This morning 8:30am - 11:30am,

Goosander 10 off the car park, all female / 1st winter birds

Pochard 8 off the car park including 6 males

Pink-footed goose 90 over south

Redwing 70 over south west

Willow tit 3

Kingfisher 3

Black-headed gull with a metal Finnish ring ST70.852. 

Edit 03/11/2022: Regarding the Finnish ringed black-headed gull, unfortunately it appears that I'm missing a digit so it can only be narrowed down to two possibilities, both of which were ringed as chicks in Finland. The first is ST170852 ringed at Sipoo on 23/06/2020 or ST270852 ringed at Hyvinkää on 10/06/2009. It seems most likely that the bird is the Sipoo individual because the other bird hasn't been reported anywhere since it was ringed 13 years ago. Both these ringing locations are in southern Finland, approximately 1130 miles from the Flash. I'll be keeping a look out for the bird over the next few days in the hope that I can confirm the missing digit.

Adult/sub-adult Yellow-legged Gull roosted again this late afternoon.

Info thanks to Phil Rhodes

One of the first-winter Caspian Gulls from the other night (the less well advanced bird) roosted again this evening, along with a/the adult/sub-adult Yellow-legged Gull.

Info thanks to Phil Rhodes

14.45 to 16.30 dodging the showers around some of the hides.

Pengy's Hide - 2 adult Mute Swans with 4 juveniles now showing signs of white plumage.

                     3 female Wigeon, a Little Grebe & a single Grey Heron.

Bunting Hide - Usual crowd with a single Nuthatch dropping in, but the entertainment was provided by 2 rats chasing the squirrels off.

Teal Hide - 5 female redhead Goosander with a grey Heron on the far shore

Ramsdale's Hide - 2 Snipe, 3 Greenfinch, a Buzzard & a male Great Spotted Woodpecker.

Nice to meet Phil Rhodes in Ramsdale's Hide who picked out the Woodpecker & Greenfinch.

An entertaining evening tonight which did mean the gull roost, which appeared pretty decent in size, went uncounted for once!

2 first winter Caspian Gulls (very different looking beasts, one of which was initially picked up by Phil Rhodes)

A sub-adult Yellow-legged Gull, at one point in the same field of view as one of the Caspian Gulls

Pennington's largest gathering of Tufted Duck for many years as towards dusk some 463 accumulated in four main flocks (two large and two smaller) but seemingly all looking to come together as darkness fell

This morning's highlights.

Migration watch from Ramsdales Ruck from first light to just after 9am when birds pretty much stopped moving included:

9257 Woodpigeons S/SE in 109 flocks, including a largest flock of 640 and another of 500 (record shots of a couple of flocks attached)

519 Redwing S/SW in 32 flocks

40 Fieldfare SW in a single flock

11 Jays in singles heading over high south 

3 skeins of Pink-footed Geese, with 45 east at 08:50, 10 SE at 09:05 and 19 very low over SE at 09:45

Other birds around the flash included:

28 Little Grebes in three flocks, with flocks of 12 and 4 in Rammies and another 12 at the western end (images of most of the 12 in Rammies and those at the western end attached)

304 Tufted Duck

7 Goosander, with 6 redheads off the car park and a drake mid-flash early morning

6 Pochard (5 drakes) off the car park

2 female Goldeneye

18 Song Thrush around Ramsdales Ruck

This morning:

Tawny Owl calling along Sandy Lane

2 female Goosanders off the sailing club

7 Whooper Swans dropped in at 08:20 but flew off east at 08:45

53 Pink-footed Geese over east

2 female Goldeneye

Info thanks to Bill Harrison

This morning from about 8:30 - 10:30, 

Tufted duck 263

Pochard 8 off the car park (7 males, 1 female)

Little grebe 10

Teal 55 (All Ramsdales, I didn't check Tom Edmondson or Teal hide)

Snipe 3 

From first light this morning to 9am on Ramsdales Ruck (until the park run comes out in force), the following highlights:

Marsh Harrier appeared to come up off the spit area at first light, presumably having roosted, and circled over Rammies before heading off NE then veering strongly to the west.

