Houghton Green Flash, Winwick

Dunlin 1
Common sandpiper 1
Little ringed plover 2
Yellow wagtail 2 (m&f)
Gadwall 1

Houghton Green Flash, Winwick

Yellow wagtail 2 mm
Grey wagtail 2 m&f
White wagtail 1
Pied wagtail 5
Gadwall 4 (2 pairs)
Barn owl 1 pellet

Male grey wagtail

Houghton Green Flash, Winwick

Yellow wagtail 2 males
Little ringed plover 1
White wagtail 1
Shoveler 2 (pair)
Gadwall 4 (2 pairs)
Tufted duck 4 (2 pairs)

Houghton Green Flash, Winwick

Yellow wagtail 4 males
White wagtail 1
Shoveler 2
Gadwall 4
Swallow 1
Sand martin 5
Willow warbler 1
Little grebe 1

Houghton Green Flash, Winwick

Yellow wagtail 1 male
White wagtail 1
Grey wagtail 2
Pied wagtail 5
Little ringed plover 3
Swallow 1
Shoveler 2 (m&f)
Gadwall 4
Little grebe 1
Tufted duck 1 m

My earliest ever yellow wagtail in the UK, by three days.

Year: 185 (Yellow wagtail)

Yellow wagtail , with a grey wagtail in the background.

Grey wagtail.

Houghton Green Flash

Little Ringed Plover 1
Shoveler 4 (2 pairs)
Goldeneye 2 (m&f)
Wigeon 8
Teal 3
Mallard 10
Tufted Duck 4

Little Ringed Plover, Houghton Green Flash

A quick visit to Houghton Green Flash just before the thunderstorm produced my first little ringed plover of the year. Wigeon numbers are down to six birds, but they had been joined by a pair of gadwall, an adult little grebe and a pair of tuftted ducks. If water levels would remain as they are at least it would offer some hope of seeing some decent birds over the spring.

Year: 175 (Little Ringed Plover)

Houghton Green Flash, Winwick

Water levels are up at Houghton Green Flash at the moment, due to the heavy rain we have had over the winter. It's still a shadow of its former self, but at least it's possible to go with some hope of seeing something and today I even managed a year tick in the shape of six grey partridge! Not much variety on the water, but 40 wigeon were nice and about 20 mallard. I also flushed a couple of snipe and a buzzard flew over. Would it be naive to hope that the water levels might start to recover now? Probably.

Year: 163 (Grey Partridge)

You can see where the shoreline was last year, roughly at the point where the vegetation ends. I'm not actually sure whether this is an improvement or not, at least last year there was some mud for waders, but at the moment the water goes into the tall vegetation leaving virtually no shoreline for birds like redshank or little ringed plover etc. Still I'd rather see the water levels go up and the site recover over time, but we'll have to wait and see.

Houghton Green Flash, Winwick

Ringed plover 1
Yellow wagtail 1
Little grebe 1 adult

Houghton Green Flash

Ringed plover 1
Little ringed plover 4
Little grebe 1 adult
Yellow wagtail 2 juvs.

 Ringed and little ringed plovers.

Houghton Green Flash

Little ringed plover 4
Yellow wagtail 1
Little grebe 1 adult
Lapwing 10

Nearly gone. At least a metre lower than it was in spring. It still looks good for waders but disturbance is too great now that the flash is so small. Still, it might turn up a sandpiper or two over the next few months so I'll keep going......

Around the patches

I had a tour around my new local patches this evening, starting at Houghton Green Flash. This can pull in some great birds even in it's present poor state, e.g. sanderling last week, but when it's quiet it's really quiet, and today was certainly the latter. The only birds of note were two yellow wagtails.

Then I moved on to Lightshaw flash, just a 15 minute bike ride from home. The drake garganey was still present and the family party of shelduck was on the water.

Finally I came home via Pennington Flash. It's been a bit quiet recently, but even so there was a Cetti's warbler singing in Ramsdales where there was also a kingfisher. Two shelducks were at the western end on the mud.

Houghton Green Flash, Winwick

I was at the flash for 5:30am today and was delighted to find three summer plumage sanderling. The flash may be much reduced in size and hold only a fraction of its former birdlife, but the mud looks great for waders and it feels like anything could be seen there at the moment. Also today two male yellow wagtails and two grey partridge.

Houghton Green Flash, Winwick

A single ringed plover at the flash today, the 9th species of wader I've seen there in the past month or two, albeit most have been singles. Also today oystercatcher and yellow wagtail.

An oystercatcher with two chicks was on fields adjacent to Winwick road near Lane Ends on the way to the flash.

Houghton Green Flash, Winwick

Redshank and Yellow wagtail the only birds of note today.

This is common liverwort Marchantia polymorpha. The pale green "umbrellas" are the reproductive structures of the female plant called gametophores.The smaller, darker "umbrellas" are the male plants.

In this photo you can see the gametophores growing out of the female thalli (leaves).

Celery-leaved buttercup.

Houghton Green Flash, Winwick

A single dunlin was the highlight at the flash today.

Houghton Green Flash, Winwick

Following Saturdays male flava wagtail, there was a possible female blue-headed at the flash today. It's certainly got a very strikingly white supercillium. Also today a male yellow wagtail and a redshank.

Houghton Green Flash, Winwick

White wagtail 1 m
Yellow wagtail 1 m
Common sandpiper 1
Redshank 1

Houghton Green Flash, Winwick

Hobby 1
Dunlin 2
Redshank 1
Common sandpiper 1
Yellow wagtail 1

Houghton Green Flash, Winwick

Hobby 1
Shelduck 1 male
Common sandpiper 1
Redshank 1
Yellow wagtail 1 male