Pennington Flash

Snipe

It was a gloomy sort of day so I had a wander round Pennington Flash. I arrived at lunchtime and had taken barely ten steps from St Helens Road before bumping into a mixed tit flock in the trees by the little car park. Unusually it was a treecreeper that was the most conspicuous member of the troupe, feeding and calling from a branch just above my head while long-tailed tits, blue tits and chaffinches kept to the canopy.

Treecreeper

With it feeling decidedly autumnal I had a wander round the trees on the South bank of the flash to see if any passage migrants were about. There were quite a few chiffchaffs and willow warblers and a couple of whitethroats but nothing to suggest they hadn't been there all Summer.

While there were large rafts of coots out on the water and plenty of great crested grebes with their very noisy offspring there were only a few tufted ducks and black-headed gulls and only perhaps a couple of dozen lesser black-backs. Mind you, it's early in the day and early in the season for big gull roosts. By the look of the congregation in the car park most of the mallards and Canada geese were busy elsewhere, which made the usual herd of swans look all the more conspicuous. The car park oystercatcher could be heard but not seen and there was no sign of the Egyptian geese.

Lapwing and juvenile moorhen

At the Horrocks Hide there were a few dozen lapwings either dozing in the grass or bathing at the water's edge. They were accompanied by half a dozen moorhens and a couple of mallards.

The heron was at its usual spot on the pool opposite the Tom Edmondson Hide with a handful of mallards providing backing vocals.

The gadwalls at the Tom Edmondson Hide were very active, putting as much effort with lots of head-bobbing displays as they did feeding. Jays and woodpigeons flew around the treetops and a Cetti's warbler sang from the brambles by the hide.

Snipe

There was a dozen snipe on the scrape at Ramsdales Hide. There was at least one adult but most of the rest were obvious juveniles and a couple not quite fully-grown.  A couple of lapwings were the only other waders on. A few teal and shovelers dabbled about with a dozen gadwall. A Cetti's warbler sang from the reeds at the side.

As I passed the Tom Edmondson Hide on my way to Pengy's that Cetti's sang again. A third bird, probably a youngster judging by its incomplete and halting song, was singing from the dogwoods separating Pengy's pool from the main path.

There were yet more gadwall at Pengy's. Gadwall easily outnumbered mallards on this visit.

Blue tit

The feeding stations at the Bunting Hide were being well patronised, half a dozen squirrels barely getting a look-in. Robins, chaffinches and great tits fed mainly on the ground while blue, coal and willow tits fed from the bird tables and hollowed tree branches. Oddly enough the fat balls on the tall feeders were being completely ignored.

Dabchick

I wandered over to the Teal Hide where there were yet more gadwall, a few teal and a couple of dozen loafing shovelers. A heron was moved on by a couple of coots. At first I just thought this was typical coot belligerence until I noticed a little bald youngster in the water weeds. A moorhen on the other side of the pool had a small youngster with it, too. Dabchicks were dotted around the reed margins and a passing kingfisher made a cameo appearance. You wait months for a kingfisher and three come within days of each other. A couple of common hawkers and a migrant hawker gave me the opportunity to confirm I've got these in my head OK: the migrant hawker's the smaller, slimmer edition.

Shovelers

Yesterday morning as I was watching three swifts hawking low over the sycamores on the railway embankment I wondered if they might be the last of the Summer. Today was remarkable for there being no hirundines whatsoever over Pennington Flash.