Yesterday on Neumann's 11 Black-tailed Godwit, 1 Great Egret, 2 Little Egret and 1 Green Sandpiper.

Curlew, Little ringed Plover and Peregrine on Ashtons (female Marsh Harrier there briefly on Monday)

Great White Egret on Neumann's yesterday and a juvenile Garganey.

Today 2 juvenile Garganey on Ashton's Flash 

Neumanns Flash: (Morning visit)

9 Avocets, 2 Lapwings, 1 Oystercatcher, 1 Little Grebe, 2 Great Crested Grebes, 6 Mute Swans,

11 Gadwall and 4 Tufted Ducks. A pair of Reed Warblers gave close views by Pods Hide.

A pair of Moorhens showed off their 7 tiny youngsters alongside the path to Pods Hide.

Ashtons Flash:

2 Avocets, 4 Lapwings, 1 Oystercatcher, 12 Gadwall and 2 male Reed Buntings.

Morning visit

Neumanns Flash: 1 Dunlin, 2 Avocets, 1 Water Rail, 4 Shelducks, 4 Tufted Ducks, 1 Buzzard,

1 Little Grebe, 2 Reed Warblers (Calling and showing briefly by Pods Hide), 4 Lapwings, 2m Reed Buntings,

8 Greylag Geese (1 pair with 4 pigeon sized goslings), 2 Gadwall and a female Mallard with a brood of 12

tiny ducklings.

Ashtons Flash: 6 Lapwings, 4 Gadwall, 4 Tufted Ducks, 1 Buzzard and 1 Shelduck.

A single greenshank on the flash early morning.  

Two Avocet on the flash mid morning, also drake Pintail and Redshank on Ashtons

Morning visit (Highlights)

Neumanns Flash :

1 pair of displaying Great Crested Grebes. 1f Goosander, 1 Buzzard, 16 Teal, 13 Tufted Ducks and 1 Shelduck.

Ashtons Flash:

1 Little Grebe.

Afternoon visit 13.00-15.00

Neumanns Flash:

2 adult Mediterranean together with 8 Common Gulls seen amongst a raft of gulls on the flash.

A very impressive gathering of 238 Wigeon, 8 Curlews, 18 Tufted Ducks, 16 Shovelers, 5 Shelducks

and a single drake Pintail. No sign of the Goldeneye pair seen last Thursday.

Ashtons Flash:

My highest ever count of Curlews here, 109 birds in total. As I was leaving a large number of Curlews

left Ashtons Flash and circled over the fields in Wincham.

10 Shovelers were noted on the pool at the Western end of the flash.

10.30-12.00

Neumanns Flash: 1m Pintail, 10 Tufted Ducks, 4 Shelducks, 4 Shovelers,1 Gadwall,

15 Wigeon, 4 adult Common Gulls and 3f Bullfinches.

Ashtons Flash: 12 Shovelers.

Also 4 Goldcrests were on the tall ivy covered trees in the NW corner of Neumanns,

and 8 Redwings were on bushes alongside the Haydn Pool.

Morning visit

Neumanns Flash :4 Shelducks and 4 Shovelers.

Surprisingly, apart from a few Mallard, the above were the only ducks on the flash, and there no geese, swans

or grebes at all.

There were plenty of gulls though, mainly Black-Headed, but also a few Common, Herring and Lesser-Black Backs too.

A flock of round 12 Redwings together with a few Blackbirds were feeding on Ivy berries in the copse at the NE corner of the flash.

A bit quiet at the Flashes, around midday, after walking over from Budworth Mere. Species seen 31, of note :-

Shoveler (4)
Wigeon (6)
Teal (21)
Tufted Duck (11)
Curlew (1)
Peregrine (1)
Cettis Warbler (1)
Nuthatch (1)
Linnet (2)
Reed Bunting (1)

Neumans Flash Lunchtime visit

The flash was 100% frozen over, the only avian life seen was a single Magpie eating the remains of a dead goose.

11.30-13.00

Neumanns Flash viewed from Pods Hide during heavy rain.

27 Teal, 1 Dunlin, 1 Grey Wagtail, 1 Water Rail, 1 Snipe, 2 Common Gulls, 4m Shovelers, 2 Tufted Ducks,

10 Wigeon, 1 Gadwall, 1 Grey Heron and 1 Cormorant.

Neumann's Flash Midday visit

1m+1f Ruff, 1 Dunlin, 1 Snipe, 200 Lapwings, 250+ Teal, 42 Shovelers, 2 Grey Herons, 1 Kestrel, 5 Common Gulls,

2 adult Herring Gulls, 1 3rd winter Great Black-backed Gull and 1 Cormorant.

Also amongst few feral geese was what appeared to be a Barnacle/Greylag hybrid, with a noticeably smaller size

compared to the Canadas and a light patch that covered the whole sides of the birds face.

Oddly only 6 Mallards were seen on the flash, plus a dead one close to the path leading to Pods Hide.

