Birding Group Visit to Sandbach Flashes 21st February 2012

Birding Group Visit to Sandbach Flashes 21st February 2012

This was only my second visit with the birding group to Sandbach Flashes and it was Anne’s first time there. As usual, we only went to one of these flashes, Elton Hall Flash. The weather was reasonable and we were hoping for as good a day as we had last time when we saw thirty-one species. We had a fair number this time also.

We started off by parking on Clay Lane just before Elton Hall. We did not have the pleasure of seeing the White-fronted Geese that we saw on our last visit but there were very many Gulls, both Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls as well as the usual high numbers of Black-headed Gulls but we could not locate the Iceland Gull that we had been told by some other birders was mixed in among the Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls. Perhaps it had already gone by the time we were informed.There were plenty of Coots and Wigeon around as well. We walked along the roadside a little and, as last time, we saw a small roost of ten Cormorants in the trees. We continued on to the lane where the farm is and from the side view of the Flash we could see a dozen more Wigeon, eight Shelduck, Mute Swans, five Goosander (three females) and a few Teal and a single Grey Heron.

Moving on down the road in the direction of Elton Hall to where the feeder stations are, we were pleased again to get very good views of, first a male and then later a female, Great-spotted Woodpeckers. The feeding station was, as usual, teeming with Tree and House Sparrows, Great and Blue Tits, Dunnocks, Robins etc. In the field by the side of the flash were two or three hundred Lapwing, perhaps 150 Wigeon, a single Redshank, around twenty Bar-tailed Godwits, Shelduck, Shoveler, Teal and perhaps a female Pintail but I didn’t see it. There were three Buzzards to be seen, one on the ground and two others either perched atop trees or in the air. We saw flocks of what were either Firldfares or Redwings but it was a little hard to see which. There were a few scattered Starling and the odd Moorhen mixed in with the Lapwings. We may also have seen a Peregrine but the view was brief and the bird was travelling very fast.

In the end it wasn’t as good a haul as we had the previous visit but the site is such a good one – particularly for the close views of Tree Sparrows and Woodpecker – that we were happy enough anyway.

Bird Sightings : Sanbach Flashes

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.