22nd July, morning sightings

Peregrine chasing Lapwings for 5 minutes over the spit at 08:20
8 Green Sandpiper from Teal hide
female Garganey and 2 Common Sandpiper from Ramsdales hide

all sightings thanks to John Lyon (no s Rob, but there's already another John Lyon on the forum. Not the same person)

john lyons wrote:

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to day at pennington female garganey 3 buzzard 7 greensandpiper
2 dunlin 7 willow tit 1 coal tit 1 treecreeper 11 bullfinch 10 snipe

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Hi John,

just out of interest, your surname on the forum is Lyons, but your signature is Lyon (no S), which is correct?
Cheers.
Rob Thorpes


-- Edited by Rob Thorpe on Saturday 22nd of August 2009 01:59:16 AM

to day at pennington female garganey 3 buzzard 7 greensandpiper
2 dunlin 7 willow tit 1 coal tit 1 treecreeper 11 bullfinch 10 snipe

well done finding the garganey mate i still havent seen them

Female Garganey present this morning from Ramsdales Hide.

Info thanks to John Lyon

A good day at Pennington today with amongst the usual stuff:

7 Black-tailed Godwits
8 Green Sandpiper
Female Marsh Harrier south west at 3:20pm

info thanks to John Lyon

Also today, 19th

16 Common Terns

Info thanks to John Lyon

This morning, 19th:

11 Green Sandpipers
Single Ringed Plover

info thanks to John Lyon

7 Green Sandpipers yesterday evening.

Info thanks to Phil Rhodes

Today's sightings:

Single Arctic Tern briefly at 06:30 only

Info thanks to Barry Hulme

5 Green Sandpipers on Teal Scrape mid-afternoon

7 Green Sandpipers form Teal Hide at 12:38 today.

Info thanks to John Tymon

This evening

9 Black-tailed Godwits flew into roost

Green Sandpiper and Snipe from Teal Hide

3000+ Black-headed Gulls
680 LBBG's
6 each of Common & Herring Gulls

Late news for yesterday:

8 Green Sandpipers on Teal Scrape (seen by John Beardsmore)

Info thanks to Peter Alker

Late news for yesterday evening (10th):

325 Lesser Black-backed Gulls (and more still piling in as the light fell)
Atleast 1 juvenile Mediterranean Gull, possibly another but light very poor by that time!

Info thanks to Andy Isherwood

not much about today, 2 green sandpipers and a white wagtail from teal hide and a female wigeon from edmundson hide.

Sightings today, 8th August:

5 Green Sand
1 Common Sand
1 Greenshank (precise location not given)
2 Buzzards
1 Redshank

info thanks to John Lyon

ALSO TODAY:

White Wagtail from Teal Hide
Scaup type aythya hybrid in Rammies

Info thanks to Rob & Sonia Adderley

I counted 41 Scoters there at 18:00 - they were in a tight bunch and clearly agitated by the presence of nearby yachts.

There was a report on Birdguides of 38 Scoter there this afternoon.

Ian McKerchar wrote:

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Apologies for the late post.

The Greenshank flew of west at 06:35 , info thanks to Barry Hulme.

Undoubtably the same bird was then found further west by Ian Woosey shortly after, so it looks like it may have left Pennington for good John.

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good job really as warrington is gridlocked as usual on a friday,took me 45 mins to get home from work and its only half a mile,scoters would have been nice though,maybe tomorrowscoters would have been good points too

6 Green Sandpipers also present from Teal Hide this morning

info thanks to Barry Hulme

38 Common Scoter flew in at 2:15pm today.

Info thanks to John Lyon

Apologies for the late post.

The Greenshank flew of west at 06:35 , info thanks to Barry Hulme.

Undoubtably the same bird was then found further west by Ian Woosey shortly after, so it looks like it may have left Pennington for good John.

ANY NEWS ON THE GREENSHANK AT PENNY,IM WORKING LATE ,BUT WAS THINKING OF FIRING DOWN FOR A QUICK SHOT AFTER WORKOR HAS IT GONE TO LEIGHTSHAW ,JUST READ IANS POST

This morning:

Greenshank still present
up to 5 Green Sandpipers

Info thanks to Barry Hulme

A good day at Pennington this morning for the supplier of this info. Barry Hulme:

Adult Hobby over the golf course at 7:50am
Greenshank flew south-east at 8:10am then presumably the same individual was then present on Teal Scrape
3 Green Sandpipers on Teal Scrape.

