Pennington Flash

Kingfisher 

It was one of those mornings where whatever you chose to wear it would be wrong. Twice. I got the 35 from Salford to Leigh, only realising near the end of the journey that I was wearing shoes, not boots. No matter, a wander round Pennington Flash doesn't have to be a wild walk.

Goldcrest

A couple of robins were gearing up for song in the trees by St Helens Road. This is the time of year when juveniles are on the move hoping to find a des res with vacant possession. Further along most of the furtive rustlings in the hedgerows were the wind catching dead leaves. Every so often  there might have been a blue tit or great tit, or was that a robin? I was more sure of my ground when a goldcrest poked its head out of a blackthorn, whistled then flew across the path to rummage about in one of the tall hawthorns.

That green path is the brook

The brook was opaque, an algal bloom rendering it a green soup.

Juvenile coot

The whole gang were out on the car park taking advantage of a sunny school holiday afternoon. The hordes of young Canada geese — each one a three-quarter-sized edition of the adults — was a bit unnerving. The young coots haven't all their flight feathers yet but that didn't stop them trying to take off from bankside rocks. The mute swans were being a bit stand-offish, there were too many dogs and small children for their liking. I searched in vain for any Egyptian geese. I also had a look out for the car park oystercatcher, out of habit as much as anything else. I think he's either passed on or tagged along with the oystercatchers passing through on Spring.

Out on the flash there were large rafts of coots and mallards, rafts of black-headed gulls and, out in midwater, rafts of lesser black-backs and herring gulls. A few great crested grebes and tufted ducks drifted in and out of the crowds. A couple of common terns almost got lost in the crowds of black-headed gulls flying about. With all the traffic it would have been easy to miss the swifts and swallows hawking over the flash.

Coots, black-headed gulls,Allard's and mute swan

Herring gull
This time of year subadult herring gulls bleach very pale.

The vegetation on the Horrocks spit could hide a regiment of lapwings and I suspect it did. One flew out of cover to attack a lesser black-back that was minding its own business sitting on a pole. The usual horde of herring gulls and cormorants loafed at the end of the spit.

Lesser black-back and great black-back
I wanted to make this lesser black-back into a yellow-legged gull but it wasn't. It's a relatively pale bird made to look lighter by the way the light hits it and being stood standing next to a great black-back.

Dabchick and chick

It was hard work seeing the water by the Tom Edmondson Hide. Long-tailed tits, chiffchaffs and blue tits bounced about in the waterside vegetation. Groups of mallards and gadwalls drifted about in corners while moorhens and coots fossicked about in the reed margins. I only noticed the heron fishing in the corner by the hide when it stepped out from behind a tree. I spent most of the time watching a dabchick catching tiddlers for its tiny humbug.

Moorhen 

I could see damn all for reeds at Ramsdales.

I took the looping walk round via the canal. Chiffchaffs squeaked in the trees, titmice and blackbirds were furtive, a couple of robins gave bursts of inexpert song.

As the path met Westleigh Brook, by the golf course, I was surprised to hear a kingfisher and the more surprised to see two of them fishing from the bankside willows.

Moorhen, gadwall and mallard

Gadwalls outnumbered mallards two to one at the Charlie Owen Hide. A little egret was woken up by the noisy arrival of a heron. Seeing as how it was awake now it made a bit of effort at stalking by the waterside before going back to sleep again.

Gadwall, little egret, black-headed gull, mallard and heron

Gadwalls 

The feeders at the Bunting Hide were busy with great tits. Chaffinches, dunnocks and great tits raided the bird tables, long-tailed tits decided to stick to foraging for insects in the bushes. A young, and very pale and downy, chiffchaff tagged along with the long-tailed tits but couldn't resist nipping over to one of the tables to see what the great tits were after. It didn't seem to fancy sunflower seeds at all. Oddly there weren't any stock doves about, quite a contrast to the crowds on my last visit.

Chaffinch 

Chaffinch 

Robin

It hasn't felt a particularly busy visit but the day list came to forty-nine species. Which makes it all the more unfortunate those stock doves didn't make an appearance.