1 Yellowhammer flew fairly high over east towards the spit then veered SE and off into the distance

34 Cormorant flew in from the west over the course of the morning in smaller groups

18 Pink-footed Geese over SE

1330 Woodpigeon over S/SE in 35 flocks

859 Redwing over S/SE in 34 flocks

269 Fieldfare over S/SE in 7 flocks

A big reduction in thrush numbers this morning, around 500 redwing and 100 fieldfare over south west between 8:15 - 10:00. Also today a dunlin flew west plus 7 pochard off the car park. 6 males and a female.

This morning, 1 Redshank and also c80 Redwing and c70 Fieldfare landing in the trees near the old East Bay Hide. 

Info thanks to Bill Harrison

Unfortunately I couldn't get to the flash until early afternoon so missed the spectacular thrush passage that was undoubtably happening in the morning if reports from other sites across the north west are anything to go off, but also I live half a mile directly south of the flash and there were thousands over the garden heading south this morning and all of these will have gone over the flash. 

However, between 12:30 - 15:30 at the flash I recorded many flocks of between 20 - 100 birds heading south or south west, most of them redwings, but also a fair proportion of fieldfares. In total probably 1500 birds while I was there this afternoon. Had I been there all morning I'm sure that the figure would have been in the tens of thousands. 

Also at the flash this afternoon three drake pochard off the car park.

First light this morning with fairly decent visibility first thing quickly turning into pretty thick fog around 08:15!

1 Yellowhammer very low over Ramsdales Ruck at first light, appeared to perhaps drop down onto the ruck but could not be refound

1464 Woodpigeons in 31 flocks heading SE in only a 40 minute period prior to 08:15 when fog prevented further counting!

28 Redwing E in 3 flocks although others could frustratingly be heard flying above the fog later on in the morning

1 Chiffchaff within a Long-tailed Tit flock along the shore of the ruck

212 Tufted Duck

15 Little Grebe in two flocks

Adult Mediterranean Gull in the evening’s roost.

A very quiet couple of hours mooching on the rucks. The best bird was a Green Sandpiper along the shoreline. Most of the ducks were confined to the west end, Rammies or the extreme eastern end due to a considerable number of yachts (see post on Pennington Flash Issues and Concerns) making them very difficult to count but a conservative 100+ of Tufted Duck, 2 Goldeneye and a guestimate of between 500-700 Coot.

46 Greylag Geese flew west at first light and another lone bird was with Canada geese by the sailing club, three Goosander dropped in at 08:35 (latter per Bill Harrison).

16 Redwings flew in from the west this evening with many dropping into the cover around Sorrowcow Pond presumably to roost. Decent gull roost but nothing of particular note within it and a Kingfisher was around the shore off Sorrowcow Farm

Second winter Caspian Gull roosted again this evening.

Info thanks to Phil Rhodes

Other birds this morning included 24 Pink-footed Geese over east at 07:30, 2 singing Cetti’s Warblers, 6 Chiffchaff and a marked increase in Goldcrest with at least 26 around Ramsdales Ruck and the ’nature reserve’ area.

Great White Egret flew in from high west at 07:30 this morning, landing on Ramsdales Scrape for 10 minutes before flying off probably east. No further sign around any of the other scrapes by 08:15

This evening an adult Mediterranean Gull roosted and yesterday a second winter Caspian Gull was present.

Info thanks to Phil Rhodes

Quick hour & half round the hides mid afternoon.

Pengy's Hide - 8 Wigeon at the top end amongst Gadwall & Mute Swans.

Bunting Hide - Usual Titmice & Reed Buntings with a single Willow Tit & Nuthatch happily spreading seed everywhere.

Teal Hide - 2 Snipe & singles of Grey Heron & Little Grebe.

Edmondson Hide - Little Grebe & a few Shoveler in eclipse plumage.

Also seen - Treecreeper, Long-Tailed Tit, Chaffinch, Bullfinch & another Little Grebe on Kidney Pond.