Visited Sunday.

3 fledged sparrowhawks

j meadows wrote:

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This Morning with Local RSPB Group
3 Green Sandpipers Teal Hide
16 Common Tern on the flash
Tufted Duck with Ducklings from Horrocks Hide
2 swimming Lapwings from the Newly Built Hide sorry forgot its name
3 Buzzard
and lots of water so nothing to help waders drop in :
and John Tymon nice to see you John

Oh and at the burger van 1 Lesser Canada Goose badly limping
and 1 Muscovey Duck


Cheers Jimmy

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nice to see you jimmywent to marshside after the flash not a birdid have bin better doin another tour ert flash,and get some points

This Morning with Local RSPB Group
3 Green Sandpipers Teal Hide
16 Common Tern on the flash
Tufted Duck with Ducklings from Horrocks Hide
2 swimming Lapwings from the Newly Built Hide sorry forgot its name
3 Buzzard
and lots of water so nothing to help waders drop in :
and John Tymon nice to see you John

Oh and at the burger van 1 Lesser Canada Goose badly limping
and 1 Muscovey Duck


Cheers Jimmy

Late news for Tuesday 28th July

Juvenile Hobby in front of Ramsdales Hide.

Info thanks to Charlie Owen/Barry Hulme

Late news for yesterday, 31st July:

4 Dunlin flew south at 6:30am, no chance of landing due to high water levels.
3 Green Sandpiper from Teal Scrape
16 Common Terns

Info thanks to Barry Hulme

4 - 5pm

Water levels high after recent deluges
Main things of note:

6 Common Terns - Horrock's Hide
1 Green Sandpiper - Teal Hide

Green Lane - 8-9.00pm

Adult hobby flew in low from south, over the Flash, west along the rucks before disappearing over Plank Lane.

20+ sand martins
5 common terns
a reed warbler collecting food
200+ bh gulls
20+lbb gulls
3 common gulls

Tony Coatsworth wrote:

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saturday am

2 Green Sandpiper Teal Hide
2 or 3 Common Tern over main lake
Otherwise pretty quiet

Mixed flock of young Blue Tits, Great Tits, LT Tits and Willow Tits in Sycamores by canal

Collared Dove by Visitor Centre

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plus juv redshank
and loads of young warblers,chiff chaff,blackcap,whitethroat,sedge,reed,
plenty of stuff at the west end

saturday am

2 Green Sandpiper Teal Hide
2 or 3 Common Tern over main lake
Otherwise pretty quiet

Mixed flock of young Blue Tits, Great Tits, LT Tits and Willow Tits in Sycamores by canal

Collared Dove by Visitor Centre

this aft
common tern-16
green sand-2
common sand-2
oystercatcher-1
mute swan-83mainly at the west end
3 pair of great crested grebe with young
kestrel
loads of lappys
cormorant
not many people

24th July.

14 Common Terns present this morning.

Info thanks to Barry Hulme

JOHN TYMON wrote:

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Rob Thorpe wrote:

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Each to their own I suppose. Personally whenever I visit pennington, unless something decent has been reported, i'm expecting nothing good to be there (probably due to the regular coverage it gets). When I visit the Wigan Flashes on the other hand, I know how underwatched it is, therefore there's always that feeling that there could be something good around the next corner... There never is though

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supprisingly parts of penny are massively underwatched,go much behond the horrocks hide area and you could still find anything,i quite often when i get the chance go moochin on the south bank or most times i go to the west end,and very few times i bump into any birders,so even for me i am always optimistic that i could see anything around the corner.I always avoid horrocks hide until ive done a mooch round,otherwise the optimism dissapears as the usual ,"you should have been here yesterday" routine comes inIts much better to do horrocks last and tell the regulars theres a pair of winchat at the west end or a bittern top of rammiesthen watch em fire out to see em

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Definitely agree there John. Although the spit throws up more than its fair share of good stuff I think its just because nobody does the out of the way bits. The blue winged teal 10 or so years ago - found at the west end, Arctic Redpoll on the rucks, Nightingale found down the path to the new Ramsdales hide before there was any real reason to go down there, Great Reed Warbler at Sorrowcow pond etc etc. Sometimes its easy to forget that there's a whole world of other bits to Pennington.

