Birding Group Visit to Neumann’s Flash : 7th June 2011
The weather held up for our birding group visit to Neumann’s Flash (part of the Northwich Woodland Area) and rained just a little towards lunchtime. As soon as we parked up we saw a Kestrel high in the sky. As we waited for the others to arrive, we watched as it circled around in front of us before slowly coming down and hovering for a while. It then seemed to dive down and after a short while it came back up with something really quite large and furry (or fluffy !!) in its talons. It is possible that it had gone into a small tree and plucked a nestling out of a nest there. It is certainly true that as it reached the tree level a Magpie shot out of the tree quickly. If this is what it did, it probably dropped it on the ground and then picked it up again. It hovered around and flew off a couple of yards before settling back on the ground to have its meal.
We were watching it for so long that I actually had time to set up my scope and line it up on the bird as it fed. The others arrived and they also managed to get a look through the scope. As it fed a Carrion Crow started to mob it (if one bird can mob another on its own) and really went after it. After a bit of an aerial dogfight the Kestrel was seen off but in the process we had got some really close and clear views of a fantastic bird on the hunt for breakfast !
Perhaps the rest of the morning would seem like a disappointment after that start but it was a nice enough day and a good day for a walk. I always get a bit lost around here there are so many paths you can take that basically end up at the same place but we started at Ashton’s Flash and then walked up to Neumann’s Flash. The water level was incredibly low and some of the “islands” were islands no more. We crossed at Butterfinch Bridge then stopped at Haydn’s Pool before walking back along the River Weaver back to our starting point.
In the sky we could see a couple of Buzzards fairly low down, wheeling around. There were Reed Buntings galore and though we could hear what we took to be Reed Warblers we could not see any – likewise with Chiffchaff. We stopped at one of the open hides and another birder there pointed out a Garganey which was a first for the year for us and we got a good long look at this. There was also a family of Shelduck with 6 chicks swimming around and on a far sand spit we saw a Little Ringed Plover dotting about. Over the various pools Swifts, Swallows and Martins swooped around and as the time went by they started to come down closer and closer to the water perhaps giving an indication of rain which did indeed follow but not very heavy and not for long. We returned to the lay-by where we had parked and as a final tick a Blackcap appeared on a bush on the opposite side of the road singing away at the top of its voice.
We finished off by having a sandwich and a drink (Lees ?) at the George and Dragon in Little Budworth then had a stroll around the village before returning home.
Bird List
- Blackcap 1
- Black-headed Gull 8
- Buzzard 2
- Canada Goose 12
- Carrion Crow 6
- Chiff Chaff 1
- Coot 8
- Garganey 1
- Goldfinch 2
- House Martin 8
- Jackdaw 2
- Kestrel 1
- Lapwing 6
- Little Ringed Plover 1
- Magpie 1
- Mallard 30
- Mistle Thrush 1
- Mute Swan 4
- Oystercatcher 6
- Reed Bunting 12
- Shelduck 8
- Swallow 4
- Swift 8
How To Get There
Instead of parking at the Anderton Boat Lift car park we parked in the long lay-by on the B5075 New Warrington Road.
- Exit Junction 10 of M56 and take first exit left onto A559 for Northwich
- Continue as if going to Marbury but instead of turning right for Comberbatch village continue on A559 another mile and a half (approx).
- Turn right at the B5075 (Ollershaw Lane ) – there is a sign for the Lion Salt Works -at Marston.
- You drive through the middle of a fishing lake and then come to a long lay-by on the right. You can park here and Neumann’s Flash is a short walk away.