There were only two cars of people for the birding group visit to Pennington Flash. We had to park on the main road as the car park was closed for electrical work that was being done at the bridge on the way down to the car park. We imagined it might be to connect the electric car charging stations in the car park, though it wasn’t obvious what the reason was and their web site gave no reason. Nevertheless we walked from the main road down to the hides. The whole place was incredibly quiet with the usual number of dog walkers absent. It seemed much better and made the extra walk worthwhile. As it happened, we managed to get nine new species for the year -mainly spring migrants.
Our tour around the site was sandwiched by the sounds of a GS Woodpecker drumming as we arrived and as we left. On the main flash the Swans and Geese seemed a bit confused that there were no people feeding them. One of the two pairs of great Crested grebes we saw were on the main mere with a small group of Tufted Ducks. A single pair of Sand Martins was flying over the flash for the briefest of times but enough to get good views of them. On the spit there was a Common Tern – another first for the year.
As we walked around a Reed Warbler (also a year tick) was singing from the reedbed. In the trees we got a pair of Bullfinches but at the bunting Hide Willow Warbler eluded us; we did get coal tit and Nuthatch.
The woodland around was full of bird song – mainly tits and Robins but also a couple of Blackcaps of which I saw a male. There was also Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs; I had to settle for hearing the latter but managed to see one of the several of the former. There were Wrens and Robins singing everywhere and it turned out to be a nice morning, especially the fact that there were so few people there. On the various bodies of water were Gadwall, Goosander, Little Grebes etc.
Year ticks included
- Stock Dove
- Common Tern
- Chiffchaff
- Willow Warbler
- Blackcap
- Reed Warbler
- Bullfinch
- Sand Martin
- Common Sandpiper
- Great Spotted Woodpecker
Bird Sightings : Pennington Flash 16th April 2024
| Species | No |
|---|---|
| Black-headed Gull | 30 |
| Blackcap | 2 |
| Blue Tit | 4 |
| Bullfinch | 2 |
| Canada Goose | 40 |
| Carrion Crow | 2 |
| Chiffchaff | 2 |
| Coal Tit | 2 |
| Common Sandpiper | 1 |
| Common Tern | 1 |
| Coot | 5 |
| Cormorant | 10 |
| Dunnock | 1 |
| Gadwall | 2 |
| Goosander | 4 |
| Great Crested Grebe | 4 |
| Great Spotted Woodpecker | 1 |
| Great Tit | 4 |
| Grey Heron | 1 |
| Lapwing | 6 |
| Lesser Black-backed Gull | 4 |
| Little Grebe | 3 |
| Magpie | 6 |
| Mallard | 20 |
| Moorhen | 3 |
| Mute Swan | 40 |
| Nuthatch | 2 |
| Oystercatcher | 1 |
| Reed Bunting | 1 |
| Reed Warbler | 1 |
| Robin | 10 |
| Rock Dove / Feral Pigeon | 10 |
| Sand Martin | 2 |
| Shoveler | 2 |
| Stock Dove | 4 |
| Tufted Duck | 30 |
| Willow Warbler | 3 |
| Woodpigeon | 20 |
| Wren | 6 |