Birding Group Visit to Pennington Flash 19th February 2013

Our latest visit to Pennington Flash was unusually clement with hardly any wind and, although it was quite cold, there were plenty of birds around and it was a great day for birding. We started off in the car park and from here we saw Canada Geese, Coots, Moorhen, Mallards, Tufted Ducks, Goldeneye and Goosander and the usual range of Gulls on the Flash. In a surrounding trees there were a pair of Bullfinches and on the ground we saw a Song Thrush and a Pied Wagtail.

We headed off to the Horrocks Hide where we saw the usual flock of Lapwing, Black-headed Gulls, Lesser Black-backed Gulls and Cormorants. Additionally there were a fair number of Teal and four Oystercatchers flew in whilse we watched. We looked long and hard but could not see any Snipe. Perhaps it was just too cold for them.

We wandered off to the other hides – the Tom Edmonson Hide and the Ramsdale Hide – but a lot of the water was still frozen over and some of the smaller ponds had no open water at all. At the Ramsdale Hide one of our group saw a Kingfisher perched on the tree just to the side of the hide but as he put his scope up the noise scared it off. We waited a little longer but it didn’t come back and there was very little else to see due to the mainly frozen water around the reed bed. Another factor making birding difficult was the presence of a digger dresging out parts of the reed bed. Apparently too many Willow bushes have started growing up through the reeds which will ultimately turn the reed bed into an island. They have taken the opportunity afforded by this to do a major reinvention and expansion of the reed bed. Supposedly these improvements are also going to include the building of another hide eventually that overlooks a bit of the Flash not normally visible to birders.

We walked down through the damp low-lying path and even though the water was frozen, the entire path through to the canal was still gooey mud, so much rain has there been this last nine months. We had a bit of time on our hands so when we came out at the bridge over the canal, we did a u-turn and walked back along the side of the Flash where the reed beds meet more solid small islands of Willows. The decision to do this was immediately rewarded with good views of the Kingfisher that was probably in the tree next to the hide we had just come from. We got very good scoped views of this female bird and a couple of Reed Buntings were also flitting around in the reeds.

At the Teal hide there was a fair amount of open water and we again saw Goosander – all female without a male in sight. A fair number of Shoveler were roosting with their heads tucked under their winds at the far side of the water and there were also a few Tufted Ducks.

All the other smaller bodies of water were frozen so it was off to the Bunting hide. Unfortunately this was absolutely full of men in camo clothing and Canon cameras. In general Pennington was much busier than normal – due to it being both a nice day for once and also half-term for the schoolchildren and their parents. So by the time we got to the Bunting hide the whole site was full of people. We did stay there for a little just to tick off the usual suspects and to see fi anyone had seen anything rarer. They hadn’t so we just had a quick look at the Bullfinches, now getting into fine feather, and Reed Buntings and the usual large numbers of Greenfinch. Anyway, it seemed fair to let the kids and their parents enjoy the woodland birds from the hide so we moved on.

We had another quick look on the Flash for the Glaucous Gull that has been around recently but we didn’t have any luck.

Bird Sightings : Pennington Flash Environs

Species	Count
Mute Swan	20
Canada Goose	30
Mallard	60
Tufted Duck	6
Goldeneye	4
Goosander	2
Moorhen	12
Coot	14
Black-headed Gull	40
Lesser Black-backed Gull	10
Blackbird	2
Song Thrush	1
Dunnock	2
Pied Wagtail	1
Bullfinch	2

Bird Sightings : Pennington Flash Horrocks Hide

Species	Count
Teal	30
Cormorant	12
Oystercatcher	4
Lapwing	60
Black-headed Gull	30
Lesser Black-backed Gull	10
Kingfisher	1

Bird Sightings : Pennington Flash Teal Hide

Species	Count
Shoveler	14
Tufted Duck	20
Goosander	6

Bird Sightings : Pennington Flash Bunting Hide

Species	Count
Moorhen	4
Rock Dove / Feral Pigeon	4
Magpie	4
Long-tailed Tit	2
Blackbird	6
Robin	4
Dunnock	4
Greenfinch	20
Bullfinch	12
Reed Bunting	8

Birding Group Visit to Pennington Flash 19th February 2013