Pennington Flash Field Trip, 22nd February 2020

A good number of hardy souls braved the windy weather conditions on Saturday, 22^nd  February for a bird walk around Pennington Flash, near Wigan (https://www.wigan.gov.uk/Resident/Leisure/Greenheart/Pennington-Flash.aspx). We were lucky with the weather, really, as the rain held off until we had finished birding, and when the sun came out and we were out of the wind, it was almost pleasant!

RSPB Liverpool group members at Pennington Flash, photo by Chris Tynan

Conditions in the car park by the Flash itself were wild – and the marauding mute swans didn’t help, with our leader having to rescue a woman from their greedy advances – so we hastened to the bird-feeding station where we had fantastic views of a number of passerine species, including four species of tit (blue, coal, great and long-tailed), and a good number of reed buntings – not your usual bird-feeder visitor.

The bird-feeding station, photo by Debra Williams

Moving to another hide, this one with views over the water, we counted around 14 goosander, both females and males, many of the females resting on a small island, and a variety of other ducks including goldeneye and gadwall.

Goosander island, photo by Debra Williams

From the Tom Edmondson hide (named after a local who was instrumental in the Flash’s transformation from wasteland to parkland), we were thrilled to see two snipe swimming, and then spotted a few more, well camouflaged among the scrub at the water’s edges. A willow tit was also briefly spotted here, flying from the bushes at one side of the hide to the other.

There were also about six or seven grey herons standing closely together on the far side of the water, and some of our group commented on this. I recalled a very interesting article by Dominic Couzens from a 2018 edition of Bird Watching magazine (https://www.birdwatching.co.uk/birdspecies/2018/12/12/grey-heron) that described how these birds are great ones for ‘loafing’ – not hunting or sleeping, just ‘being’: “A heron simply standing… is actually a contented heron, full of food, at a site of its choosing, safe if vigilant.”

Squint and you can see the grey herons, photo by Debra Williams

Walking between hides, Chris spotted what looked incredibly like an osprey nesting platform – here’s hoping an on-passage pair stop for a look at it later in the year.

Here be ospreys - hopefully, photo by Chris Tynan

We finished our field trip at a hide overlooking the main part of the Flash, with Leigh & Lowton Sailing Club dinghies in the background and the wind whistling through the viewing portals very much in the foreground. From this hide, we observed, amongst other species, one lone oystercatcher, one lone lapwing, and a raft of gulls in the distance, from which Chris picked out a common gull.

Choppy waters and distant sailing club, photo by Debra Williams

Whilst scanning the Flash from this hide, Chris and other long-standing group members reminisced about the black-faced bunting that had been found by ringers on-site in 1994 – once the word was put out, ‘twitchers’ from around the country turned up overnight to see it.

Some of us exited this hide early, heading back to the relative warmth of the cars/vans via a stop to re-fuel at the ‘butty van’. And a few of us were privileged to share Bethan’s amazing lemon drizzle loaf. Great birds, cake, coffee and company – what good birding should always feature – and if the weather’s good, so much the better, but if it isn’t, well… there’s always next time!

List of birds seen

Blackbird	Jackdaw
Black-headed gull	Lapwing
Blue tit	Lesser black-backed gull
Bullfinch	Little grebe
Canada geese	Long-tailed tit
Carrion crow	Magpie
Chaffinch	Mallard
Coal tit	Mistle thrush
Common gull	Moorhen
Common redpoll	Mute swan
Common snipe	Oystercatcher
Common teal	Pheasant
Coot	Pied wagtail
Cormorant	Redwing
Dunnock	Reed bunting
Gadwall	Robin
Goldeneye	Shoveler
Goldfinch	Song thrush
Goosander	Stock dove
Great black-backed gull	Teal
Great crested grebe	Tufted duck
Great tit	Willow tit
Grey heron	Wood pigeon
Grey wagtail	Wren
Herring gull

Debra Williams