Last month I described some of the smaller birds that were beginning to come back to our gardens and bird tables after partial migration to the countryside during the summer months. Since that article appeared I’ve been told about many interesting sightings in the village, and also witnessed some myself. The sight of 1,500+ pink footed geese from Greenland was probably my favourite, seeing them flying in huge v shaped formations across the skies at first light and landing in fields at Cotton Edmunds. On another very memorable occasion, hearing the gaggling calls and wing beats of hundreds of these superb long distance fliers, as they flew back over the centre of the village travelling through the inky black night sky, to their estuary roost. These local sightings are quite rare, as pink feet usually spend most of the winter foraging and roosting on the coastal marshes and estuaries of Lancashire, and on the inner and outer marshes of the River Dee.

I’ve been told of visits to bird tables by siskin, black cap and even tiny goldcrests, whilst we have had the occasional appearance of two moorhens, which seem quite happy to forage off our garden feeders, but with several balancing issues as they are not really designed to be graceful at the bird table with their huge-web like feet. There have been regular sightings of great spotted woodpeckers, tawny & little owls, fieldfare, redwing and mistle thrushes in village gardens, whilst several noisy nuthatches have filled the air with their loud territorial call near Birch Heath Lodge and in the grounds of the High School.

A kingfisher can be seen most days along the canal, and occasionally two can be seen flying along the Gowy at the “Roman Bridges”. An otter and water vole were both seen swimming along the Gowy at dusk a week or so ago, and several fresh spraints and an otter slide into the river was also recorded. Flocks of 500+ fieldfare and redwing have been seen feeding frantically on any remaining berries along the lanes and hedgerows, and a flight of 2,000+starlings were seen feeding on the wet meadow. Several common and one jack snipe have been seen, and there have been three sightings of the now rare woodcock, another long billed wader, in fields along the road to the bridges.

Villagers will be sad to learn of the recent death of our male swan, nicknamed Sam. He was at least 27years old, very old by mute swan records, and he died at RSPCA Nantwich of a combination of old age and long term injuries. He first appeared at The Pit in Christleton in 1996/7 with his mate TOV, and together with two more partners C175 & CDS9 was responsible for over 116eggs with 101cygnets being hatched. 75% of these cygnets survived to fly, an incredible record, one of the most productive records for a mute swan nest site in the country. During his lifetime he regularly walked his pen and their cygnets through the village, bringing traffic to a halt and causing great amusement to villagers. This happened when the cygnets were from 3days up to three weeks old, and could happen at any time of day. In 2012 and 2013 the pair walked in the reverse direction from the canal up to the Pit, due to the fact that the cob had a longstanding hip injury. By this stage he couldn’t fly and was content for three years to nest on a canal side garden at Rowan Park. Despite the loss of his mate C175 predated by a mink in 2014, he quickly found love with his last mate CDS9 who was just three years old. They produced 17eggs in the last two seasons and 6 cygnets survived to fly. Four of them were still on the canal in October 2016. The mute swan has been the emblem of the Village since at least 1737, so we hope a new pair can be attracted either to The Pit, or the canal in the near future.