Pennington Flash

The car park oystercatcher

As the cat ran in from the rain I set off for an afternoon wander round Pennington Flash in dreich conditions. Even taking the weather into account I was surprised by how quiet it was there, perhaps everyone in Leigh was on holiday.

The walk down from St Helens Road was accompanied by lots of rustlings in the undergrowth and the calls and brief snatches of song by robins and wrens. I only realised how bad the light was when I heard the speed of the camera shutter as I tried to take photos of a treecreeper. 

For once the brook was entirely birdless.

Egyptian goose

The three Egyptian geese were still on the flash by the car park, as was the usual oystercatcher. There were large rafts of coots out on the water and a herd of mute swans fed over by the far bank. There were a lot fewer gulls than I'd expected, perhaps a dozen black-headed gulls and a raft of a couple of dozen lesser black-backs.

Lapwing

By the time I finished my ice cream cornet it had stopped raining. A flock of 100+ house martins hawking over the flash was joined by a similar sized flock of sand martins and half a dozen swifts; just the one swallow flew overhead as I passed the play area.

The hides are now open, which is nice, though a couple of years' disuse has made the ramps up to the entrances slippy with algae and most of the views are restricted by vegetation. Still, happy days.

At the Horrocks Hide a flock of lapwings was dozing in the grass with mallards. Far out, on an island beyond the spit, a dozen cormorants sat drying their wings while half a dozen herring gulls squabbled amongst themselves.

Lapwings

Plenty of chiffchaffs were calling in the trees, just the one willow warbler and a reed warbler was in the reeds on the pool by Tom Edmondson Hide. 

At the Tom Edmondson Hide

I spent a while in the Tom Edmondson Hide, hoping for a kingfisher (it irks me that I've seen great egrets and ospreys more often than I've seen kingfishers this year). No luck, just a few mallards and a dozen rather frisky gadwall.

At Ramsdales Hide

There were more gadwall at Ramsdales, with a few shovelers and just the one teal. The only tufted duck of the day was asleep out in the night in the company of a couple of great crested grebes.

At Pengy's Hide

I walked down to Pengy's Hide, which was busy with two people. I had a quick scan round, more gadwall and mallards and a couple of very noisy dabchicks.

Willow tit

The most frequent visitor to the feeders at the Bunting Hide was one of the willow tits, always nice to see. They were joined by great, blue and coal tits, a few robins, a nuthatch and a juvenile treecreeper. 

Juvenile treecreeper

Half a dozen very excited kids, none older than six, came in while their mums stood outside. The star of the show for them was a squirrel feeding on a branch just in front of the hide (they decided it was a chipmunk and I wasn't for arguing with them). I pointed out a couple of others skittering round in the trees, I didn't point out the rat just to our left. Giddy though the kids were they didn't make half as much noise as the four grown-ups who preceded them.

At Teal Hide

I took the reassuringly muddy path round from the Bunting Hide to Teal Hide, giving the local mosquitos a chance to have a meal. I waited for the kids to come out of the hide (they were convinced they'd seen a peacock, I was none the wiser as to what they'd seen when I had a look round). I did see more gadwall, mallard and shoveler and a few more dabchicks.

I took the path over the golf course and past Pennington Hall Park and struck lucky getting the 596 bus  which meanders into Leigh but makes a connection with the 126 to the Trafford Centre that would be impossible with a more direct bus.

Frodsham

Mallards, lapwings, black-tailed godwits, redshanks and a black-headed gull

I decided on a Saturday afternoon stroll across Frodsham Marsh. It turned out that I was a day too late for a garganey, four hours late for an osprey, three hours late for a little gull and two hours too early for an American golden plover. Yet I still had a very productive few hours' birdwatching, which just shows what an interesting site this is.

Male kestrel

I crossed the motorway on Brook Furlong and down Moorditch Lane towards No.6 Bed. Black-headed gulls and pigeons fed in the fields, goldfinches twittered about in the bushes and an obliging kestrel sat on one of the telegraph poles. Over near the motorway a flock of at least three hundred woodpigeons flew between fields.

A warbler dived into one of the hawthorns by the path and I assumed it was one of the local whitethroats until it started giving a very wren-like call from the depths of the foliage. A frustrating few minutes confirmed it as a lesser whitethroat, typically refusing to give any but the briefest of views.  

Tufted ducks

The gloomy light and mizzle wasn't ideal for wader watching on No.6 Bed with a pair of binoculars. I didn't bring my telescope because, frankly, it's a faff to drag it along on the train and then on a long walk (a good call as it seemed to be Short Train Saturday again and the trains were packed solid).

