Birding Group Day Out to Sandbach Flashes 29th November 2011

Birding Group Day Out to Sandbach Flashes 29th November 2011

I hadn’t been to Sandbach Flashes before so I looked it up in “Where to Watch Birds : North West England & the Isle of Man”  by A. Conlin et al. This describes Sandbach Flashes as “a series of 15 or so shallow pools formed during the last century as a result of salt mining. The flashes lie in a triangle between Sandbach, Middlewich and Crewe. The main flashes are in an area designated as an SSSI.”(More Details) In fact we only went to one of these flashes, Elton Hall Flash and we would not have had time to visit any of the others anyway because there was so much to see at Elton Hall Flash.

The weather was quite pleasant but it was obvious from the weather reports that heavy rain was on the way at some point. Fortunately for us it held off while we were there. We started off by parking on Clay Lane just before Elton Hall. As we got out of the car there were already four birders with their scopes set up on the grass verge overlooking a flash. Their attentions were directed towards a field beyond the flash where just at the edge of a group of Canada Geese were two White-fronted Geese. These were the big attraction and they showed well for quite some time. On the field to the left of the flash were a large mixed flock of Great and Lesser Black-backed Gulls and a lot of Black-headed Gulls with ten Cormorants standing at the waters edge. There was also a large flock of Lapwings and among them were Starlings, Wigeons, Moorhen and Coots. On the water itself was a single Mute Swan, come Shelduck and Mallards. We stayed there quite some time, mainly looking at the White-fronted Geese before walking down the road in the direction of Elton Hall. As we walked we could see a small flock of Fieldfares perching at the top of the trees in the field to the right of the flash and as we looked back to check for traffic before crossing the road we could see in the distance around 500 (?) Starlings in a bit of a mini – murmuration. It was a little far away to be truly impressive but was still quite a sight as they swooped and wheeled in the sky. We crossed the road and walked down the lane that leads to a farm where we got closer views of the Fieldfares and a Mistle Thrush in the trees at the bend in the road. You can also get a view of the side of the flash that is on that side of the road.

We walked back up this path and walked a short way further in the direction of Elton Hall before turning into a path that runs parallel with Clay Lane but is separated from it by a row of shrubs. Along this path which overlooks the flash there are also a couple of feeders. On a post here there is a map of Elton Hall Flash that shows you where you are. On a grassy promontory there was a flock of Lapwings with some Golden Plover mixed in. On the water there were large numbers of Mallards and smaller numbers of Shoveler and Teal. In amongst all these, however, were some interesting birds including a single Redshank and a single Snipe, two Black-tailed Godwits and a pair of Pintails and a pair of Ruffs. It was hard to concentrate on the wetland birds because the shrubs and trees around us were full of other birds. We got even closer views of the Fieldfares who were either following us or part of a much larger flock because no matter where we went we seemed to see them. There were quite large numbers of Tree Sparrows around and on the feeders. On the tree right where we had set up the scope, a Treecreeper suddenly appeared just a couple of feet away from us. As if that wasn’t enough, as soon as the Treecreeper disappeared around the back of the trunk, a female Woodpecker appeared feasting off the fat that had been applied liberally around the bark of the tree. The bird seemed entirely unconcerned that around eight people were just a couple of feet away. This wasn’t the only female Woodpecker around either as we saw another one at the same time just a little further down the path. Great and Blue Tits abounded and there were a few Chaffinches and a Robin as well.

In the end we were suffering from an inability to decide where to look next and what to focus on. I could easily have spent several more hours there but the rest of the group felt it was time to move on and as the weather started to look gloomier we decided to call it a day.

Species List

Bird Sightings : Elton Hall Flash

How to Get There

• Head south on Chequers Rd toward Beech Rd 308 ft
• Turn left onto Beech Rd 0.2 mi
• Turn right onto Barlow Moor Rd/A5145 1.2 mi
• Turn right onto Princess Rd/A5103,
• Continue to follow A5103  1.7 mi
• Continue onto M56    6.1 mi
•  At junction 7, exit onto Chester Rd/A556 toward Birmingham/M6/Northwich/Lymm/A56  1.1 mi
• Keep right at the fork. Go through 1 roundabout 4.1 mi
• Merge onto M6 via the ramp to B’ham  11.7 mi
• At junction 17, take the A534 exit to Congleton/Sandbach       0.2 mi
• 10. Turn right onto Old Mill Rd/A534 (signs for Nantwich/Sandbach/Crewe)
•  Continue to follow Old Mill Rd  1.1 mi
• At the roundabout, take the 1st exit onto A534
• Go through 1 roundabout  1.9 mi
• Turn right onto Elton Ln  0.8 mi
• Slight right onto Clay Ln  1.0 mi
• Park In lay-by – if you see Elton Hall on your left you have already gone a little too far.

There is a flash on the left hand side that overlooks Fowle Brook that you can observe from the verge. Cross the road and go forward a little and you see a path on your right that leads down to a farm but has good views of the fields and the side of one of the Elton Flashes. Return back up to the main road and turn right and walk a little further along and you will see an opening with a gate leading to a path running parallel with the road but set away from it. Here there are several feeders and also a good view of the flashes.