Drake Mandarin on canal near Plank Lane Marina 12 noon

Full circuit this morning, 8:30-11:30;

Mandarin 2, male and female at Plank lane marina, seen copulating

Great white egret 2

Little egret 3

Goosander 7

Goldeneye 15

Pochard 1 drake

The drake mandarin has been mainly at Plank lane marina but occasionally on the flash for at least two years. When it first arrived it had a purple ring but that must have dropped off because it's not had it for at least 18 months. I think that the male was most likely an escape from a collection, because of the ring but also because it will approach quite close when people start chucking bread. The female appeared at the beginning of September and has been much more sparodic in it's appearances, in fact before Thursday I hadn't seen it since the end of October. It doesn't have a leg ring and is much more wary, today it was the only duck that didn't swim towards a child with bread. I suspect that this is a wild bred bird from some local population.

Great Egret spotted at 3pm on the lake

Mid to late afternoon today:

5 drake Pochard at the western end (one was in Ramsdales early on but moved across towards dusk)

1 drake Mandarin in Ramsdales displaying to a pair of Mallard

23 Goldeneye at dusk

3 Great White Egrets with two on Ramsdales Scrape and one at the western end

1 Little Egrets on Ramsdales Scrape close to dusk

3090 Herring Gulls

114 Great Black-backed Gulls

1 adult Yellow-legged Gull

Three Woodcocks on the south side at first light this morning.

Info thanks to Bill Harrison

This late afternoon:

5 drake Pochard at the western end

26 Goldeneye

1 Little Egret in Ramsdales

1 Great White Egret flew across the length of the flash and dropped into the western end

An excellent gull roost (positionally as they were all just off Sorrow Cow) but with worsening rain I left 15 minutes before dusk and gulls were still piling in, though nothing scarce/rare was picked out before that

A Little Egret flew low over Pennington Hall Park late morning, heading towards Pennington Flash

3 Great White Egrets and a Little Egret in Ramsdales at 4:20pm today

Info thanks to Phil Rhodes

A couple of hours this afternoon,

presumed Siberian chiffchaff calling, see below.

Great white egret 1 in Ramsdales reedbed

Little egret 2

Pochard 5 inc. 4 males

Siskin 2

The presumed Siberian chiffchaff tristis was with a flock of long-tailed tits on the ruck near to the 5-bar metal gate just west of the leaning posts, where you can get a good view of Ramsdales reedbed. I initially had a very brief view of a chiffchaff with a distinct pale supercilium in a birch tree. It then flew over my head and landed in a tree 3m behind me on the ruck, but unfortunately I was looking right into the bright sun, so I could get no colouration on the bird. It was just a tail-pumping silhouette. The bird called twice, a bullfinch like call quite unlike a common chiffchaff collybita. Then it was gone, it flew over the pond and into the trees. I didn't see it again. I'm saying presumed rather than definite just because I didn't see it as well as I would like and the call doesn't completely rule out other races of chiffchaff, though how likely they are to be seen in the UK I couldn't say. Perhaps rarer than tristis! 

Over the past four or five winters I've spent a lot of time at the sewage works at Martin Mere watching and listening to the several tristis that over winter there. I have no doubt that what I heard was this race.

 

This morning 1 x Chiffchaff bottom of the Ruck, 12 x Goosander, 1 x Goldeneye, 7 x Siskin, 2 x Kingfisher, 5 x Little Egret

Almost up to dusk today:

14 Goldeneye

4 drake Pochard

Gull roost poor especially by recent standards

No egrets!

Ian McKerchar wrote:

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Mid-afternoon up to dusk today:

14 Goldeneye

20 Little Egrets, nearly all on the edge of Ramsdales Scrape at one brief point before heading off one or two at a time to roost

6 Great White Egrets

Bittern flew across Ramsdales into the reedbed at around 3:30pm (from the direction of the ‘nature reserve’), for one brief second with three other ’herons’ in the same field of view

2860 Herring Gulls in the roost

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Also, a leucistic adult Herring Gull at dusk (and long distance), with fairly normal looking argenteus mantle colour, slightly paler looking wing coverts and very faded darker on the very outer primaries only visible at as high a magnification as the light would allow and fortuitously as the bird very kindly wing flapped at one point but whilst Phil and I always thought the bird looked like a Herring Gull it still gave a few brief seconds of hope for an Iceland Gull!

 

 

 

Today,

Ring ouzel 1 1st winter. Possibly the most surprising bird of the year for me, it was down on the ruck, between the footbridge over the canal and trees about 200m west. It was very vocal, which is what attracted my attention to it, and quite mobile flying around a circuit which included trees on both sides of the canal. I'm assuming that on such a late date the northerly winds have brought this bird from northern Europe rather than in being a late UK bird. This is the latest ring ouzel I have seen in the UK by over a month and a first for Pennington Flash for me. Photos attached.

