Pennington Flash

The car park oystercatcher

As the cat ran in from the rain I set off for an afternoon wander round Pennington Flash in dreich conditions. Even taking the weather into account I was surprised by how quiet it was there, perhaps everyone in Leigh was on holiday.

The walk down from St Helens Road was accompanied by lots of rustlings in the undergrowth and the calls and brief snatches of song by robins and wrens. I only realised how bad the light was when I heard the speed of the camera shutter as I tried to take photos of a treecreeper. 

For once the brook was entirely birdless.

Egyptian goose

The three Egyptian geese were still on the flash by the car park, as was the usual oystercatcher. There were large rafts of coots out on the water and a herd of mute swans fed over by the far bank. There were a lot fewer gulls than I'd expected, perhaps a dozen black-headed gulls and a raft of a couple of dozen lesser black-backs.

Lapwing

By the time I finished my ice cream cornet it had stopped raining. A flock of 100+ house martins hawking over the flash was joined by a similar sized flock of sand martins and half a dozen swifts; just the one swallow flew overhead as I passed the play area.

The hides are now open, which is nice, though a couple of years' disuse has made the ramps up to the entrances slippy with algae and most of the views are restricted by vegetation. Still, happy days.

At the Horrocks Hide a flock of lapwings was dozing in the grass with mallards. Far out, on an island beyond the spit, a dozen cormorants sat drying their wings while half a dozen herring gulls squabbled amongst themselves.

Lapwings

Plenty of chiffchaffs were calling in the trees, just the one willow warbler and a reed warbler was in the reeds on the pool by Tom Edmondson Hide. 

At the Tom Edmondson Hide

I spent a while in the Tom Edmondson Hide, hoping for a kingfisher (it irks me that I've seen great egrets and ospreys more often than I've seen kingfishers this year). No luck, just a few mallards and a dozen rather frisky gadwall.

At Ramsdales Hide

There were more gadwall at Ramsdales, with a few shovelers and just the one teal. The only tufted duck of the day was asleep out in the night in the company of a couple of great crested grebes.

At Pengy's Hide

I walked down to Pengy's Hide, which was busy with two people. I had a quick scan round, more gadwall and mallards and a couple of very noisy dabchicks.

Willow tit

The most frequent visitor to the feeders at the Bunting Hide was one of the willow tits, always nice to see. They were joined by great, blue and coal tits, a few robins, a nuthatch and a juvenile treecreeper. 

Juvenile treecreeper

Half a dozen very excited kids, none older than six, came in while their mums stood outside. The star of the show for them was a squirrel feeding on a branch just in front of the hide (they decided it was a chipmunk and I wasn't for arguing with them). I pointed out a couple of others skittering round in the trees, I didn't point out the rat just to our left. Giddy though the kids were they didn't make half as much noise as the four grown-ups who preceded them.

At Teal Hide

I took the reassuringly muddy path round from the Bunting Hide to Teal Hide, giving the local mosquitos a chance to have a meal. I waited for the kids to come out of the hide (they were convinced they'd seen a peacock, I was none the wiser as to what they'd seen when I had a look round). I did see more gadwall, mallard and shoveler and a few more dabchicks.

I took the path over the golf course and past Pennington Hall Park and struck lucky getting the 596 bus  which meanders into Leigh but makes a connection with the 126 to the Trafford Centre that would be impossible with a more direct bus.