At the deep end there were a few groups of tufted ducks and mallards dozing on the water while at least a dozen dabchicks bobbed about energetically. The group of redshanks and black-tailed godwits feeding by the reeds were just silhouettes. There was one bird which might have been a knot but I couldn't put together a convincing ID for it. I had more luck with a spotted redshank in the middle of the throng. 

Black-tailed godwits

At the shallow end there were a few large groups of black-tailed godwits, most of which were sleeping or preening. Lapwings, redshanks and a few black-headed gulls sat around the margins, a couple of juvenile black-headed gulls making me look twice. I found my first bar-tailed godwit of the year by accident while I was trying and failing to find the long-billed dowitcher that's been on here the past few days.

Black-tailed godwits
(there's a bar-tailed godwit in here, too)

I walked down the lane a bit, sharing "Any joy? No, hope you have better luck than me" anodynes with a couple of passing birders. I met a chap with a telescope. "I've got the dowitcher in the scope now. You'd have no chance seeing it with a pair of bins." He was dead right, not least because I was pointing in the wrong direction, it was with a small group of godwits feeding in the reeds directly opposite us. One of the pleasures of birdwatching is that although it's a mostly solitary vice people happily share their sightings. (Thank you sir.)

No.6 Bed

It was very quiet out on the marsh, save a large flock of Canada geese silently loafing and grazing in the tall grass.

I wondered if the little gull might have moved to the small pools by the corner of No.5 Bed. It hadn't, a few lapwings lingered at the water's edge while a few young teal and shovelers dabbled in the shallows.

Walking by No.6 Bed

The walk down to Lordship Lane was quiet save for a couple of whitethroats clumping round in the elderberry bushes. I added a couple of chiffchaffs to the warbler tally as I walked towards Holpool Gutter.

Looking towards Frodsham from the path to Helsby

I'd been struck by the lack of hirundines on this walk given the heavy and humid weather. This changed at Holpool Gutter with a large flock of sand martins. As I walked over to Helsby I bumped into another, smaller flock and they were joined by a few swallows. As I approached the motorway a big flock of swallows hawked low over the barley fields.

Back home on another jam-packed train and a catch-up with the cricket.

Mosses

Swallows and house martin (far left), Chat Moss

The sparrow factory continues to roll out new baby spadgers. I'll have to wait until after the Autumn fall to get a better idea of how many mouths I've been feeding.

It was a nice day so I decided on a walk across the Salford mosses from Irlam to Glazebury. I got the train to Irlam and pottered down to Astley Road.

Kestrel, Irlam Moss
Most birds taking exception to the camera take flight. This one turned its back on me.

Astley Road was dead quiet, save for woodpigeons. Even the goldfinches were going about their business quietly. The wind and rain the other day had flattened lines of ripe oats in the fields so I had hopes of seeing birds taking advantage of a free feed but even the woodpigeons didn't seem to be interested. A couple of chaffinches called in the trees and a family of great tits worked their way through the hedgerows. A distant shape landing on a fence post a couple of fields away was the only yellowhammer of the day. A couple of kestrels perched on the telephone lines by the road. One flew off when it saw me, the other made a great show of completely ignoring me.

Contrary to usual form, things picked up a lot once I'd gone over the motorway and set off for Four Lanes End. Flocks of swallows hawked low over the turf fields, the grass dotted with pied wagtails and carrion crows. A flock of a couple of dozen goldfinches flitted between the hedgerows and the thistles in the field margins. And the swallows hawking over the yard at Trophy Lawn Turf were joined by a couple of dozen house martins and a handful of swifts. At Four Lanes End the swallows were joined by a few house martins and a dozen sand martins. The season's definitely turning.

Walking down towards Little Woolden Moss from Four Lanes End I was suddenly struck by how many dragonflies were patrolling the verges on the path. Most were black darters, the males shining blue-black in the sunlight. There were a few common darters about but the most numerous red dragonflies were the male ruddy darters that spent half their time sunbathing on the path.

Male ruddy darter, Chat Moss

Little Woolden Moss was very quiet of birds. A couple of willow warblers called from the alders and one even assayed a bit of song but the meadow pipits and linnets stayed undercover and called once in a while to show they hadn't completely gone away. Out on the water the only birds were a couple of families of pied wagtails, the youngsters in that phase of plumage where they have yellow faces and look a bit short-tailed. (I didn't see any yellow wagtails today). Overhead there was a steady passage of woodpigeons.

Female common darter (I think), Little Woolden Moss

The site was heaving with dragonflies. A handful of brown hawkers heaved themselves around like clockwork helicopters. I lost count of the number of darters, black, common or ruddy. There seemed to be one on lookout on every fencepost and no substantial patch of heather was without one or two on patrol.

Kestrel power-diving, Little Woolden Moss

There were less spectacular numbers of butterflies, though it's always nice to see double figures of small coppers and a passing small heath was a nice surprise.

