Pennington Flash

Mallards, coot, Canada goose, black-headed gulls and mute swan

After looking through the list of lates and cancellations on this morning's train schedule I put today's plans on ice and decided I'd stick to the buses and mosey on over to Pennington Flash for an afternoon stroll.

I had to refill the bird feeders again today, the spadgers are going through the seed and fat balls like a dose of salts. As I was pouring a bagful of sunflower seeds into one of the tubes I wondered why the sparrows sitting in the rambling rose were making such a racket, the row usually dies down once they've established I've taken the hint. Then I glanced up. The male sparrowhawk was back and standing at the top of the rose bush. He tried a few passes, all an arm's length away and none successful, then flew into one of the sycamores on the railway embankment to watch and wait. It's scarcely surprising that he should frequent such a busy feeding station. I'd hate for him to take one of the sparrows and I'd hate that he should starve, I'll just have to be content to let nature take its course, which it will do anyway whether I like it or not. It's one of those complex moral puzzles that are best resolved by pretending it's not there.

Mallards, coots, Canada geese and black-headed gull

None of the bus connections worked for me today so it was mid-afternoon by the time I arrived at Pennington Flash. It had turned into a bright but very windy afternoon and nearly all the small birds along the path to the car park were keeping well undercover. The exceptions were a family of long-tailed tits which didn't seem to notice the branches were bouncing about more than they were.

Black-headed gulls, Canada geese and the car park oystercatcher 

There was a concentration of waterfowl and black-headed gulls by the corner of the car park, partly for passing feeders of the ducks but mostly because every time they ventured out into the water the wind blew them back to the bank. Small groups of pochard and tufted ducks fared better in the shelter of the bank at the mouth of the brook opposite.

Lesser black-back 

Walking through the car park against the wind I decided that as far as gullwatching was concerned if it wasn't immediately identifiable I wasn't going to identify it. There were plenty of herring gulls and lesser black-backs out on the flash along with a few common gulls and a handful of great black-backs. It was pure luck that I spotted an adult Mediterranean gull in the waves, luckily they're the only gulls that size and shape that are almost pure white.

Kestrel 

The spit at the Horrocks Hide was almost completely flooded over, just a couple of islands for Canada geese and lapwings to loaf on. The hide's closed because the ramp up to the entrance has rotted. A few cormorants sat on posts at the end of the spit and coots and black-headed gulls congregated in the channel. I only realised there were fifty-odd lapwings when they were spooked by a hunting kestrel and they took flight.

Along the path to the Tom Edmondson Hide 

The path to the Tom Edmondson Hide was very quiet of small birds, just a couple of blue tits and robins. The pools either side were busy with teal, gadwall and shovelers and the sky busy and noisy with black-headed gulls. 

Herons and coot

The pool at the Tom Edmondson Hide was modestly busy with coots, shovelers and mallards while half a dozen herons loafed and lurked on the banks. Every so often one would utter an ear-piercing shriek, take flight, circle the pool and land again amidst a welter of ear-piercing shrieks from its confrères.

At Ramsdales 

Ramsdales was awash, tiny islands marking the highest points of the usual little islands. A pair of goosanders cruised round while a raft of tufted ducks and coots dozed at the entrance of the bight. Further out I spotted the only great-crested grebe of the day, being so low slung and not having a lot of superstructure in Winter they're difficult to spot on choppy water.

At Pengy's 

I was surprised to see there was still bits of ice on the sheltered parts of the pool at Pengy's Hide. There was plenty enough open water for a few mute swans to mingle with the gadwalls, coots and tufties.

Reed buntings 

The sun was low enough not to be shining into the feeding station at the Bunting Hide. Half a dozen mallards and moorhens fed in the puddles and pools around the feeders while squirrels scampered about managing to keep their feet dry. A dozen reed buntings were taking cover in the bushes with a couple of chaffinches. They eventually broke cover and started feeding on the fat balls and I confirmed the folly of trying to take photographs of active small birds in light requiring one-fifteenth of a second's exposure. Half a dozen dunnocks crept in for a late supper as did a few robins which ended up spending more time chasing each other off than actually feeding.

Pennington Flash 

I was treated to a splendid sunset on the flash. There was the usual melee of gulls as incomers checked to see if there was anything worth having round the car park before going to roost. I checked them out, just in case. Most were black-headed gulls and a variety of ages of herring gulls and lesser black-backs with a few common gulls, including quite a few first-Winter birds. It was while I was making sure I wouldn't keep confusing myself whenever I see a first-Winter common gull that I spotted a second-Winter yellow-legged gull amongst the crowd. A nice easy spot for once, a chunky gull with a white head, dark grey saddle and clean black tail band.

Pennington Brook

As the sun set over there I wended my way back to St Helens Road for the bus back to Leigh. It had been a very productive couple of hours' wander.