Pennington Flash 13th January 2015
We missed the birding group visit to Wigan Flashes on the 6th so our first group session of the year was to Pennington Flashes. Although there were no outstanding sightings, Pennington is always reliable and a good was to get a good start to the annual species list. Goldeneye and Merganser were good winter birds and there were all the usual ducks as well. A kingfisher was a nice bird especially since it perched on a reed for quite some time affording nice views. Some people said they saw a second Kingfisher but I didn’t catch it.
The feeding area overlooked by the Bunting Hide had been considerably remodelled and where there had previously been large square tables with a loose mesh covering now they were circular log slices (like Christmas tree bases) and no covering at all. This seemed to have resulted in an inundation of squirrels and Pigeons and Stock Doves, of which there were at least twenty. It can’t be long before they have a rat problem I would think as the spillage was much more than previously. We got the usual nice views of Willow Tit and Bullfinch and the Reed Buntings were very taken by sprays of Millet that had been hung from a tree.
We probably got thirty-nine species to add to our garden birds which makes a start to our 2015 year list.
Bird Sightings : Pennington Flash Environs
| Species | Count |
|---|---|
| Canada Goose | 60 |
| Mute Swan | 20 |
| Mallard | 20 |
| Tufted Duck | 11 |
| Common Goldeneye | 4 |
| Common Merganser | 1 |
| Common Coot | 30 |
| Black-headed Gull | 60 |
| Lesser Black-backed Gull | 1 |
| Great Tit | 2 |
| Eurasian Wren | 1 |
| European Robin | 2 |
| Eurasian Blackbird | 3 |
| Song Thrush | 1 |
| Pied Wagtail | 2 |
| Reed Bunting | 6 |
| Common Chaffinch | 8 |
| European Goldfinch | 8 |
| House Sparrow | 6 |
Bird Sightings : Pennington Flash Horrocks Hide
| Species | Count |
|---|---|
| Mallard | 20 |
| Common Teal | 20 |
| Tufted Duck | 20 |
| Goosander | 4 |
| Great Crested Grebe | 6 |
| Great Cormorant | 20 |
| Northern Lapwing | 30 |
Bird Sightings : Pennington Flash : Tom Edmonson Hide
| Species | Count |
|---|---|
| Mute Swan | 4 |
| Gadwall | 20 |
| Mallard | 8 |
| Northern Shoveler | 18 |
| Common Teal | 10 |
| Goosander | 3 |
| Common Moorhen | 8 |
| Common Coot | 10 |
| Common Snipe | 1 |
| Common Kingfisher | 1 |
Bird Sightings : Pennington Flash : Ramsdale’s Hide
| Species | Count |
|---|---|
| Mute Swan | 6 |
| Northern Shoveler | 4 |
| Common Teal | 30 |
| Goosander | 6 |
| Little Grebe | 2 |
| Common Moorhen | 4 |
| Eurasian Magpie | 4 |
Bird Sightings : Pennington Flash : Bunting Hide
| Species | Count |
|---|---|
| Mallard | 6 |
| Common Moorhen | 16 |
| Rock Dove | 6 |
| Stock Dove | 20 |
| Common Wood Pigeon | 4 |
| Eurasian Magpie | 4 |
| Willow Tit | 1 |
| Great Tit | 6 |
| Eurasian Blue Tit | 6 |
| Long-tailed Tit | 4 |
| European Robin | 4 |
| Eurasian Blackbird | 4 |
| Dunnock | 1 |
| Reed Bunting | 2 |
| Common Chaffinch | 10 |
| Eurasian Bullfinch | 3 |