Having a tip off from birding mate Malc Curtin I popped down to Sandbach Flashes late afternoon as I was heading in that general direction shopping anyway! After checking Pumphouse Flash without any luck I turned my attention to Hancock's Flood across the road. My first scan reavealed nothing but on my second pass I found two small waders on the far shoreline. Immediately it was obvious that they were Little Ringed Plovers which showed beautifully in the scope and the sunshine. I don't know if two had been seen earlier on Pumphouse or not, but there were now teo on the flood.

From the Sandbach Flashes Grapevine:

Glaucous Gull on Pumphouse Flash early afternoon (poss 2nd year bird & if so it's a new one!)

Nipped over to Elton Hall Flash when reports of a Glaucous Gull came out on the RBA Pager. Luckily it's not very far from me, equidistant to here or Marbury CP in fact so it didn't take long to get there. Going down to the watchpoint saw not a single birder there but a quick scan revealed the juvenile Glaucous Gull still to be on the water off the spit. The bird was a real beast, huge but pretty dark overall, for a white-winger that is! After taking a few record shots I was looking at the camera and then looked up to find it flying off. I had managed to see it by about 3 minutes, real skin-of-the-teeth stuff, and despite a short wait it didn't return.

As I was heading to a mill in Wheelock to buy more garden bird food I decided to drop into Sandbach Flashes for the morning, but where to go? With a heap of gulls at the moment on Maw Green Tip I decided that that side would be my best bet and that turned out to be a fantastic decision.

After a bit of birding around Groby Flash I decided to head over to Railway Flash which is used as a bathing pool by the gulls. On my first scan it wasn't a gull that caught my attention but a Great White Egret. Up to 2 had been reported in the general area, but mainly at Elton Hall Flash & Pumphouse Flash so I hadn't expected this at all and was well chuffed with my find. I managed a few distant shots, so if a rarity form is needed I've got proof! Gulls were everywhere and finally I found a less common one on the flash - an adult Yellow-legged Gull, nice but not the white-winger that I had hoped for. Many argentatus Herring Gulls were seen along with Herring Gulls, Lesser Black-backed and Great Black-backed Gulls and Black-headed Gulls, birds seemingly everywhere I looked, on the flash, on fields behind and over Maw Green Tip. Eventually I headed off and saw a smaller group of gulls in a field opposite, behind Oak Tree Flash, and as they took to the air one stood out as a large, totally pale bird. As they landed I got the scope on it and found that it was a large juvenile/first-winter Iceland Gull, bingo I managed quite a few digiscoped shots of it before it eventually flew onto Oak Tree Flash for a bathe, giving a restricted view, so I decided it was time to leave. I texted the news to two of the patch lads and put it out on RBA, so hopefully others had a chance to visit. Previously an adult Iceland Gull was seen on the tip but this juvenile is a new bird, so an extra reason to be pleased.

I drove the short distance to Elton Hall Flash in case any patch watchers were there but no-one was, as usual Tree Sparrows were easily seen in the hedgerows here, an easy yeartick! The Salt Pan, Pumphouse Flash and Hancock's Floods were all checked but nothing out of the ordinary was seen extra. Unfortunately it was then time to get the bird seed and head home, but it had been a fantastic visit, not prompted by any bird info system, just checking out a good area and finding some good birds! I hope this year continues in this vein

 

Had a text to say there was a juvenile Glaucous Gull on Railway Flash at 1.15pm (per D.Robinson, thanks).

11.30-13.30

Elton Hall Flash

1 Great White Egret showing well close to the viewing area.

Also here, 2f Goosanders, 2 Green Sandpipers. 2 Grey Herons, 5 Snipe, 1 Buzzard and a pair of Little Grebes.

A Cormorant caught a large Perch, which it really struggled with, but eventually managed to devour.

Pumphouse Flash

Amongst the gull roost, 4 Great Black Backs, and a resplendent adult Yellow Legged. 1 Great Crested Grebe.

A Buzzard flushed all the gulls off the land by flying fast and low across the field.Every time the gulls started to wander back onto the grass, the Buzzard took to the air again,

the gulls shot back into the water, then the raptor would land just a few feet further on. This certainly gave the impression that the Buzzard was on the lookout for weak

or sick gulls.

Great White Egret seen off the train going south to Shrewsbury at 0800  this morning .. Don't really know the area but it was on the flash closest to the trainline..

Thanks for the update guys.

Hi Mark, The Sabines Gull was only seen for 10 minutes around 10:00 this morning. I don't believe it's been seen since, if, indeed, it was one in the first place. Just thought I'd save you a trip

A Great White Egret was found this morning on Hancock's Flood by Andy Goodwin (info thanks to Ian Barber).

Hancock's Flood is the flooded field on the same side as Elton Hall Flash but just a little further along the road, opposite Pumphouse Flash.

After work visit this afternoon to Elton Hall Flash. Nice to see John Tymon, Jonathan Platt, and Joel Tragon.

- Whiskered Tern 2, a Lifer for me, and they were showing well when I arrived. One perched up on a post in the pool, the other flying around. Almost a lazy flight but then a split second turn of acrobatics. There was one point when both birds were repeatedly diving into the water.
I've included some images that have been cropped as my bridge camera isn't equipped to deal with Tern flight but they do capture some decent features.