Fieldfare 8 on the ruck, though not with the ring ouzel.

Great white egret 5

Little egret 10+

Pochard 8

Goosander 15

Goldeneye 10

 

From 10pm.
Similar sightings to Colin Davies with additions of -
Water rail - 1 Infront of Horrock hide .
Spit-
Lapwings - 6 .
Oystercatcher 2.
Main lake -
Kingfisher -1 ( across).
Gooseanders several ( no count).
Lots of Cormorant.
Several Grey heron.
Ruck-
Stonechat - 1f.
Meadow pipit -15.
Redwing - approximately 40 .
Charlie Owen hide -
Shoveler duck - 22.

Around midday today,

Great white egret 6+ (five together in Ramsdales and one at the western end)

Little egret 8+

Goldeneye 5 including one male

Goosander 19 including five males

 

This morning, 

At least 6 great white egrets, 8 little egrets, 2 shelduck and 5 goldeneye.

 

Late afternoon today up to dusk:

Drake Mandarin along the southern shore of the ruck

A pair of Wigeon

At least one drake Pochard

12 Goldeneye, including one adult drake

11 Goosanders, also including one drake

3 Great White Egrets and at least 5 Little Egrets

Noticeable decrease in Great Black-backed Gull numbers in the gull roost, which in itself was a decent size, but also a noticeable increase in argentatus Herring Gull numbers too

Cetti's Warbler around the shoreline bushes by Sorrow Cow Pond

Highlights of a wander around this morning: 3 Great White Egrets together on Pengys, 8 Little Egrets together near the Fox Scrape, 1 Water Rail (heard only). 2 Stonechat and a Meadow Pipit on the ruck.

Today 8:15am - 10:30 & 14:30 - 16:45;

The egret bonanza goes from strength to strength. 

Great white egret 7 (4 in Ramsdales, 1 Tom Edmondson hide, 1 east bay reed bed and 1 at the western end. The first 6 were seen within minutes of each other, the 7th was in it's usual place at the western end about 15 minutes later and I see no reason to assume that it was one of the six).

Little egret 14 a new record count at the flash for me.

Pochard 2

Goldeneye 2 including a nice adult male, my first of the winter.

Mediterranean gull 1 adult in the roost, apparently a different bird to that which has been seen recently.

Sadly no hawfinches passing over the ruck for me this morning, in fact a very quiet passage with no woodpigeons, thrushes or pipits seen or heard. I was a bit late though, probably all passed over before 8:30.

 

This late afternoon up to dusk:

110 Pink-footed Geese over W/SW at 16:17

22 Goosanders at the western end

2 Great White Egrets, one western end and one in Ramsdales

14 Little Egrets close to dusk, with 9 together at the western end and 5 together in Ramsdales; photos below taken seconds apart

262 Great Black-backed Gulls, though again most flew off SW before dusk

Apparent adult Lesser Black-backed x Herring Gull hybrid in the roost

5th November 2024. Full circuit. Sightings included: Great White Egret (1) - at western end Little Egret (3) Grey Heron (5) Kingfisher (2) Goosander (2) Gadwall (30) Pochard (2) Teal (60) Shoveler (12) Great Crested Grebe (25) Little Grebe (2) Grey Wagtail (1) Water Rail (1) - heard Kestrel (1) Oystercatcher (2) Lapwing (2) Cormorant (50) Jay (1) Dunnock (2) Mistle Thrush (1) Goldfinch (10) Long Tailed Tit (7) Lesser Black-Backed Gull (3)

-- Edited by Steve Judge on Tuesday 5th of November 2024 04:36:53 PM

This late afternoon:

70 Pink-footed Geese over west at 16:43

3 Pochard

15 Goosanders

2 Great White Egrets (one in Ramsdales and one at the western end)

3 Little Egrets

First winter Caspian Gull in the gull roost

 

This morning from first light:

Adult Whooper Swan, flew off SW early morning

130 Pink-footed Geese east at 08:21

1 Great White Egret around Ramsdales

3+ Little Egrets

2+ Water Rails calling from Ramsdales Reedbed

19+ Meadow Pipits feeding on the ruck

1609 Redwings mainly E/NE in 42 flocks up to 08:40

3814 Fieldfares E/SE in 49 flocks up to 08:30, main movement between 07:45 and 08:15

Mistle Thrush singing from the Sorrow Cow area early morning

400 Starlings NW across the flash in one flock at 07:20

 

40 cormorants at least from horrocks hide