Pennington Flash

Sketch map of Pennington Flash

Pennington Flash has become one of my regular visits. For years I read about it and thought it out of bounds as it didn't seem feasible by public transport from where I live. One day I had a bit of an explore and it turned out to be dead easy once you know how. Over the past couple of years, and rather to my surprise, my list for this site so far is 98 species. The official list for the site is currently 244 species.

Pennington Flash includes the flash itself, a big lake created as a result of mining subsidence, a collection of small pools, thin wet woodland and a couple of meadows. There are good numbers of wildfowl all the year round, with yet more coming in for the Winter. You also stand a good chance of seeing kingfishers as they fish around the pools. The woodland offers all the usual suspects and you have a very good chance of seeing willow tits here. Pennington Flash is particularly popular for its Winter gull roosts; amongst the hundreds of gulls there there's usually something interesting to find (eventually!): Iceland, yellow-legged and Mediterranean gulls are regular and most years at least one Caspian gull visits.

Dusk from Ramsdale's Hide

Getting there via Leigh

• The V1 bus runs regularly every quarter of and hour from Manchester to Leigh. It's a quick service using the Leigh Guided Busway which is a sort of hybrid bus/tram affair. If you're travelling from outside Greater Manchester it's probably easiest to get a train to Salford Crescent and pick the bus up from there (the bus stop is across the road and a block to the left from the station exit).
• The 34 bus goes from Piccadilly Gardens to Leigh is less frequent and takes a little longer.
• The 126 bus is an hourly service between the Trafford Centre and Leigh. If you miss that you can wait for the 132 bus to Wigan, get off at Sale Lane and get the V1 from there.

Once you arrive at Leigh Bus Station you need to go over to the bus stop on King Street (the side of the bus station opposite to the shopping centre) for the 34 or  the bus station for the 600 910 bus (it was easier when they both had the same bus stop but you won't have a long wait either way). Depending on the traffic it's a five or ten minute bus journey. You need to keep an eye out for the junction with the dual carriageway, your bus stop is just after the fire station on the left hand side. From here, cross the road and the main entrance to the country park is opposite the Robin Hood.

It's also possible to walk down the canal from Leigh town centre. It's a nice walk on a fine day. Or get the 584 or 588 to Plank Lane, cross over the canal and either walk along the canal and drop into the country park or go in via the entrance with the little car park a short way down Slag Lane.

Getting there from Wigan and St Helens

• The 600 and 601 910 from Wigan to Leigh and the 34 from St. Helens both go down St. Helens Road past Pennington Flash. The bus stop is nearly opposite the Robin Hood pub. As  you pass through Lowton keep an eye out for the industrial estate on the left, you'll know it because there's a big vet's building by the road. When you see that you know your stop's next.

The main entrance to the country park is just down the road.

Reedmace by Bradshaw Leach Meadow

The country park

Coming in through the main entrance and passing by the little car park you'll have a choice of paths: 

• If you turn left the path takes you round to the south bank of the flash. You'll pass the East Bay Hide and then reconnect with the main path at the bridge over the brook. In Autumn this can be a productive diversion, the hedges around the meadow seem to be a popular stopping point for migrating passerines.
• If you carry on straight ahead the tree-lined path passes Bradshaw Leach Meadow then enters some thin woodland before joining the other path at the brook.

From here you'll walk through the main car park. The country park is very popular, even so it's worth taking your time here to see what's about, especially when the resident wildfowl and gulls out on the water are joined by Winter visitors. The visitor centre is at the end of the car park, this is where the toilets are. 

Black-headed gulls, Horrocks Hide

From here, follow the path along the margin of the flash to the F.W.Horrocks Hide. This overlooks the beginning of the nature reserve end of the flash.The spit of land jutting out in front of the hide is worth checking out, particularly during wader passage. Gulls and, in Summer, terns loaf around with the cormorants at the far end. Later in the year look out for family groups of goosander.

Be warned: this hide is always cold, even in Summer! Mind you, on a really nasty Winter's day you can check out most of the gull roost from this hide rather than feeling quite so exposed as you would standing by the edge of the flash.

A Temminck's stint had turned up and had settled down in a nice place out in the open for a snooze so that everyone to see it from the F.W.Horrocks Hide. Just as everybody got their bins and telescopes trained on the stint this drake mallard came along and plonked himself right in front and wasn't for moving for more than an hour. The brown smudge behind the mallard is the top of the stint's back.

As you come out of the hide the path leads on to the Tom Edmondson Hide and beyond. There's the usual woodland species — mixed tit flocks in Winter, a nice selection of warblers in Summer. The main path is effectively a causeway between a series of small pools. You'll often see dabchicks, teal and shoveler though water rails and reed warblers tend to be heard more often than seen along this stretch.

The Tom Edmondson Hide is built on similar lines as the Horrocks Hide but feels a lot less exposed. It overlooks a couple of pools and a small reed bed with a small gravel patch separating the pools. Ducks often rest up on here and you may see snipe feeding here. These pools are probably the best places to find gadwall at Pennington Flash. There's usually a few herons and often a little egret. It also seems to be a good spot for finding juvenile kingfishers in late Summer.

From Tom Edmondson Hide

Juvenile kingfisher, Tom Edmondson Hide

A few yards further along the path forks. Check out the brambles and reeds here, it's a good place for finding warblers and it seems to be a preferred haunt of singing Cetti's warblers. Not much further is the Ramsdale's Hide. This overlooks a pool which is open to the flash proper. More ducks and waders and very nice too.

The path continues on to the main path. If it's been wet I'd generally prefer to retrace my steps and rejoin the main path there. If time's short or the weather bad you can follow the path back down towards the play area near the visitor centre and visit the hides down here.

Carrying on from Ramdsale's the main path leads on to the canal that acts as the northern border of the park. The choices from here are:

• Turn right and continue in a loop around the wooded areas and small pools, eventually getting to the rest of the hides.
• Turn left and have a wander round the northern part of the park. This is less productive from a birdwatching perspective but is a nice stroll.
• Walk down the canal back to Leigh town centre, which can be a pleasant walk on a Summer's afternoon.

There are three hides and a viewing point in the eastern side of the park. Anticlockwise from the play area the hides are:

• Pengy's Hide. This is a small hide which gives you a full view of one of the pools you can see from the Tom Edmondson Hide. There's a small feeding station by this hide which gives you a taster for the next hide.

Bluebells, wild garlic and three-cornered leeks, Pengy's Hide

• The Bunting Hide. This overlooks the main feeding station. It's worth making yourself comfortable and waiting to see what comes along. Reed buntings and stock doves both sometimes reach double figures and you'll often see good numbers of bullfinches. You may need to wait a while for the willow tits to turn up but when they do they give very good views.

Willow tit

• Teal Hide, including a hide used for educational purposes. This overlooks a pool with a small reedbed at the far end. The Teal Scrape is another place often favoured by family groups of goosanders.

Walking back from these hides it's worth checking out the flash again to see if anything's flown in while you've been having a wander. The car park oystercatcher may also make an appearance.

As you leave the park the bus stops are on your right. All the buses from the stop on this side go to Leigh Bus Station. Cross the road for buses to Wigan and St. Helens.

Useful links

• Leigh Ornithological Society 
• Greater Manchester Birding Forum — Pennington Flash sightings