent sightings. Starting up at Binn Green the feeding station has had good numbers of Siskins . As well as our regular Coal, Blue and Great Tit and Goldfinches there has been Lesser Redpoll . Also around at Binn Green look out for Great Spotted Woodpeckers as well...

A quick update with what was seen around Dove Stone at the weekend. At Binn Green there was good activity at the feeding station with Coal, Blue and Great Tit and Chaffinch as well as sightings of Siskin, Greenfinch, Treecreeper, Nuthatch, Wren and Great Spotted Woodpecker . On Sunday a Sparrowhawk flew...

So we're into a new year of birding. Aside from the enjoyment of watching birds seen on a regular basis at Dove Stone, a few of the birding highlights of 2012 at Dove Stone have been a Red Kite at Dove Stone rocks, sightings of Osprey through the Chew Valley, Whooper Swans on Dove Stone res, the...

...Good sighting from Mandy today at Dove Stone with two Peregrines flying well above a 40+ group of Pink Footed Geese before one of the Peregrines flying into the group and isolating a single Pink Foot before deciding that it was a bit of a non-starter by the sounds of things - bit big for a Peregrine...

Good day at Dove Stone, here's what's been seen today. From Ashway Gap good sightings of both male and female Peregrines today. Also from Ashway Gap Goldcrest, Dipper, three Stonechats ( two adults and first year male ), Raven and Meadow Pipit . Around Yeoman Hay and Greenfield Res sightings...

A quick update on what's been around so far this weekend. Up at Binn Green yesterday there were Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Siskin, Jay, Treecreeper, Raven, Coal Tit, Blue TIt, Great Tit, Long Tailed TIt, Wren, Mistle Thrush and a juvenile Sparrowhawk which did a good fly through the feeding area, taking...

Quick sighting update for today with a bat seen this afternoon whilst it was still quite light off Banks Lane. It's about this time of year when bats will be increasingly going into torpor with some going into hibernation this month and certainly doing so in December. We're not sure what species...

A quick update with some of this week's sightings. Starting with Binn Green, Siskin, Lesser Redpoll, Greenfinch, Coal Tit, Great Tit, Blue TIt , plenty of Chaffinches and a single Brambling. Also sightings of Jay, Mistle Thrush and Great Spotted Woodpecker . Over at the main car park this week we've...

A quick update with some recent sightings at Dove Stone. This morning in the field above Dove Stone reservoir 'plughole' ( it's actually a bell jar overflow but plughole's a much better name ! ) good views of a Kestrel hunting. In the trees bordering this field there were also two...

A quick update of what's around and about. Starting with Chew Brook and up to Chew Res we've recent sightings of Grey Wagtail and a juvenile Dipper . Lots of Meadow Pipits around as well as a few Wrens . Up on the moor tops we've had sightings of three Ravens and Red Grouse , including a...

A quick update on recent sightings at Dove Stone. Yesterday we had Grey Wagtail and juvenile Common Sandpiper seen alongside Yeoman Hey reservoir. There were also 5 Curlew flying over Yeoman Hey which was good. Over at Chew Brook there were also more sightings of Grey Wagtail and House Martin as well...

A quick update with a few highlights from today. Reed Bunting , two Kestrels including a female juvenile, a first summer Stonechat, Curlew, Common Sandpiper, Willow Warbler as well as Mistle Thrush , Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Wren, Coal, Blue & Great Tit . Aside from the birds we have sightings of Mountain...

A very brief stop-off at Binn Green feeding area last night gave views of Great Spotted Woodpecker , Jay , Mistle Thrush, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, juvenile Coal Tits, Wren , an adult Black Pheasant and some young Pheasants . Obviously that's just one small part of Dove Stone and there's plenty...