Northwich

Juvenile dabchick, Neumann's Flash

I wanted to start going a bit further afield this week but the weather's set fair for a trip to the seaside and the hides are reopening at Leighton Moss this week so neither would be a good way to avoid the crowds. I decided to go out to Northwich to see what the flashes look like in Summer. The timing's a bit complicated as the trains are running once every two hours on the emergency timetables but it's only twenty-five minutes from Altrincham Station.

Ashton's Flash was quiet save a mixed flock of swifts and sand martins. Small family parties of goldfinches flitted about and a dozen black-headed gulls loaded about on one of the pools. Further along I could see a couple of lapwings and an oystercatcher on the smaller pool.

Walking along the bund between the flashes I spent a while making sure the chiffchaffs calling in the birches weren't willow warblers and a long while finding the great spotted woodpecker voicing its displeasure at me from a willow.

Moorhen, Neumann;s Flash

Neumann's Flash was considerably quieter than last time I visited. A few mute swans, Canada geese, coots and mallard and a pair of great crested grebes with well-grown young. Then a juvenile dabchick decided things were too quiet so it spent ten minutes swimming up and down past the hide having a good shout to keep in practice. I spotted a common sandpiper on one of the tiny islands. A little later I noticed it had a companion and I was surprised to see it was another common sandpiper, it's so rare I see more than one at a time.

Juvenile dabchick, Neumann's Flash

It was nice walking weather so I decided to have a bit of an explore into Marbury Country Park and to see how easy or not it would be to get to Budworth Mere (I was half-hoping the black-necked grebe that was there last week might make a reappearance).

I took the path across Dairy House Meadows, which turned out to be a pleasant walk. Chiffchaffs and whitethroats quietly went about their business in the trees and bushes. A pair of coot on a small pond had a very young family. A slightly larger pond was lively with common blue damselflies and brown hawkers. As I approached the path to the canal a buzzard reared up from the field and soared off over the trees.

Over the canal bridge and into the heavily wooded corner of Marbury Country Park. I was struck by how quiet it was birdwise (there were plenty of dog walkers). A couple of blackbirds quietly rummaged round in the brambles and a pair of wrens took exception to an over-enthusiatic spaniel. I was working out which path went to the mere when a great spotted woodpecker flew down to the tree I was standing by, gave me a dirty look and flew off.

A gigantic (1m wide) bracket fungus, Marbury Country Park

Budworth Mere is obviously a popular walk for young families. There were the usual suspects on the water, with the addition of an adult herring gull and a cormorant.

I took the path back that acts as the boundary between the woodland and the open parkland. Warblers were more in evidence with blackcaps and a garden warbler singing and a few chiffchaffs fly-catching from the low branches. One pair of blackcaps had a couple of fledglings in tow. Every so often one would come out into the open to be fed by the male, whizzing back under cover immediately the meal was delivered. Nuthatches had been notably absent in the woodland so it came as a relief to finally hear one as I was approaching the canal.

Male blackcap, Marbury Country Park

Back over the canal and along Marbury Lane towards Neumann's Flash. More blackcaps and chiffchaffs, song thrushes and blackbirds feeding on the paths and a rather fine male bullfinch calling from a hawthorn bush.

A reed warbler was calling from the reeds on the Western side of Neumann's Flash, eventually it popped up to have a look round and have a think about having a sing before deciding it had other things to do. I could also hear a sedge warbler calling but couldn't place it. It was only when I'd walked down the path a few yards from the hide that I realised it was sat at the top of one of the small birch trees.

The swifts and sand martins had moved on from Ashton's Flash, replaced by a small flock of house martins.

Then back to Northwich Station for a half hour wait for the train and the chance of a sit down after five hours' walking around. A good walk.