Pennington Flash

Mallard duckling

I tossed a coin for today and had a wander round Pennington Flash. Yesterday, by some miracle, I missed all the rain and hail and had nearly unbroken sunshine. Today was cool and dreich. Still, April showers and all that.

The 610 left Leigh Bus Station just as our 126 pulled in so I got the 588 to Plank Lane and walked into Pennington Flash from there. The trees by the little car park were noisy with the songs of willow warblers and robins, anything else barely got a look-in, even the wrens struggled to be heard.

Walking in from Plank Lane 

Dropping down to the flash

The willow scrub on the rucks (the old mining spoil heaps) was even busier with willow warblers, there must have been a fall of them overnight, most will move on to less highly-contested territories.

Blackcap

Dunnock

I dropped down to the North side of the flash where blackcaps and chiffchaffs joined in the songscape. Blackcaps struck poses, always careful to have a twig or two between them and the camera, dunnocks were more obliging. I kept hearing a whitethroat in the background but couldn't see it, I could only pin it down to a stand of hawthorns. When I got to the reedbeds by the flash a reed warbler struggled to be heard over the others, especially once a Cetti's warbler decided to join in.

There's a whitethroat and two willow warblers singing behind me, a chiffchaff over to the left, a blackcap in the green bush centre-left, another blackcap over to my right, a Cetti's warbler behind that green bush and one, possibly two, reed warblers singing in the reeds. Otherwise it was a bit quiet.

Heading for Ramsdales Hide

As the path curved round towards Ramsdales Hide goldfinches twittered, chaffinches sang and there were more chiffchaffs though they were still outnumbered by willow warblers. There was a Cetti's warbler singing at the usual corner by Ramsdales Hide, a  welcome return to the usual state of affairs.

Lapwings

Lapwings

At first glance it was quiet at Ramsdales Hide. At first glance. Canada geese and pairs of gadwalls loafed by islands, pairs of mallards pottered about and pairs of teal dabbled over on the far side. The only waders I could find were the half a dozen lapwings dotted about the main island. I couldn't work out if one female was egg-bound or just desperate for naughty lapwing action. In the end I concluded the latter though there were a couple of times I was convinced she was going to lay an egg, in a different place each time. One of the males approached, they displayed at each other, then she pecked him and went back to her come-hither displays on the other side of the island.

At the Tom Edmondson Hide 

 It was quiet at the Tom Edmondson Hide, the coots and gadwalls took some finding and the Canada geese would have been inconspicuous had they not taken offence at a passing heron. I noticed a pair of great crested grebes in the reeds at the top of Pengy's Pool but couldn't see any signs of a nest. Which is sort of the point, I suppose. It's only dangerous lunatics like corvids that go shouting out: "Hey! Look at this nest!"

The shovelers were quietly a-courting on the pool opposite Tom Edmondson's.

Mallard duckling

The F.W.Horrocks Hide can feel cold on a Summer's day so this afternoon it was a bit bracing. Most of the birds were, as usual, at the far end of the spit though this time of year it's not much of a crowd scene, most of the lapwings are busy elsewhere on the reserve and most of the herring gulls have moved out of the area. The oystercatcher was noisy, as were the black-headed gulls. Woodpigeons grazed on top of the spit, a redshank and a common sandpiper pottered about the waterside. And a mallard tried to marshal more than a dozen ducklings safely from the flash to the pool by the side of the hide and more than a dozen ducklings demonstrated why there's such a high mortality rate amongst mallard ducklings. It's like herding cats. Just when I thought she'd got them all onto the stream onto the pool a couple more scrabbled over the spit. Then another. Then another. One was only saved from violent death by a magpie's reluctance to get its feet wet but it was a close-run thing.

Black-headed gulls

Common sandpiper

There were small rafts of lesser black-backs out on the flash, never more than a dozen birds, a few herring gulls tagged along. Tufted ducks swam in lines, a dozen young adult great crested grebes congregated midwater, and the whole flash was covered with a seething mass of sand martins. Hundreds of sand martins hawking for midges inches above the water's surface. I looked in vain for swallows or house martins then spent a while just watching the birds swirling about like sand blown across a beach.

I called it quits and headed for St Helens Road and the bus back to Leigh. Halfway across the car park a harsh call caught my ear and I turned round to find a common tern hawking with the sand martins out on the flash, my first of the year. Not a bad end to the visit.