Birding Group : Sandbach Flashes 30th October 2018
The last birding group outing of October was to Sandbach Flashes. I wasn’t really expecting much but it turned out to be quite a good morning and the weather was a little milder than recently when it has been quite frosty. In total we managed forty-one species, including a couple of birds of prey, some winter thrushes and a wader or two.
As soon as we parked up we looked for the usual Peregrine on the pylon and found it lurking around the back. The main body of water by the parking was full of Wigron – the dominant duck of the day, although we also got good numbers of Teal, SHoverler etc and some Shelduck and a single Pintail. A little furthe up the road we could see a group of Fieldfare and Redwing and they were generally flying around all morning.
Down at the feeders, which were well provisioned, there were House and Tree Sparrows and a variety of Tits. A Great Spotted Woodpecker was on a coconut shell oppsite the feeders.
Stationes overlooking the flash there were many more Wigeon and other ducks. There were good number of Lesser Black-backed Gulls and a few Greater Black-backed Gulls. On the grassy slopes were large numbers of Wigeon and Coot and some patience eventually elicited some Snipe and a single Ruff. A Sparrowhawk made a few desultory passes over the water setting up the Wigeon and othe ducks. There were some Lapwing and some other small birds so, in the end we got forty-one species (including a Buzzard we saw on the way back home).
With milder weather than we were expecting it turned out to be a good mornings birding.
Bird Sightings : Sandbach Flashes 30th October 2018
| Greylag Goose | 14 |
| Canada Goose | 60 |
| Common Shelduck | 12 |
| Gadwall | 2 |
| Eurasian Wigeon | 60 |
| Mallard | 20 |
| Northern Shoveler | 20 |
| Northern Pintail | 1 |
| Common Teal | 50 |
| Great Crested Grebe | 1 |
| Great Cormorant | 8 |
| Grey Heron | 1 |
| Eurasian Sparrowhawk | 1 |
| Common Moorhen | 2 |
| Common Coot | 30 |
| Northern Lapwing | 40 |
| Eurasian Curlew | 3 |
| Ruff | 1 |
| Common Snipe | 3 |
| Black-headed Gull | 40 |
| Lesser Black-backed Gull | 40 |
| Great Black-backed Gull | 4 |
| Common Wood Pigeon | 40 |
| Great Spotted Woodpecker | 1 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 1 |
| Eurasian Jackdaw | 6 |
| Carrion Crow | 20 |
| Great Tit | 8 |
| Eurasian Blue Tit | 8 |
| Long-tailed Tit | 1 |
| Eurasian Wren | 2 |
| European Robin | 1 |
| Eurasian Blackbird | 2 |
| Fieldfare | 2 |
| Redwing | 12 |
| Common Starling | 30 |
| Dunnock | 1 |
| Common Chaffinch | 20 |
| European Goldfinch | 8 |
| House Sparrow | 12 |
| Eurasian Tree Sparrow | 8 |