Little Woolden Moss

The usual kestrel hovered overhead, occasionally diving into a clump of cotton grass and nearly always coming out empty-handed. A buzzard passed by and headed towards Little Woolden Hall. As I reached the path onto Mosslands Farm I thought the buzzard was coming back but it turned out to be a female marsh harrier which did an excellent job of clearing all the woodpigeons out of one of the barley fields.

Small tortoiseshell, Mosslands Farm

The barley had been cut in the fields next to the reserve. A mixed flock of woodpigeons and carrion crows fed on the stubble. The thistles had been cut with the barley but there were still a lot of small tortoiseshells about.

Along Moss Lane

The walk down Moss Lane into Glazebury was fairly quiet, though picturesque. I got the bus into Warrington and thence home.

 

South Stack

Chough, South Stack

I've had my Senior Railcard a couple of days so I decided it was time it got christened. The other week's timetable changes have brought back the Manchester to Holyhead train so I thought I'd have a trip out and walk down to South Stack.

I was reminded how long it is since I last did this trip: I was baffled by a "new" bridge from the station into the town centre that turned out to have been built in 2008. What surprised me greatly was that once I'd got my bearings in the town centre I could walk up to South Stack from memory (though I'd forgotten how steep that last stretch of South Stack Road is!)

A hopeful scan round of the harbour before setting out netted the inevitable herring gulls and pigeons and a great crested grebe.

Starlings, Llaingoch

Once I'd passed through Llaingoch the country started to look wild, with rolling farmlands on my left and the heather-thick base of Holyhead Mountain on my right. Dozens of herring gulls passed overhead and the hedgerows were busy with goldfinches and linnets. I could hear buzzards calling but it took ages to find them: they were soaring and dipping over the brow of the hills on the other side of the valley.

View from South Stack Road

About half a mile beyond Llaingoch there's a small reservoir or four large square ponds, I'm not sure of its function. A flock of a dozen each of herring gulls, lesser black-backs and greylag geese loafed on the field by the ponds while a couple of dozen herring gulls bathed in the water.

Buzzard, South Stack Road

I'd almost reached the point where you turn right for South Stack when I saw my first two choughs of the day as they tried, and failed, to mingle with a large flock of jackdaws. A buzzard made an even worse fist of it.

South Stack Lighthouse

South Stack was busy. Very, very busy. It's too late in the season to hope for auks nesting on the cliffs, though there were still a few kittiwakes and plenty of herring gulls. There were a few too many loud voices around to hope for many small passerines but a large flock of spadgers took advantage of the dust raised by all those feet.

House sparrows dustbathing

I found a quietish spot and did a bit of seawatching. Plenty more gulls. An adult gannet passed by in the mid distance and a dozen Manx shearwaters seemed to track the fishing boats' buoys past the cliffs. A scan through a crowd of gulls at the base of one of the cliffs added shag to the year list.

Holyhead Mountain

The walk back to Holyhead was more of the same though I was largely distracted by the air sea rescue helicopter landing in a dip in the side of the hill by the road. I hope it was a training exercise and not some poor devil hurt themselves.

Holyhead Harbour

I walked down to the harbour at Beach Road and had a nosy round. More herring gulls and pigeons, a great black-back with a large youngster and a passing curlew.

Back off home on the stopping train to Chester which doesn't connect to anything anywhere and so was nice and quiet.

Leighton Moss

Great crested grebe, juvenile and adult, and eel

The weather forecast promised everything except possibly snow so I decided on a trip to Leighton Moss so that, if necessary, I could dive for cover into a hide. It turned out to be mostly a bright sunny day.

I had a quick scan of the pools by the coastal hides as the train slowed down for Silverdale. The black-headed gulls were outnumbered by black-tailed godwits. Five spoonbills were asleep out on the pool by the Eric Morecambe Hide, they're getting to be quite regular.

Leighton Moss was fairly quiet, both of birds and people (I had less patience for the people). Aside from a couple of woodpigeons the skies were empty nearly all the time, a distinct change from earlier in the Summer.

At the Tim Jackson Hide there were a few coots and mallards and half a dozen black-tailed godwits fed by the reeds on the far side of the pool. The star turn was a lone red deer feeding in the reeds by the trees.

Red deer

There had been a couple of chiffchaffs in the trees near the sky tower. Walking through the reedbeds to the Griesdale Hide there were half a dozen juvenile willow warblers skittishly flitting about in the willows. The only other warbler of the day was a reed warbler flying across the reeds from the Griesdale Hide. (There wasn't much else to see from there.)

