Intended initially just about the 'spikes' on the buoys and more the potential underlying reason behind them, this really shouldn't turn into a thread criticising the site as a whole, not least it's the wrong thread but more so, I think we're missing the point somewhat.

Yes, the site has changed over the years (as they all do), some for the worse but also some for the better. Yes the site is in habitat degradation as a whole and desperate need of monetary and knowledgable input but so are many others too. I know of very few sites which are not in some sort of negative threat from one thing or another and very rarely are such public sites given the environmental and conservational attention they deserve but that's no reason to give up on them, that's the easy option. 

Its been c44 years since my first birding visit there and I still genuinely enjoy visiting as much as I ever have. I remain involved in the Pennington Flash Partnership Meetings, I remain probably the only birder regularly making and submitting detailed records for the site (breeding and otherwise) and I still find I'm continuously learning about this ever changing place. Yes, I look back with rose-tinted glasses from time to time and yearn for some of the 'old days' but I also enjoy birds and birding events I never thought I'd see at the flash and revel in some of the more positive changes (look no further than the beauty of Ramsdales Ruck at the moment). I feel I have to defend the place because frankly, I love it! It has, over those years, given me so much joy, so many good birds, good memories and good friends and I'm passionate about doing as much as I can to assist getting the site to where it should be, by whatever means.

I have previously been given certain assurances about the flash from 'the powers that be' and some future plans look very positive but whilst I'm sceptical that they will ever come to fruition, or at least in a time frame before things become really critical and the time/money required to carry out necessary work just too much (not too far away?) I owe it to the site to try my very best to assist that to happen in whatever way possible and it would be great if, when the time is right or necessary, other birders would do similar.

We're a small county with a once pretty close knit community of birders and the potential of our unified influence and input into sites within our county should not be underestimated. After all, it's easy to be negative about these things, find fault, remonstrate and ultimately, do nothing but if we all do that, well where would we all go birding for one thing but more importantly, where will our birds go, the creatures which give us so much joy? Or, do my rose-tinted glasses need cleaning and my positive outlook a good talking to...

Either way, this thread has raised a couple of good points for me which I will take forward into my next round with those 'powers that be'.

Yes I agree regarding the lack of birders there is a lot more to it, but I think the lack of birds due to the poor habitat doesn't help. The number of times a mother brings her kids into Horrock's while I'm there to look at the birds and there's just nothing to look at. They always leave disappointed. A visit to Horrock's hide does nothing to entice youngsters to take up birding, probably quite the opposite. 

Anyway, I'm just back from another quick visit, and right on cue birds on the buoys, including one gull doing a spot of "gardening".

I don't fully agree with your comments regarding the reasons why there are so few 'birders' at the flash these days Colin, not it being down to mainly habitat and viewing issues anyway (which I agree may contribute). Whilst there can be no argument about the blatant and disgraceful degradation of the site, the issues of so few actual birders is one of a much larger cause, beyond the scope of this thread and too deep to go into here but it is certainly county wide (if not way beyond). There are many previously very productive sites in the county with habitat remaining so to this day that receive virtually no attention at all from birders these days! Whilst social media etc can often give the appearance of lots of active birders that doesn't always seem to transfer to being actually active 'out in the field' either. From that perspective it is perhaps more alarming to me not the apparent reduction in active birders but more so the seemingly complete lack of keen young birders.

Maybe my outlook is slightly different at the flash but whilst I can see all the negatives I still find many positives which keep me going there and enjoying the place, plus I try not to get too frustrated about it .

I've also seen common terns on the buoys recently, plus a great black-back once. I don't know how stiff those spikes are, they look as if they're blowing in the wind. I expect 1) the birds to pretty soon learn that they can quite comfortably sit on them and just ignore them, in fact they may even help the birds avoid slipping off, and/or 2) if the materials used are anything like normal quality these days, the spikes will fall off next time it rains and they'll wash up on the spit one day soon.

It's just symbolic of the way things are these days. People talk a good talk about conserving wildlife but the majority then do all they can to destroy it or move it on. Everybody wants bees in the garden but nobody wants a bees nest. Pennington Flash is supposed to be a National Nature Reserve (I don't know how I can say that with a straight face), but nature is the last thing that is considered at the flash. Most people think it's a great place for wildlife based on the Canada geese, mallards and coots on the car park.

Almost as alarming to me is the fact that I so rarely see other birders there. Of course there are a small and dedicated (and ageing) few who normally go either at dawn or dusk, but I often go during the day as well and all of the hides are usually empty whichever day of the week or weekend I go. Why is this the case? In my view it's because the habitat has been allowed to deteriorate to a state which is very poor and more worryingly probably virtually irreversible. Any birders visiting Horrock's hide today will find an empty hide and see a handful of coots, a few mute swans, a few mallards, a Canada goose and some cormorants on the spit, all miles away at the end. Despite the sterling work of the volunteers in spring, most of the spit is again completely overgrown with willow scrub and the bits that can be used by birds are just a few bits of stone, partially hidden from the hide by the scrub, on the very end of the spit or on the edges, and even these are all completely covered when water levels (frequently) rise. Meanwhile Ramsdales hide is hardly worth a visit because you can barely see anything for the reeds in front of the hide and the Teal (Charlie Owen) hide looks out onto a sea of New Zealand pygmy weed which has almost completely choked the water. Apart from year ticking willow tit there is no incentive for any birders to visit the flash and everybody just waits for the (fool) hardy few to find such rare or scarce birds that they may find interesting. I honestly think that there are regularly periods of two or three consecutive days when no birders visit Pennington Flash.

The whole of the National Nature Reserve needs some serious habitat management work carried out by skilled rangers and led by people who know what they're doing. It's not good enough to rely on volunteers, who of course do a great job but who like most birders are also ageing. Make it worthwhile for birders to sit and wait in Horrock's. At the moment it's almost pointless.

Probably the greatest spectacle of all at the flash is the gull roost. Whether the spikes on the buoys work or not, the intention is clear, they are there to try to stop the gulls from landing on them.  It's just a further attempt, knowingly or unknowingly, to erode the value of the flash to wildlife. Next thing we'll have gull scarers going off at dusk.

Such a shame that the Leigh and Lowton Sailing Club at Pennington Flash should see fit to embellish their shiny new buoys around the waters of the National Nature Farce...I mean Reserve, with resplendent plastic 'spikes' to prevent those nasty gulls and terns from resting on them. 

God forbid their horrendous pooing (the gulls and terns I mean) might actually make the large numbers on them ever so slightly difficult to discern (as if!) causing sailors to plough into them or worse, get lost on their voyages around the clearly navigationally difficult waters. Perhaps the sight of their highly offensive guano as they whizz past is enough to make even the saltiest sailor heave (ho)? Hopefully they don't actually cite 'health and safety' reasons though, when all the many thousands of creatures above, on and in the flash do is continuously crap into it anyway, yet it remains good enough to swim in.

Do those dirty little, ever crapping, creatures disfiguring those lovely shiny orange objects with their massive white shits really deserve this, particularly on a National Nature Farce...sorry, I mean Reserve (there I go again)?

That these avian turd making machines have happily utilised the sailing club's buoys throughout both parties very long existence at the flash with no previous cause for deterrent, makes it even more puzzling that only now, their 'persil white' excrement is considered so heinous that five inch long plastic spikes are called for.

Either way, it didn't really seem to deter this particular adult Common Tern tonight (see image below) but at least the indignant beast had the common sense and good grace not to take a gigantic dump on it too.