Pennington Flash 30th January 2017

The last birding group day of the month was to the ever-relaible Pennington Flash. We got all dressed up for a freezing cold day but, in the end, it wasn’t too bad, thoguh lingering in the hides for too long led to very cold fingers. In any case, the best sightings of the day weren’t in the hides at all.

We started off at Horrocks where there was a single Goosander and a few Goldeneye, one male in particular looking to be in pretty full breeding plumage. Tehre were also a few Gadwall as well as the usual Teal, Cormorants, Lapwing, Tufted Ducks and gulls or various sorts.

Moving on to the Tom Edmondson hide I got a Willow Tit but that was the only notable bird.

At Ramsdale we got a Kingfisher which would not be so remarkable if it were not for the fact that it took me until December last year to see one !

The best bids were out among the trees however in the stretch of woodland just past the path to the bridge over thecanal and here we got two excellent year ticks (although in January they mostly are for obvious resons) in a nice mixed bunch of Siskin and Lesser Redpoll. They were a bit flighty but eventually I managed to get one of each in the same scoped view which was a treat. There were also Long-tailed Tits with them and I got a Treecreeper as well which I seem to have trouble finding these days. There were a few Song Thrush around singing loudly which was lovely to hear.

At the Bunting Hide there were large numbers of Reed Bunting and Bullfinches and, on the ground, Wren and Dunnock.

In total we got 36 species but the best thing was getting some difficult bird under the belt in January.

Bird Sightings : Pennington Flash