Pennington Flash

Goldcrest, Pennington Flash

The weather forecast was grey but dry, though this morning's cloud cover suggested it could be anything from bright sun to pouring rain and the wind could push any old rubbish in. So I decided to go for a stroll round Pennington Flash now it's OK to travel locally (which I'm taking to be within the area permitted by my monthly travel card).

Business as usual in the garden first thing, with the blackbird, song thrush and wren struggling to shout over each other. I've put lion dung pellets on the parts of the garden favoured by the neighbourhood cats; they don't appear to be convincing them to stay away. 

• Blackbird 1
• Blue Tit 1
• Collared Dove 2
• Dunnock 1
• Goldfinch 1
• Great Tit 2
• House Sparrow 12
• Jackdaw 1
• Lesser Black-backed Gull 1 overhead
• Robin 1
• Song Thrush 1
• Woodpigeon 1
• Wren 1

No gulls again on the school playing fields, just crowds of woodpigeons and jackdaws, though three lesser black-backs flew low in to see if there were any pickings on the playground (they were a couple of hours early). The magpies have finished building a nest on top of last year's nest in the flowering pear tree. The carrion crows are back using the nest in the tree on the corner, making noisy and clumsy arrivals after outraging decency with their boisterous lovemaking in the long jump sand pit.

On my way over to the Trafford Centre for the bus to Leigh there was a steady flow of lesser black-backs overhead. It was notable that there wasn't a single black-headed gull on Davyhulme Retail Park and only a couple of them on the sewage works.

Anemone blanda, Pennington Flash

The weather was starting to clear up when I arrived at Pennington Flash. Spring was in the air at the entrance, both with the carpets of Anemone blanda and the songs of robins, dunnocks. song thrushes and great tits. A pair of jays flew low over the meadow and disappeared into the trees by Aspull Common.

There was a goldcrest there a moment ago.

There's been a lot of hedge-trimming along the path by the meadow, which meant there wasn't much cover for the small birds here. A couple of robins flitted about, a great tit called in the willows and a goldcrest hunted for small moths on the bark of the big white poplar. Chiffchaffs called from the trees along the road.

Pennington Flash

The car park was busy with cars, not particularly busy with people and fairly quiet of birds. A handful of Canada geese lurked on the bank with a couple of mute swans, a few mallards and not many coots. A dozen or so black-headed gulls wheeled around and out in the middle of the flash a raft of lesser black-backs loafed in the sunshine. A couple of great crested grebes swam near the bank, more could be seen along the banks on the far side of the flash. Unusually there wasn't a single tufted duck. A pair of gadwall hugged the bank near the ice cream van.

Pennington Flash, the spit from Horrocks Hide

Looking out over the spit from the side of the Horrocks Hide I was struck by how much of the spit was underwater despite the water not seeming particularly high. It looks like some of the shingle has been washed back by the Winter flooding. I wonder what this might mean for waders dropping in on passage.

Pennington Flash

The tufted ducks I hadn't seen on the flash were on Pengy's Pool and the pool in front of the Tom Edmondson Hide.

Female garganey, Pennington Flash

A Cetti's warbler gave a quick burst of song from the usual patch of reeds and brambles on the corner near Ramsdales Hide. Almost the first thing I saw from the screen by the hide was the pair of garganey that had been reported over the weekend, sat nicely in a patch of open water by a spit of land. It was a moment of pure dumb luck: within seconds the drake drifted over to the spit, found a lump of grass to hide behind and, I think, went to sleep. The duck took to playing hide and seek in the rocks along the water's edge. Two welcome additions to the year list. A chap I'd bumped into said to look out for a little ringed plover that had arrived today but I had no joy there.

I wandered round to Pengy's Hide to see if the three-cornered leeks were in flower yet: plenty of leaves but I think it'll be another couple of weeks before they're ready. Good numbers of great tit and blue tit in the trees by Bunting Hide, accompanied by robins, dunnocks and the only bullfinch of the day.

Mute swan, Pennington Flash

It was still early so I contemplated getting the bus over to Bury for a wander round Elton Reservoir but decided against: it's a fair drag over and I would have been arriving at school kicking out time. One for tomorrow I think.