A wonderfully dismal day today and I set off for the flash full of
anticipation, because this type of weather at this time of year can be very
productive, and so it proved again. It was pouring down most of the morning
but when I arrived at the benches on the south side I scanned the Spit and
immediately spotted an avocet. This was a fantastic start, only the second
avocet I have ever seen at the flash. I watched it for a bit and had a chat to
Bill for a while and then left him and headed for Horrock's hide.
On arrival at the hide I found the bird a little closer but still quite
distant in the murk and rain, too far for decent photographs, and
frustratingly it was partially hidden by the tall vegetation on the Spit. This
should have been cut weeks ago, but you know how it is, the council make a big
deal about calling the flash a nature reserve, thereby ticking a box, and they
even have the cheek to call the new café "The Hide", but then allow the real
hides to fall into disrepair and remain closed for weeks, and do no
maintenance what-so-ever on the nature reserve, they just allow it to get
overgrown and degraded whilst at the same time inviting more and more people
to visit to put pressure on the wildlife. However.....
I left the hide for a few minutes and set my scope up on the shore of the
flash, in Sabine's bay and from here I had a less obstructed view of the Spit.
The avocet was now on the move but walking away from me. Suddenly I noticed
that there were two other waders behind, a black-tailed godwit and amazingly a
ruff! These days ruff is even rarer than avocet in Greater Manchester terms
and this was also only my second ever at the flash. For a few minutes I even
had them all in the same scope view, along with an oystercatcher and little
ringed plover. A real wader fest at the flash!
After a quick look around the other hides I returned to Horrock's to find the avocet much closer, and the weather if anything even worse.
It had a couple of attempts at leaving this morning but thought better
of it, the weather really was bad.
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