This evening:

A county record busting 1930 Coot

840 Lesser Black-backed Gulls

650 Herring Gulls

14 Great Black-backed Gulls

3600 Black-headed Gulls

1 Cetti's Warbler calling around the shore of Sorrowcow Farm

3 Chiffchaff around Sorrowcow Pond

160 Tufted Duck

This evening, an adult Mediterranean Gull roosted and a Common Sandpiper was present.

Info thanks to Phil Rhodes

This morning from first light to 9am, partially along with Bill Harrison:

1333 Pink-footed Geese east in 13 skeins, well south of the flash, probably originating from the Mersey area and a single skeins of 43 directly overhead going east originating from the Ribble. Two further skeins of 38 and 17 flew west, again well south of the flash, around 08:30-08:50.

Skein of 37 Greylag Geese circled and flew off SW

5 Wigeon dropped in early morning

9 Swallow

Barnacle Goose Yellow X61 was one of a moulting flock ringed at Knowsley Safari Park on 8/7/2022.

A single wigeon was in east bay this morning and a redshank was heard calling from the direction of the spit but not seen. Having been absent early morning the barnacle goose bearing the yellow ring X61 returned about 10am. About 15 swallows and 10 house martins were around the boat club, and 50 pink-footed geese flew over here.

50 pink-footed geese over Green Lane this morning, but the highlight was a barnacle goose with a yellow ring on it's left leg. It was flying around calling in the mist an drizzle, looking for a place to land. Eventually it decided on the spit and landed on the water about halfway along. At first it looked really wary and though it obviously wanted to come out of the water, any sudden movement from the nearby ducks and coots had it swimming away fast. Then it flew up and disappeared over the ruck and I thought it was gone, but it returned calling 5 minutes later before again heading off south until it was just a speck, but again it came back, landing on the water in almost exactly the same place halfway along the spit. Still it wouldn't come out of the water until it eventually flew to join a group of Canada geese in the middle of the flash, yet even now it kept it's distance from them and didn't seem happy. 

Wild birds from the Svalbard population carry yellow rings and although it's a little early for them to be in the UK, I did wonder if it might have been caught up somewhere with the pink-footed geese which are currently passing over us in huge numbers (10,000+ currently on the Ribble and many more heading over us east). Perhaps it had become disorientated in the mist and drizzle. 

Finally though the Canada's with their companion straggling behind swam towards the car park and eventually came ashore, the barnacle goose albeit reluctantly. Now I was able to get a photo of it's ring X61 and a little bit of internet research revealed that the bird was ringed in Knowsley in July this year. The Knowsley flock has been in that area for at least 20 years that I know of and currently numbers around 100 birds or more. Apparently over the past few days birds from that flock have been reported as far afield as Oxfordshire and Surrey! 

Single dunlin on the spit this morning, courtesy of Bill Harrison, also little egret and this evening 100 pink-footed geese flew east over Green Lane.

Two flocks of pink-footed geese over the flash this morning, 90 at 7:30am and another 60 at 8:30am, all moving east. Also this morning 15 greylags and a hobby hunting over my garden which is so close to the flash as to be likely the same bird that has been seen on several occasions over the past few days.

A first winter Mediterranean Gull roosted this evening, 60+ Pink-footed Geese flew east at 5:40pm and a Green Sandpiper was in Rammies.

Info thanks to Phil Rhodes

32 Pink-footed Geese over east at 07:55 this morning.

Info thanks to Bill Harrison

Isabel Hay wrote:

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Is this the end of Pennington Flash for birds?

---

You only have to look at Ian's post from this morning and your own experiences today to see that you can still see plenty of birds at Pennington Flash. To those lists I can add this morning 50+ sand martins which dropped in for 10 minutes around 9:30, and this evening from the boat club a few thousand gulls, mainly black-headed but also about 300 larger gulls, mainly lesser black-backs and herring gulls with a few great black-backs, but sadly no Caspian. Also this evening the wonderful spectacle of hundreds of jackdaws swirling around before roosting near Sorrowcow farm and another kingfisher.

