Pennington Flash

Immature heron

It was another grey day, this time kept fresh — and a bit cool — by a strong wind. This meant that my walk into Pennington Flash from St Helens Road was accompanied by more rustlings of leaves and creaking of trees than birdsong. Which didn't stop the robins, wrens and coal tits making themselves heard. Every so often the sun would like out from behind the clouds and the wind would scoot them back again, which made it OK walking weather.

Pennington Flash 

The car park crowd was thinner than usual, most of the mallards and Canada geese having nests or ducklings elsewhere though the mute swans were out in force. There were a few black-headed gulls about and out on the flash there were a handful of lesser black-backs and a couple of herring gulls.

Mallards

A couple of common terns wheeled around the spit at the Horrocks Hide. Mallards and coots loafed on the spit by the hide while lesser black-backs and cormorants loafed at the far end. Pairs of gadwalls flew to and fro but didn't quite settle. I was thinking to myself that it was strange not to see any martins or swallows hawking over the flash when a flock of a couple of dozen swifts suddenly arrived.

Common tern

Walking down to the Tom Edmondson Hide there seemed to be more willow warblers than chiffchaffs singing in the trees. A sparrowhawk flew by without incident, the warblers were too busy singing to worry about it. The usual reed warbler was singing by the screen opposite the hide.

Juvenile heron

There were a dozen or more herons on the pools at the Tom Edmondson Hide, most of them dozing in deep cover. A few of last year's youngsters hunted by the sides, taking turns to see who could be the most ungainly while fishing from a stick. One of this year's youngsters, the first I've seen this year, was sitting on the far bank.

Pennington Flash 

Lapwings, Canada geese and black-headed gulls sat on nests on the pool at Ramsdales. A pair of shovelers loafed on one of the islands, a pair of tufted ducks slept under a willow and a confusion of mallard ducklings kept swapping parents. A dozen great crested grebes congregated in the bight for no reason that I could work out. While I was looking at them a common tern flew over the bight. While I was making sure it was a common tern a common sandpiper flew across my line of sight and headed out for the sailing club.

A swarm of sand martins arrived as I left Ramsdales, which reassured me somewhat. The usual Cetti's warbler didn't seem to be about but a sedge warbler was singing from its patch of brambles. The reed warbler by the screen was competing with a reed warbler by Ramsdales with the sedge warbler in the middle which made for a confusing soundscape for an old man this early in May.

Three-cornered leek

Great tits were in a bate about something at Pengy's Hide but I couldn't see what. There were only a handful each of coots and gadwall on the pool.

Pennington Flash 

The Bunting Hide was even quieter, it was a while before a couple of blue tits came in and they weren't around two minutes when they were chased off the feeders by a magpie.

Black-headed gull

I walked round to the Charlie Owen Hide passing an unexpected Cetti's warbler in the brambles. There were a few black-headed gulls sitting on nests while pairs of moorhens tried to shepherd their broods into some kind of order. It struck me that the moorhen chicks were nearly as big as the dabchicks, which might explain why they kept drifting their way.

Juvenile moorhen and dabchick

Dabchick

A pair of buzzards soared low over the golf course as I walked across into the sports village where I just missed the bus into Leigh. So I walked down into Pennington to a chorus of blackbirds, blackcaps and chiffchaffs.