Pennington Flash

Juvenile kingfisher

Decided to have a wander round Pennington Flash, the weather being dull but OK. As always it was busy with people but nearly all of them being sensible about keeping their distance.

Burnet rose hips

The path from St. Helens Road to the car park, usually full of bird noises even if the birds are hiding in the leaves, was dead quiet: a woodpigeon flew over and a wren chakked at me from the white poplar by the field. It came as a relief to get to the brook and find half a dozen mallard and a moorhen.

All the regulars were on the flash. The tufted ducks  were hard to find, they were well out over on the North end. And it was nice to see great crested grebes back up to usual numbers. Although there have been reports that the Egyptian geese are still around I couldn't find them. There was a big raft of lesser black-backs out in the middle of the flash, a harbinger of hours of utter bewilderment to come later in the year when the serious gull-watching kicks in. A single common tern was making enough noise for half a dozen birds.

Lesser black-backed gulls

The spit in front of the Horrocks Hide was standing room only for birds, which made it doubly frustrating that the hide still needs to be closed for use. From the corner by the hide I could see that a couple of dozen lapwings were sitting with a similar number of mallard in the grass a couple of yards away. More birds were hidden in the grass further on. Out towards the end of the spit were a few lapwings and lesser black-backs and a couple of cormorants.

Looking through the screen opposite the Tom Edmondson Hide I was delighted to see a juvenile kingfisher hunting from the willows. That cheered me up enormously, it had been a frustrating bit of birdwatching so far. I wandered across to look through the gap in the hedge by the hide and was further cheered up by finding another juvenile kingfisher here too. For some reason that particular pole in front of this hide is the favourite fishing perch for juvenile kingfishers once they've set out on their own. There were also a couple of gadwall on the pool, I'd be surprised if there hadn't been at least half a dozen on this pool out of sight.

Juvenile kingfisher

The pool by Ramsdales Hide was quieter than it has been but still interesting. Just the one dabchick fishing by the reeds and a few mallard. A couple of teal were new arrivals: a male in eclipse and a juvenile bird. A lapwing was the only wader this time.

Juvenile teal

Walking back down the path to the car park there was a lot of chirruping from goldfinches feeding up in the birch trees. They were accompanied by a family of blackcaps that very quietly worked their way along the tree canopy.

Checked out the wildfowl along the flash again as I walked past the car park. An Indian runner had a dozen half-grown ducklings with her. No joy finding any Egyptian geese. I was nearly at the St. Helens Road exit when the first robins of the visit made an appearance.