Rob Thorpe wrote:

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Mark Rigby wrote:

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140? 134?

I regularly get get over 140 birds at Castleshaw-but 120 of those are Canada Geese

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but that still leaves 20! Are you sure you get 140??

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But you haven't been reading my Castleshaw posts then Rob- 17 of the remaining 20 are Tufted Ducks

3 Blackwits flew West, one Redshank trying to land on the water in the middle of Rammies, 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 Kingfisher and 42 Mute Swans from Horrock's Hide this evening.

good news the great crested grebe that can be seen hourly mating on the stone at the front of horrocks hide-see Ians photo gallery!have finally got a chick,first one hatched today,these have been at it for 2 yearsand finally have got something to show for all that hard work

Greenshank flew over west (calling) at 06:35 this morning. Probably the Wigan Flashes bird just nipping over to see what all the fuss is about eh Rob

Info thanks to Barry Hulme

Rob Thorpe wrote:

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Each to their own I suppose. Personally whenever I visit pennington, unless something decent has been reported, i'm expecting nothing good to be there (probably due to the regular coverage it gets). When I visit the Wigan Flashes on the other hand, I know how underwatched it is, therefore there's always that feeling that there could be something good around the next corner... There never is though

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supprisingly parts of penny are massively underwatched,go much behond the horrocks hide area and you could still find anything,i quite often when i get the chance go moochin on the south bank or most times i go to the west end,and very few times i bump into any birders,so even for me i am always optimistic that i could see anything around the corner.I always avoid horrocks hide until ive done a mooch round,otherwise the optimism dissapears as the usual ,"you should have been here yesterday" routine comes inIts much better to do horrocks last and tell the regulars theres a pair of winchat at the west end or a bittern top of rammiesthen watch em fire out to see em

Mark Rigby wrote:

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140? 134?

I regularly get get over 140 birds at Castleshaw-but 120 of those are Canada Geese

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but that still leaves 20! Are you sure you get 140??

140? 134?

I regularly get get over 140 birds at Castleshaw-but 120 of those are Canada Geese

Is that not what you mean?

I can only wish. Mr Woosey, do you want to come out of GM retirement and give me a lift

Each to their own I suppose. Personally whenever I visit pennington, unless something decent has been reported, i'm expecting nothing good to be there (probably due to the regular coverage it gets). When I visit the Wigan Flashes on the other hand, I know how underwatched it is, therefore there's always that feeling that there could be something good around the next corner... There never is though

my 134 at Pennington last year was done in much less hours than you'll have spent at Wigan Flashes this year but that said, the latter site is much larger and perhaps has a bigger and better cross section of habitat. It really should do better and is perhaps one of the best sites in the county for the potential self-found addict. More intesive coverage by certain observers many years ago produced some outstanding birds and things should really be better now. It's a lot to get round in one go though, a full day of a job to cover really thoroughly, pity Mr.Woosey prefers woods now

Ian McKerchar wrote:

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Quite right Rob Any county site that can record over 140 species a year by individual observers

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140 species in how many hours ?
If someone could put the same number of hours in at Wigan then who knows...

Rob Thorpe wrote:

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They probably know the school holidays are starting, making Penni Flash a place to avoid (even more so than usual! )!

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Quite right Rob Any county site that can record over 140 species a year by individual observers must be avoided at all costs. Now, your Wigan Flashes attempt only needs an extra 23 species to be in contention. Easy peasy...

JOHN TYMON wrote:

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no sign of any green sands(seem to have gone to pie land

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They probably know the school holidays are starting, making Penni Flash a place to avoid (even more so than usual! )!

bit of movement today-no sign of any green sands(seem to have gone to pie land1 common sand(teal scrape) lots of swift,sand martin,house martin,swallow,over main flash,15 common terns mainly adults some going into winter dressand a strange bunch as they all seemed to favour the east bay under the car parkunusual for terns at the flash that.
plenty of young blackcap,reed warbler,long tailed tits,
good numbers of tufted duck-well over 200
9 little grebe
plus all the usual stuff