No Wigeon, Gadwall or Tufted Ducks were seen on the flash.

Neumanns Flash Afternoon visit

4 Ruff, 474 Lapwings, 1 Little Grebe, 1 Water Rail, 1 Grey Wagtail, 2 Cormorants, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Buzzard,

45 Wigeon, 16 Shovelers and 1 Common Gull. 70+ Teal flew in around 4pm together with the Wigeon.

Around 2pm 196 Greylag Geese, in 4 skeins, flew over heading North.

-- Edited by John Williams on Wednesday 5th of October 2022 06:53:02 PM

12.00-14.30

Neumanns Flash :

1 Curlew, 4 juvenile + 1 adult Ringed Plovers, 1 Little Ringed Plover, 2 Water Rails, 1 Common Gull, 2 Little Grebes and 710 Lapwings.

A Kestrel was on top of a pylon to the South of Ashtons Flash, whilst 250+ Starlings rested nearby.

80 Starlings were on wires near the Marsden entrance.

A very sickly looking Canada Goose was seen wobbling around the dried up area in the SW corner of Neumanns, the bird fell over a couple of

times and also staggered sideways at times. The goose was clearly determined to make it back to the main pool, but eventually just collapsed

onto an area of mud newly dampened by the rain.

Neumanns Flash 10.30-13.30

2 Black Tailed Godwits, 2 Little Ringed Plovers, 1 Snipe, 220 Lapwings, 8 Common Gulls,

1 Great Black Backed Gull, 1 Cormorant, 1 Raven, 3 Grey Herons and 2 juvenile Water Rails.

A Reed Warbler showed well amongst the cut reed area in front of Pods hide.

20+ House Martins flew low over the flash during a heavy shower. Curlew heard only.

The Great Black Back (A sub-adult, had it not been August I'd have logged it as a 3rd winter) was tucking in to what

looked like a freshly dead duck, watched closely by a pair of crows. Only when the big gull gave up on the meal and left did

the crows begin to dine. When the corvids had eaten their fill a couple of Moorhens arrived to finish off the leftovers, clearly

showing the pecking order here. The huge gull chose to rest amongst a group of Canada Geese rather than the smaller gulls,

and appeared comparable in size to some of the geese.

No sign of the eclipse Garganey, although large numbers of moulting ducks had gathered in a tightly packed group in the NE

corner of the flash, so the Garganey may have been amongst them.

12.30-14.30

Neumanns Flash :

1 juv. Goosander, 3 Black Tailed Godwits, 2 Common Gulls, 1 juv. +1 adult Shelducks and 1 Grey Heron.

220 Lapwings rested along the Northern shoreline, until flushed by a crow.

Midday visit

Neumanns Flash: 1 Avocet, 1 Little Egret and 4 Oystercatchers.

During the rain all 3 common species of hirundines flew low across the flash.

12 Summer plumaged Black-tailed Godwit on the flash earlier today + redshank, Little ringed Plover and a Common Tern.

Also Green Sandpiper yesterday and 7 Ringed Plover and a Dunlin on 5/7 

-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Thursday 7th of July 2022 05:56:38 PM

Good day on Neumann's with the following found by the patch regulars:-

2 Wood Sandpiper

1 Green Sandpiper

5 Black-tailed Godwit

1 Greenshank

2 Little ringed Plover

1 Common Snipe

1 Curlew

2 Common Tern 

10.00-12.00

Neumanns Flash :

6 Avocets (2 of which later moved across to Ashtons), also 2 half grown Oystercatcher youngsters with their parents.

All 3 common hirundine species plus numerous Swifts seen skimming across the surface of the flash.

Ashtons Flash :

4 tiny Lapwing chicks seen together, their parents appeared to have wandered quite a distance away.

1 Buzzard seen indulging in a display flight, thankfully well away from the baby Lapwings.

Midday visit

Neumanns Flash :

A pair of Oystercatchers with 2 dove sized youngsters that usually stayed very close to their parents, the adults have

had a tough few weeks keeping some very persistent crows at bay.

Also seen were 2 Great Crested Grebes, 6 Shelducks, 2m Shovelers, 1 Buzzard, 100+ Swifts and a group of 4 Ravens.

During a squall large numbers of hirundines skimmed across the flash, most of them were House Martins,

although a few Sand Martins were seen too. A female Mallard had 13 tiny ducklings in her care.

At one point a couple of Reed Warblers gave good close views alongside Pods Hide.

Ashtons Flash :

1 Dunlin, 1 Ringed Plover, 1 Redshank and 1 Avocet. Around a dozen House Martins were swooping over the West side pool.

A single tiny Lapwing chick was seen amongst a group of adults, who did not appear too concerned about the presence

of several Lesser Black Backed Gulls nearby.

Mid afternoon yesterday (12th) two Ringed Plover on the flash, Hobby hawking far end, good views of female Marsh Harrier and a brief view of Osprey