Wigan Flashes

Mute swan, Leeds and Liverpool Canal 

It was a lovely class of day so I thought I'd have a wander about the Wigan Flashes. They're a bit of a faff to get to from here — three buses or two trains and a bus — so I don't visit as often as I should. As it happens I struck lucky: I had five minutes' wait for the 126 at the Trafford Centre and less for the 809 at Leigh. I'd decided to get off at Cemetery Road, walk down past Westwood Cemetery and onto the flashes on the path near Turner's Flash, for no other good reason than I hadn't done it before and I didn't have to go all the way into Wigan to come back out again.

Like most of the best nature reserves in Greater Manchester you have to pass a bit of industry along the way, which is fair enough as most of the best nature reserves in Greater Manchester are industrial relics. In this case the path leading from Cemetery Road passes through a small industrial estate before jinking round a corner into the trees. Robins and great tits sang, blue tits bounced about in bushes and a chiffchaff squeaked from the scrub on the embankment next to a waste management site.

Wigan Flashes 

I passed through the gateway to the Wigan Flashes and walked down the tree-lined brick road. The chiffchaffs were joining in the singing along here. I could hear a cacophony of black-headed gulls over the industrial banging and scraping so I took the side path down to Turner's Flash to see what they were about, passing my first butterfly of the year, a comma fussing about in and out of a patch of brambles.

Turner's Flash 

There were only a dozen or so black-headed gulls at this end of the flash but they were making enough noise for a hundred. Those that weren't paired up and shrieking loudly at each other on little islands were shrieking even more loudly as they chased each other round the block. A few coots and mallards ignored the fray, a lesser black-back had to keep ducking its head as black-headed gulls screamed by.

Buzzard, Turner's Flash 

I walked back to the brick path and wandered down to the canal. I accidentally disturbed a buzzard that was loafing in a tree by the path. It voiced its displeasure and flew off into a tree over on the other side of a clearing and was promptly chased out of it by another buzzard.

Coltsfoot, Scotman's Flash 

The path led to Moss Bridge, which takes you over the Leeds and Liverpool Canal to the Southeast corner of Scotman's Flash. A red-crested pochard had been reported earlier so I thought I'd have a look for it. The best views of the flash are from the canal but the closest views are on the bankside near Scotman Island, the other side of the little bay on this corner. This has the advantage of having a very strong sun behind me so I wouldn't just be squinting at silhouettes so I headed thataway.

Moss Bridge

It's about a hundred yards' walk and nearly most of the way you can't see the lake for reeds. The moorhens in the reeds were easy enough to find, I'd given up on spotting the water rail that was doing all the squealing when I saw its rear end disappearing into cover.

Scotman's Flash

I stood on the bank scanning the bay through the trees. There were plenty of tufted ducks and coots and a couple of swans cruised about. Mallards and teals hugged the edge of the reeds and black-headed gulls flew to and fro. No red-crested pochard though. No matter, I'd try from the canal.

Scotman's Flash (left) and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal (right)

Squinting at the flash from the canal towpath I could see I'd badly underestimated the number of coots and tufted ducks, there were scores of them, mostly cruising about in small rafts that sometimes joined together in passing then broke up as the birds went their different ways. Canada geese were either paired up or being warned off by paired ganders. Way over on the flash proper there was a raft of about a hundred rather noisy black-headed gulls.

A bird emerged from the reeds and the sunlight caught a bit of gingery orange. It was a great crested grebe. It took about a quarter of an hour to find the red-crested pochard which was hiding in plain sight in the raft of coots and tufted ducks over by the island. I wouldn't have been able to see it from that bank. The bright sunlight had reduced it to a silhouette with a few white highlights, I was going by the size and shape when I first noticed it and breathed a sigh of relief when it turned its head and a ginger halo shone for a moment. Another birder turned up and I put him on to it, making a bit of a bad fist of it until the bird drifted a bit closer to landmarks on the bank. Still, he got it and was made up because it was a lifer for him. He went off to get his telescope, I hope he picked it up again and got a good view. They're splendid birds when you can see them properly. None of my photos would do even as record shots.

Tufted ducks, coots and goldeneyes, Pearson's Flash 

I walked down the canal into Wigan. Over on the other side I could see that the coots and tufties on Pearson's Flash included a dozen goldeneyes and a lot of whistling and head-bobbing was going on amongst them.

Poolstock

It was a nice walk down the canal through Poolstock into town. Mallards and mute swans cruised by, robins and great tits sang, carrion crows called the odds and goldfinches twittered through roadside trees. Westwood Flash looked deserted as I passed by.

I weighed up the available options and got the train to Manchester from Wigan Wallgate. It arrived late for my connection home but that was immaterial as the train home had been cancelled. The Wigan Flashes are a bit of a faff for me to get to but I should make the effort more often.