At Griesdale Hide

I walked back to Lilian's Hide. Half a dozen adult black-headed gulls lingered on the raft with a few mallards. A couple of dozen gadwall appeared to be in rehearsals for the breeding season with lots of chasing round and head bobbing

The gadwall were getting frisky

I walked over to the Causeway Hide, not seeing very much birdlife along the way though there were both common and ruddy darters sunning themselves on the boardwalk.

The first thing that struck me at the Causeway Hide was a couple of hundred coots loafing around in rafts on the pool. A young great crested grebe was very noisy, and yet more so when it spotted its parent with an eel. I suspect it took the youngster longer to manage to eat the eel than it took the parent to catch it.

Juvenile great crested grebe begging for an eel

Full begging posture by the juvenile

The reward is given

Making a bit of a meal of the meal

A few minutes later the eel is almost eaten

The great black-backs that have taken to nesting on the island have raised a huge brute of a youngster.

Juvenile great black-back having a bath

A flock of a couple of hundred sand martins flew in and restored a sense of high Summer to the proceedings. The wind picked up and the clouds rolled in and the martins were joined by a few swifts.

I wandered back towards the visitor centre. High up, over towards Warton Crag, a couple of buzzards soared briefly over the woods before disappearing over the tops. They were the only raptors I saw all day. A jay sat in the blackthorns by the brook, not much fussed by my being so close but taking umbrage when one of a family having a picnic shouted: "Ooh look, a jay!" Still, they got to see it.

Jay

I hadn't seen any of my target birds for the day (marsh tit, marsh harrier and Cetti's warbler) so far. As I arrived at the visitor centre the bird feeders were busy with greenfinches, great tits and chaffinches. I was watching them for a minute or two when a marsh tit decided to take exception to my being there. After a lot of angry churring from the undergrowth it came and sat in the bush next to me at head height, the better to eyeball me. Once I'd been suitably intimidated it flew off and got itself some sunflower seeds.

On the way home it clouded over completely and looked quite dark when the train slowed down completely at the junction and right-angle turn at Golborne Dale. A flock of eighty or ninety swifts hawked low over the barley fields by the track while we waited for the Newton le Willows train to pass.

Home thoughts

Very pale house sparrow

Another very wet day. The sparrows came in mob-handed and stayed the day, only retreating from the feeders when the squirrels got too insistent on their turn. At one point there were thirty-three spadgers out there, including the very pale individual that seems to be getting slightly darker on its back and wings.

Game but damp

The pair of collared doves brought one of their youngsters in with them (I think there are two of them, they nested a few doors down). A couple of juvenile goldfinches came in with one of their parents but they didn't stop long once they saw the queues for the sunflower seed feeders. I'll get some more nyger seed in for them to give them a chance.

Juvenile collared dove

There's a touch of Autumn in the air besides the gloomy wet weather. Most nights over the past few weeks there's been a couple of dozen black-headed gulls on the school playing field have a pre-roost loaf. Tonight there's one hundred and fifty-five. 

Elegant tern

Elegant tern and Sandwich terns

The weather being set for pretty damned miserable I decided to go to the seaside. The elegant tern that had stayed at Cemlyn has moved over to the Sandwich tern roost at Hightown, and seeing as it's only ten minutes' walk from the station I thought I should try my luck with it.

Half a dozen chaps with telescopes pointed out where the bird had last been seen. It was one of a flock of dozing Sandwich terns less than a hundred yards out. I spent two hours staring and scanning the flock in the gloom. After a while I had to consciously pull my eyes back into focus every so often as the terns kept on snoozing. Once in a while I'd catch a flash of yellow in the corner of my eye only for all the birds to have their beaks tucked into their back feathers when I turned to look at them.

Sandwich terns

Sandwich terns

Sandwich terns

Sandwich terns and common gulls

Sandwich terns

Something spooked the birds and they all rose up. I cursed, thinking I'd had my chance. By a stroke of luck the elegant tern landed at the front of the flock and showed very well. Though by this time I'd gotten to the stage where I was staring at it for an age without seeing it. In the dim light the bird's bright straw yellow bill was far less striking than the Sandwich terns' black bills. The thing that particularly struck me was the shaggy plumage, even more so than the Sandwich terns, and the length of the curved bill. A challenging bird but well worth the effort.

Elegant tern and Sandwich terns

The supporting cast was pretty good, too. A couple of hundred Sandwich terns, at least a couple of dozen common terns, a few young "commic" terns that defeated me, a couple of definite young Arctic terns, a couple of Mediterranean gulls, and the usual selection of seaside gulls. Redshanks, curlews and ringed plovers fed on the mud with pied wagtails and meadow pipits and I had a brief view of a common sandpiper fossicking round in one of the creeks.

I took up the offer of a look at the elegant tern through one of the telescopes (thank you, sir), took a few photos, took a look at the weather and called it quits. It had been a good session and a nice addition to the life list.