Day Out To Pennington Flash 21st September 2011
We fancied a couple of hours out as the weather wasn’t too bad so we decided to go to Pennington Flash. Before we even got on the motorway in Chorlton we had great views of a Buzzard considering whether to land on a roadside tree. In the end it didn’t but we had good views of it swooping around so we considered this a good start to our birding day.
At Pennington Flash we parked up and had a quick look at what was on the Flash from there and encountered an Egyptian Goose looking a bit shabby in moult. From the car park we took the usual route we take with the birding group starting out at Hide 2 (The Horrocks Hide – the coldest and windiest) from which we could see large numbers of Cormorants (at least 20) Lapwings (at least 100) Mute Swans, Great Crested Grebe, Moorhen, Coots, Tufted Ducks, Shovelers and Mallards and lots of Black-headed and Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls. There were around 200 Canada Geese as well.We continued on to Hide 7 (Tom Edmondson Hide) which was a little quiet with a lot of Mallards and Coots and a Heron and possibly some Pochard but it was difficult to determine properly with so many juvenile birds present and so many birds going into eclipse. On the Kidney Pond opposite there were at least 180 Coot, two Mute Swans and four Shovelers
We had a quick look at Hide 8 (The Ramsdale Hide) where there were three Mute Swans, Coots, Moorhens, Mallards, Canada Geese and around 20 Shovelers.
We then walked through the strip of land that runs parallel to the Leeds – Liverpool Canal where we saw a couple of Goldfinches and had good views of two Kestrels, even getting the scope on one of them. From here we took the right fork in the road at the steps and continued on through the woodland and returned via the Teal Hide (no 6)where the first thing we had pointed out to us was two Green Sandpipers roosting on one leg with their heads tucked under their wings and sitting just to the front of the Teal Scrape. There were also around 30 Teal, eight or so Shoveler, a single Lapwing amidst a host of Mallards. There were also Moohen and Coot and a Grey Heron. We moved on to the Bunting Hide (no 4) which is usually teeming with birds and this was no exception with half a dozen Magpies dominating proceedings and intimidating both Woodpigeon and Collared Doves as well as the smaller birds. However everything manages to get a look in somehow. There were Blue Tits, Great Tits and Willow Tits. There were Chaffinches, Bullfinches and masses of Greenfinches (on one table there were 27 at the one time !) There was a Robin around and a Dunnock and Mallards sweeping up as much dropped food as possible. We sat there for quite a while and eventually a Great spotted Woodpecker turned up and remained for a good ten minutes. It looked like a juvenile male with its whole head covered in red feathers that looked to be half way through moulting into its adult plumage. It stayed until is was chased off by a Magpie.
In general there were many juvenile birds which was nice to see. We didn’t see any Nuthtached which is unusual and also we didn’t see any Coal Tits either !
Bird List
| Species | Count |
|---|---|
| Mute Swan | 30 |
| Canada Goose | 200 |
| Egyptian Goose | 1 |
| Teal | 30 |
| Mallard | 30 |
| Shoveler | 20 |
| Tufted Duck | 4 |
| Cormorant | 20 |
| Grey Heron | 1 |
| Great Crested Grebe | 2 |
| Buzzard | 1 |
| Kestrel | 2 |
| Moorhen | 12 |
| Coot | 180 |
| Lapwing | 100 |
| Green Sandpiper | 2 |
| Black-headed Gull | 200 |
| Herring Gull | 10 |
| Great Black-backed Gull | 10 |
| Woodpigeon | 4 |
| Collared Dove | 4 |
| Great Spotted Woodpecker | 1 |
| Magpie | 6 |
| Carrion Crow | 8 |
| Blue Tit | 20 |
| Great Tit | 4 |
| Willow Tit | 1 |
| Robin | 1 |
| Dunnock | 1 |
| Chaffinch | 30 |
| Greenfinch | 27 |
| Goldfinch | 2 |
| Bullfinch | 4 |
How We Got To Pennington Flash
1. Head north on Chequers Rd toward High Lane/A5145
2.Turn left onto High Lane /A5145 Continue to follow A5145 1.3 mi
3. Turn left onto Chester Rd/A56 0.7 mi
4. Turn right (signs for Ring Rd (N)/L’pool/M62/Bolton/M61 /Leeds/M60) 9811 0.6 mi
5. Turn right onto the ramp to M60
6. Keep right at the fork, follow signs for M60/ Ring Rd (N & E)/Liverpool/M62/Bolton/ M61 /Leeds and merge onto M60 5.0 mi
7. At junction 13. take the A575/A572 exit to Worsley/Leigh/Swinton 0.4 mi
8. At the roundabout, take the 1st ext onto Leigh Rd/A572 heading to Boothstown Continue to follow A572 1.6 mi
9. Continue onto Mosley Common Rd/A577 0.1 mi
10. Turn left onto E Lancashire Rd/A580 Go through 1 roundabout 5.2 mi
11. Turn right onto A579 0.8 mi
12. Sharp left onto St Helen’s Rd/A572 0.2 mi
13. Turn right 0.6 mi