Pennington Flash

Snipe

I decided on a late afternoon wander at Pennington Flash to see if the wind had blown anything into the early season gull roost. The buses being as they are it ended up being a teatime wander but productive all the same.

I walked in from St Helens Road. Woodpigeons and magpies clattered about in the trees, robins sang and a mixed tit flock including long-tailed tits, great tits and blue tits was silently shuffling through the hedgerow.

Black-headed gull

It had been a mild, overcast afternoon and it started raining as I crossed the bridge over the brook. The oystercatcher was busy looking for scraps on the car park with a few mallards and moorhens. There were more mallards on the bank of the flash with black-headed gulls and a couple of Muscovy ducks. There had been reports of an Egyptian goose about but I couldn't find it.

I could see a herd of mute swans on the opposite bank and an impressive raft of sixty-odd Canada geese cruised the mouth of the brook. The flash was littered with coots and tufted ducks, well over a hundred of each, mostly in groups of a dozen or so with a big raft that appeared to include both over by the sailing club. Gulls were starting to roost and there was a great black-back with the lesser black-backs and herring gulls loafing midwater. It was hard work finding great crested grebes, they all seemed to be over beyond the sailing club. The rain passed as quickly as it arrived though it stayed overcast and gloomy which didn't help any in picking out distant bird-shaped objects on the water.

A dozen snipe landed in this patch of grass

I had a stroke of luck walking towards the Horrocks Hide. A flock of fourteen snipe rose up from the spit, flew over the flash and settled back down on the spit as I sat down in the hide. Most of them landed not far out but if I hadn't seen them land I'm not convinced I'd have picked them out in the long grass. There were a few dozen lapwings with the black-headed gulls and cormorants at the end of the spit. I'd seen fifty-odd flying over to roost as I was walking in. Shovelers, teals and mallards were dabbling in the bight with the coots and more black-headed gulls.

The pool at the Tom Edmondson Hide was full of courting gadwall, most of them paired up and noisy with it. The moorhens and dabchicks at the far side looked distinctly crowded out.

Ramsdales Hide was locked as it was getting late but I could see plenty from the screen, what wasn't shovelers was teals.

Walking back to the flash a mixed tit flock included a chiffchaff and at least one goldcrest.

Egyptian goose

More gulls had flown in, including a flock of very boisterous black-headed gulls. They were making such an exhibition of themselves I almost missed the second-calendar-year Mediterranean gull that flew in. Walking through the car park I noticed the Egyptian goose cruising the side of the bank with the Muscovy ducks. I wonder where it had been earlier.

Pennington Flash 

I got the bus back into Leigh and miraculously made the connections for the 126 to the Trafford Centre and the 25 back home in the twilight.