Pennington Flash

Juvenile black-headed gull

For once my knee and the Met Office were in agreement. So, with a significant risk of a rainy afternoon I decided not to give my hay fever a run for its money over the Salford mosses and went over to Pennington Flash where at least there's some cover. (In the event both were wrong, despite doom-laden clouds there were a few desultory raindrops at teatime and that was it).

I missed out on Cetti's warbler last time I visited and was hoping to rectify matters but it still came as a surprise to hear one singing at the edge of the flash in the car park. It kept itself well out of sight in some sense nettles at the base of a couple of willows. The usual Cetti's was back in its usual place by Ramsdales Hide.

By its own standards the Flash itself was quiet, which is to say dozens each of Canada geese, mute swans, mallards, black-headed gulls, lesser black-backs and coots, a handful of great created grebes and the odd herring gull. A handful of swifts hawked overhead and they were joined by a couple of sand martins.

The hides are still closed, which in current circumstances is fair enough. Blackcaps, chiffchaffs and willow warblers sang in the trees together with at least one garden warbler. Just the one reed warbler in song, by the Tom Edmondson Hide. Mallard families were keeping a wide berth of two young herons on the pool opposite the hide.

Juvenile heron

Ramsdales was busy with Canada geese, mallards, gadwall and shovelers. A couple of pairs of lapwings had youngsters feeding on the grass on the islands, the herons were given their marching orders pretty smartly when they flew in.

Seeing how dry it's been lately I took the usually boggy path past Bunting Hide through the woods to Teal Hide to see what was about. Mostly more warblers, blue tits, wrens and robins. It's impossible to see the Teal scrape from the paths so aside from the black-headed gulls that were bobbing up and down and a couple of very noisy dabchicks I've no idea what was on there.

I nipped through to the canal, taking a path that's infinitely easier to climb up than climb down. A four spotted chaser hawked over a patch of clover by the canal. For all the warm weather it doesn't feel like the dragonfly season's kicked in yet. This and a common blue damselfly by Ramsdales was my haul for today.