Pennington Flash

Bullfinch 

One of the things that's been putting me off going to Pennington Flash lately is the amount of time involved hanging round bus stations getting there and back. I'm beginning to think it would be easier getting the train to Wigan and bussing it from there.

It was a bright, sunny if cool day so I didn't mind so much kicking my heels at the Trafford Centre for half an hour watching the local buzzard over the golf range. The combination of new schedule and roadworks means that the 132 to Wigan and the 126 to Leigh turn up at the same time and have a race to see who gets to park in the shared bay. So I got the 126 and didn't have long to wait for the 610, which is very regular, and was soon walking into Pennington Flash.

Pennington Flash, by the St Helens Road entrance 

Robins, woodpigeons, blue tits and a goldcrest sang in the hedgerows as I walked down to the car park. I looked in vain for any frogspawn in the little pool that overflows onto the path by the meadow. The brook still had that scoured look after the floods and a couple of drake mallards looked to be having a thin time of it.

Black-headed gulls 

It was a sunny day so the car park was busy with people and so it was busy with birds, mostly mallards, coots and black-headed gulls. The mute swans and most of the Canada geese were more concerned with striking poses as they cruised along the bankside. It was reassuring to see a car park oystercatcher after a long absence though I don't know if this was the original or a successor to the role.

Oystercatcher

Mute swans and oystercatcher

The tufted ducks were all over by the other shore with a raft of coots. A big raft of loafing herring gulls floated midwater with a few lesser black-backs and a couple of common gulls. Two great black-backs steamed around like dreadnoughts at the Henley Regatta. Walking down a bit I could see a dozen goldeneyes on the water, the males doing a lot of jerky head-bobbing to impress the ladies. Further out yet there were odd ones and twos of cormorants and great crested grebes. I haven't seen any pochards here so far this year which is unusual, most winters there'll be half a dozen or so rubbing shoulders with the tufties.

Black-headed gulls, goldeneyes and herring gull

Black-headed gulls 

The cold wind blew even colder in the F.W.Horrocks Hide which can contrive to feel chilly on a Summer's day. A crowd of black-headed gulls were bathing at the near end of the spit, herring gulls, cormorants, lapwings and oystercatchers crowded at the far end. A distant pair of great crested grebes were doing the preliminary head-shaking and shadowing moves of a courtship dance but kept getting interrupted by another individual wanting to get in on the act.

Herons and little egret

A couple of little egrets dozed with the herons on the bank opposite the Tom Edmondson Hide. Pairs of gadwalls puttered about on the pool and an invisible dabchick was very vocal. I expect it was around the corner over on the far side, they often drift out from that way.

At Ramsdales Hide 

Ramsdales was quiet, a dozen teal dozed and dabbled by one of the islands and a redhead goosander drifted along one of the channels. Over the far side a great white egret stalked the long grass on the bank. It's about ten years since I saw my first one and now they're almost a commonplace.

Coming out of Ramsdales I had a chat with another birder who reassured me that the usual Cetti's warbler is still around, I was just being unlucky in bumping into it.

Pengy's pool

Pengy's pool was very quiet indeed: a couple of pairs of gadwalls, a pair of mallards and a dabchick. The ducks were spending most of their time lurking in the reeds.

Reed bunting 

In contrast, the feeding station at the Bunting Hide was like Grand Central Station, the squirrels being crowded out on the ground by stock doves, moorhens and reed buntings, and on the feeders by titmice, nuthatches and bullfinches. A family of long-tailed tits bustled their way through the crowds on the seed feeder before being crowded out in turn by great tits. The willow tits tended to slip in to grab seed from the bird table whenever a nuthatch was in possession of it. The bullfinches leapt in willy-nilly in between striking poses on branches.

Nuthatch 

Nuthatch 

Bullfinch 

Moorhen 

Stock dove 

Reed bunting 

Reed bunting 

Long-tailed tit

Bullfinches 

I was ready to go home but was very conscious that I hadn't seen any shovelers today. I wandered round to the Charlie Owen Hide where, amongst the gadwalls and mallards, there was just the one pair of shovelers dozing by the far bank.

Walking to the Charlie Owen Hide 

The journey home was a nightmare. I'd walked through into Leigh Sports Village and was going to walk through to get a bus into Leigh from St Helens Road when I noticed I'd only five minutes to wait for the 597 bus which would get me to the bus station with loads of time to get the 126 back. Twenty-odd minutes later when it turned up I was starting to look at the other options for getting home. (At least part of the reason why the bus was late is that due to roadworks it has to double back almost to where it started to get out of the sports village complex). Unfortunately most of the other options weren't any better than waiting an hour for the next 126. So I got the 19 into Warrington because that would give me quarter of an hour to walk across the road, buy a ticket and get the train home. I've no idea how we lost twenty minutes on the journey time, the traffic was clear up to that last half mile in Warrington town centre. So I had a three-quarter hour wait for the train to Urmston and made my way home from there, arriving a good quarter of an hour later than if I'd just hung around Leigh bus station for the hour. There are times why I wonder why I do this to myself, one of the reasons for writing this blog is the reminder that there the considerable upsides more than outweigh the hassle.

Pennington Flash