Waders are the birds which suffer most at the flash in my opinion, there's almost no habitat for them especially with the spit now badly overgrown and water levels high at the moment. The boat club would probably be the best bet for an unusual wader at the moment but suffers from a lot of disturbance so you need to be there very early to have much hope. 

 

 

Isabel Hay wrote:

---

Is this the end of Pennington Flash for birds?

---

 No is the simple and emphatic answer Isabel. The place certainly needs some TLC and hopefully that will come but the birds are still there, you just might have to look a little harder these days 

10am to 12 midday on Ramsdales Ruck today saw some nice migration for the site:

1 juvenile Hobby circling quite high and occasionally catching insects before drifting off south

24 Buzzards, some of which were local birds but most spiralling high and moving through south

5 Sparrowhawks

224 Swallow south

46 House Martin south

87 Meadow Pipit over south, most quite high and many more not counted as only heard

38 Goldfinch over south in small flocks and occasional singles etc

434 Canada Geese by the sailing club

2 Greylag Geese

1 Common Sandpiper on the spit

14 Chiffchaff around the ruck

Resident Oystercatcher on the spit 

A single Dunlin was flying around the flash early this morning, whilst this evening an adult Mediterranean Gull and Common Sandpiper were present.

Info thanks to Barry Hulme and Phil Rhodes

This morning swallows were chasing a hobby over Mossley Hall farm,  a common sandpiper was on the spit and single green sandpiper in Teal hide. There are also a few snipe in various places and a kingfisher at Horrocks. 

Yesterday evening what is likely to be the same second winter Caspian gull as Saturday was on the flash when I arrived at 7pm but appeared to leave west at 7.30pm.

A second winter Caspian Gull was present yesterday evening from 7:30pm to 8pm then flew off west. Juvenile BlaCl-tailed Godwit roosted on the spit and both Common and Green Sandpipers present.

Info thanks to Phil Rhodes 

Late afternoon, juvenile Mediterranean gull at the boat club with a few hundred black-headed gulls, also ringed plover still there. Drake mandarin in partial eclipse off the main car park and common sandpiper and 2 snipe in Ramsdales. 

The ringed plover was still present early morning today at the boat club, also at least one swift over.

This morning:

1 Barnacle Goose with Canada geese.

1 Kestrel, 1 Sparrowhawk.

2 Green and 2 Common Sandpiper, 1 Oystercatcher 2 Snipe and 210 Lapwing.

2 Kingfisher.

1 Cettis and 1 Reed Warbler.

Does anyone know why the feeding station has been discontinued? 

Groundhog day at the flash this morning, ringed plover boat club, 2 green sandpipers Ramsdales (where the hide was still locked), 2 swifts over the ruck and common sandpiper on the spit. The only thing new was a greylag on the spit.

This afternoon a quick visit revealed much of the same as this morning except that a common sandpiper was new.

Regarding the ringed plover that has been around for a few days, I was wrong the other day, it's certainly not an adult non-breeding. I got a much better look at it today in good light, it's clearly a juvenile, though I'm still not convinced that it's the same bird that was there on 2nd September. It most likely is though I guess. Of interest, you can clearly see palmations between it's toes which potentially could make it something very much rarer, unfortunately they are the wrong toes though! Oh well, it's still a smart bird.

This morning,  great white egret seen very early by Barry Hulme but not subsequently.

Ringed plover boat club, 2 swifts over flash, yellow wagtail over ruck and 2 green sandpipers still Ramsdales. 

This morning 7am - 9am, hobby over Horrock's hide heading south and 3 green sandpipers still in Ramsdales.

This morning, a ringed plover at the boat club, also 3 green sandpipers and 5 snipe in Ramsdales.

Regarding the ringed plover, I'm pretty certain that it's a different bird to that seen on Friday. There are plumage differences, most notably the breast band is more complete on todays bird and it has a less prominent supercillium than the bird seen on Friday. I think Fridays bird was a juvenile, todays looks more like a non-breeding adult. In the photos attached, the bird with the sleeping dunlin is the Friday bird, all other photos are from today.