Pennington Flash

Stock dove

It was a grey, cool day and some rain was promised for the afternoon so I didn't fancy a stroll anyway too open and Pennington Flash beckoned. Some of the paths may be ropey but the bus stops are fairly close, there's plenty of tree cover and I could always sit in a hide for the very wet bits. Which is precisely what happened.

Bradshaw Leach Meadow 

Ignoring the crap paths (literally, for one stretch what wasn't muddy puddle was horse manure), the walk in from St Helens Road was picturesque and the robins, wrens and woodpigeons kept the soundscape going whenever the great tits needed a breather. Magpies and blackbirds bounced about in the trees and a pair of mallards quacked from somewhere deep in the undergrowth.

Mute swans and Canada geese 

It was another very quiet of people visit. A couple of mallards dozed on the car park. The Muscovy ducks were notably absent. A few Canada geese and mute swans mooched around. Even fewer coots and tufted ducks bobbed about near the banks.

Tufted ducks 

Out on the flash a few great crested grebes drifted apparently aimlessly. A small raft of large gulls was made up of a dozen or so lesser black-backs, a dozen or so herring gulls and a couple of great black-backs. As the threat of drizzle turned to rain half a dozen swallows came in to hawk over the water. One of the distant blobs wasn't a grebe nor yet was it a coot. It was only as I was approaching the Horrocks Hide that I could get a good enough view to confirm it as a male common scoter.

The spit at the Horrocks Hide 

A bit more of the spit had emerged from the Winter high waters and it was covered in Canada geese, woodpigeons and stock doves. A couple of cormorants and half a dozen goosanders loafed at the tip of the spit but the usual crowd of large gulls was missing. As were any waders. I'd hoped there might be a ringed plover or even a little ringed plover scuttling about but there weren't even any lapwings or the car park oystercatcher. A noisy crowd of black-headed gulls crowded about the nesting rafts on the bight beyond the spit and a dozen tufted ducks cruised the channel. The pairs of gadwall and teal dabbling in the small creeks took a bit more finding. A particularly vocal pair of ravens flew over the flash and headed for Plank Lane.

The pool opposite the Tom Edmondson Hide 

The walk down to the Tom Edmondson Hide was accompanied by chiffchaffs, willow warblers, great tits and wrens. Canada geese sat on nests in side pools. Two reed warblers had a singing duel in the reeds either side of the path by the hide and struggled to make themselves heard over the great tits, blackbirds and the usual Cetti's warbler.

The pool at the hide was relatively quiet: pairs of gadwall and mallards bobbed about in the rain, dabchicks hunted minnows and herons flew overhead and into the trees but seemed to be roosting rather than nesting.

Walking to Ramsdales 

The islands on the pool at Ramsdales were liberally peppered with nesting black-headed gulls and Canada geese. A couple of lapwings stood well apart from each other, each king of the castle on their own island. I couldn't find any other waders which is unusual here this time of year. A pair of shovelers dozed on one of the islands, shipping their moorings and heading for cover under the willow trees when the rain got heavy.

Three-cornered leek

Pengy's pool was very quiet, just half a dozen tufties, a pair of coots and a pair of gadwall. The feeders by the hide had been replenished and the reed buntings were busily taking advantage.

Reed bunting
Still not sure if this is a particularly well-marked female or a young male hanging onto his first-Winter plumage.

By the Bunting Hide 

The Bunting Hide was busy with great tits, robins and squirrels with occasional cameo appearances by stock doves and chaffinches. 

Secret squirrel 

I walked down to the Charlie Owen Hide, passing a pair of mistle thrushes on the grass and a lot of song thrushes and blackbirds in the trees. 

The island on the pool at the hide was just enough above water to fit two black-headed gulls and a coot so long as they didn't fall out with one another which, inevitably, they did. A few more coots and tufties drifted about, a couple of gadwalls lurked in the reeds and a heron stalked midwater.

Heron, Charlie Owen Hide

I'd had my walk, it was pouring down, I called it quits and walked over to Leigh College for the bus back into Leigh. I had fifty minutes to wait for the 126 back to the Trafford Centre, didn't fancy that so I went home the long way via Warrington. Rather a lot to my surprise my first swift of the year was dodging the rain and chimney pots over Hollins Green as the bus sat at a red light.