Popped down as soon as I got the news, managed to get there before work to see the two Whiskered Terns, as John says, over Elton Hall Flash. The birds were showing very well from the viewpoint, for mostly local patchers when I was there. A new bird for the Sandbach Patch List, well found by Jan Jones who visited this morning to look for Black Terns! A great reward again 

In case anyone want to head there who doesn't know where it is but has Satnav the postcode for Elton Hall Farm (just over the road) is CW11 3QY 

Doc Brewster wrote:

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The Wood Warbler was showing well this morning on Red Lane, near Watch Lane Flash, at the site of the former Red Lane Tip. It was in partial song and contact calling. At one point it flew distantly over the fields opposite its favoured area and so could be said to be mobile! Good to meet lots of folk down there from the Sandbach & Marbury Patches, thanks to Jan Jones the finder

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 Amazingly this patch scores again this morning with a male Redstart found opposite Maw Green Tip along the footpath behind Mablins Lane Primary school 

A Wood Warbler was found on Red Lane Tip today, a really rare bird for the Sandbach Flashes recording area (per Ian Barber, cheers).

As a quick diversion from a shopping trip I nipped down to the flashes this afternoon.

It needed two visits to Hancock's Floods to get my target bird - Little Ringed Plover, with two present. With little or no wader habitat at Newchurch Common I need other local sites for certain species! A Yellow Wagtail showed well on the fringes of the flood pools too along with a White Wagtail and a few Pied Wagtails. Another White Wagtail and a few more Pied Wagtails were by Pumphouse Pool. A male Blackcap showed well by the road on the floods side, singing away too.

On Elton Hall Flash were 9 Black-tailed Godwits and a Dunlin. At least 9 Swallows and 8 Sand Martins flew over whilst I was there. Other common birds here were round the feeders, such as Tree Sparrows and Great Spotted Woodpecker.

Sunday, with Simon Gough, and nice to meet the Wigan birder who stuck with us for a while that made for good company!

Last minute decision to try for the adult Glaucous Gull but it had flown off before we got there, but an interesting few hours nonetheless and the 3 of us had a near miss with a giddy herd of dairy Fresian's!
We dipped on the Long-eared Owls too.

100's and 100's of Gulls on some of the flashes and especially around the tip, what a sight when the Buzzards put them up a few times. Herring, Lesser Black-backed, a few Great Black-backed, a few Common, and lots of Black-headed.

Other birds of note...
Black-tailed Godwit 5
Redshank 1
Wigeon in high numbers
Teal also numerous
Pintail 2 (1m 1f)
Shoveler
Tufted Duck
Shelduck
Little Grebe 1
Grey Heron 1
Common Buzzard 3 together but numerous singles seen
Kestrel 1
Grey Wagtail 1 flew over the car as we parked up
Redwing and Fieldfare few flocks around the farmland area
Tree Sparrow at least 3 around the feeders
Goldfinch
Greenfinch
Reed Bunting 1 showed briefly after calling near the reeds towards the tip
Chiffchaff 1 singing in the trees near the car

Another report for info:

A Kittiwake was on Elton Hall Flash and then flew off NW. An adult Caspian Gull was on Pumphouse Flashand aat the same time the adult Glaucous Gull was again on Elton Hall Flash (all per D.Robinson).

Just for info:

There was an adult Yellow-legged Gull on Pumphouse Flash early am, which then flew off towards Maw Green Tip. A Chiffchaff was nearby. On Elton hall Flash there were 4 Black-tailed Godwits, 3 Redshank, a male Ruff and 2 Pintail. A Long-eared Owl was in hedges at Groby Flash, also here c.20 Snipe and a calling Water Rail. No sign of the Scaup on Railway Flash.  (per Greg Baker)

And I hear that Dave Robinson had a second juvenile & knowing Dave I am sure that was kosher, so a two bird theory that in this case is true So I think the consensus is an adult Glaucous, 1 juvenile Glaucous and a hybrid/ pale Herring Gull type (the bird in the facebook pictures). I pity those that missed the stonking adult, well done on a great picture of her, Patrick 

Gulls, eh?! You either love em or hate em!

-- Edited by Doc Brewster on Friday 11th of March 2016 06:55:58 AM

Things progressing all the time. Experts, much more knowledgable than me, have now looked at the pictures & pronounced that the claimed juv Glaucous photographed was indeed a pale Herring Gull or at best a hybrid. I have only just looked on a computer screen and agree that the bill colouration looks wrong for Glaucous Gull but the pic is very pixellated. Surrounding immature Herring Gulls do look very pale too so perhaps the light was tricky to assess mantle colour accurately?

 

-- Edited by Doc Brewster on Thursday 10th of March 2016 09:11:07 PM

Doc,

There were actually 3 different birds there today across Pumphouse Flash and Hancocks Flood. The ringed adult (awaiting further details) and 2 juveniles. Sandbach getting a bit of a purple patch for white wingers

 

Cheers Patrick, I will pass that on to the Sandbach Patch groups as (unbelievably) some of them aren't on here 

Sorry Patrick, no info on that from Robbo. Amazing Pumphouse has had both Iceland & Glaucous Gulls in adult plumage this winter, I see adult ones so rarely too.

Late afternoon an adult Glaucous Gull was on Pumphouse Flash before fying off in the direction of Maw Green Tip and Railway Flash (per D.Robinson).