1pm-3pm,carrion crow ,song thrush, blackbird, woodpigeon, chaffinch,goldfinch ,coal tit ,great tit, magpie,blue tit,long tailed tit ,reed bunting, jay,robin,skylark high singing, meadow pipit, wren, dunnock ,stonechat male in same field as reported previously,.Bryn marsh viewpoint gave gadwall,coot,tufted duck,mallard and kingfisher obligingly gave a great view

-- Edited by David Hughes on Wednesday 16th of March 2022 03:27:40 PM

-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Wednesday 16th of March 2022 04:34:02 PM

Midday mooch,of note 1 chiffchaff singing, 1 seen,goldeneye m/f 10,long tailed tit pair gathering fibres for nesting,1 buzzard over 4 great crested grebe.

Pearson's Flash: 3 Little Egrets, one flying off. My first at the flashes. 1m Wigeon, Goldeneyes, Teals, 2 Pochard, 2 Shoveler. 

Scotsman's Flash: 2f + 1m Goosander, Goldeneyes. 

Ochre Flash: 30+ Gadwall, Willow Tits nearby, 3 Bullfinch.

Little Egret on Horrocks Flash late afternoon.

Started at the woods between canal and westwood flash, great spotted woodpecker,siskin 1,cettis warbler 1 calling,2 robins very close together, paired up maybe?goldfinch, onward to Pearson's flash, gadwall, goldeneye ,coot, lesser black backed gull ,2 Cetti’s warblers singing in the reeds between the flash and the canal, moorhen, tufted duck,distant kestrel, carrion crow.Scotmans flash goosander,goldeneye, coot,cormorant, lesser black backed gull, mute swan ,black headed gull tufted duck ,gadwall,Wigan rovers pitch had 2 mistle thrush and a few blackbirds,along with a small charm of goldfinch.

-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Monday 3rd of January 2022 05:06:34 PM

A minimum of 3 Cettis Warbler at Bryn Marsh this morning
Other birds there included:
Peregrine 1 immature
Water Rail min 4
Shoveler 2
Snipe 3
Great Spotted Woodpecker 1
Jay 2
Willow Tit 1
Linnet 1 over
Gadwall 2 (plus 26 on Ochre Flash)

11.00-14.00

Pearsons Flash : 1 Great White Egret (Chased off by a Grey Heron but later seen on Horrocks Flash), 1m Pochard, 4 Little Grebes,

4 adult + 1 juvenile Great Crested Grebes, 3 Grey Herons and 24 Lapwings.

Horrocks Flash : 1 Great White Egret, 3 Grey Herons, 170+ Lapwings, 1 Willow Warbler and a pair of Kestrels being mobbed by a crow.

Few birds on Scotsmans Flash, sailing taking place. No hirundines or Swifts seen throughout.

Friday 12-3pm ,greylag with chicks on canal Canada goose likewise,blackbird, whitethroat, sedge warbler, reed warbler, 3 or4 cettis warbler calling, black headed gull,lesser black backed gull, common tern ,cormorant, buzzard over,2 swallow, blue tit ,carrion crow ,tufted duck, mallard, coot, moorhen, house sparrow,willow warbler singing,mute swan,starling, woodpigeon, blackcap singing, great crested grebe,reed bunting

Tuesday 11 May, 11 30 -1 30 cettis warbler seen ,a few more possibly heard ,water rail seen with chicks,swift,reed warbler heard ,sedge warbler seen, jay ,magpie, cormorant over,blackbird ,all by the small boardwalk reedbed area,grasshopper warbler seen there on last visit too.

Sedge warbler heard ,5 Cetti’s warbler heard in different locations, 1 seen.

-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Friday 9th of April 2021 03:07:42 PM

Morning walk from Poolstock to Horrocks Flash and back.

Westwood Flash : 2 Great Crested Grebes and 1 Cetti's Warbler.

Pearsons Flash : 1m Goldeneye, 1m Wigeon, 2 Great Crested Grebes and 1 Cetti's Warbler.

Along towpath on walk to Horrocks Flash : A pair of Treecreepers and a surprising 14 Jays.

The Jays in flocks of 3 or 4 were highly vocal, but there appeared to be no obvious reason for their gathering.

Horrocks Flash : 2 Oystercatchers, 4 Great Crested Grebes and 2 Buzzards.

Scotsmans Flash : A group of 27 Tufted Ducks (Mainly males) erupted of the flash and moved over to Pearsons, it seemed

sailing had unnerved them.

7 Buzzards soared on thermals high above St. James church in Poolstock.

11 am.. At least 200 Sand Martin over Scotsmans Flash. Plenty of singing Chiffchaff and Cettis Warbler calling in usual place near info sign canal bridge.

Originally posted today by David Hughes:

 Westwood flash ,coot, moorhen ,sparrowhawk, little grebe, mute swan, buzzard,black-headed gull, Canada goose great crested grebe,mallard.coot with nesting material
Pearsons flash.
Mute swan, goldeneye, shoveller, carrion crow ,gadwall ,coot, tufted duck ,reed bunting ,kestrel ,black-headed gull, great crested grebe ,buzzard .sand martin ,mallard .mute swan on nest.
Turners flash
Chiffchaff, long-tailed tit ,blue tit ,great tit ,Canada goose, oystercatcher black-headed gull ,coot ,moorhen ,mute swan, robin ,tufted duck song thrush, cormorant over
On the feeders near the school. 
Lesser Redpoll,reed bunting House sparrow ,dunnock ,robin,blue tit, great tit blackbird
General 
Lots of cetti's warbler heard every 100mtr or so none spotted, several Chiffchaff heard and 2 seen.woodpigeon numerous all over area.it appears the East side of pearsons flash is having some work to create a wader scrape ,a lot of the east edge has been worked and none of it is visible from the canal side footpath. 

Sunday 28 February 2021

Chiffchaff singing near Ochre Flash while I was out for a run early this afternoon.

Could that 2nd pic be a Mealy/Common ?

Female Scaup still at Scotsman's. 

3 Redpolls on the feeders.

1 Little Egret on fields towards Bryn.

1 Female Scaup on Scotsman's about 11.00. Couldn't see on the ay back about 13.00. 

Willow tits at the feeders. 

First visit round here for me and it was pretty successful! Possibly helped by the weather getting better as the day went on and even some sunshine from around midday.

My highlights and some firsts for me:

1 x jay

1 x little grebe

2 x juvenile mute swan

1 x siskin (particularly excited by this as I had set my heart on spotting one this weekend!)

Coal tit

Pochard

2 x collared doves

-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Saturday 12th of December 2020 04:58:15 PM

09.00-12.00

Highlights :

3 Common Terns still on Horrocks Flash.

5 adult + 1 full grown juvenile Great Crested Grebes together on Scotsmans Flash, also there a flock of 14 Swifts heading NE.

1 Great Crested Grebe plus an odd looking female Tufted Duck on Pearsons Flash.

I could'nt really make my mind up on the above "Aythya" duck, although now I'm pretty sure she was Tufted and not a Scaup.

She appeared to have a perfectly rounded head and a distinct "white patch" at the base of her beak.

The latter feature though is not truly diagnostic, and her saddle seemed a liitle too dark for a Scaup, I could'nt discern any cheek markings either.

Not having my scope did'nt help, neither did the fact that anglers are camping out on some of the best viewing spots.

Sunday 19th April

1 Buzzard  1 kestrel, both over near the water works facility between the flashes and ince cemetery. 

 

Monday 20th April

 

1 kestrel on its usual area between persons flash and the iron bridge

Turner's Flash: 1 Red-head Smew still present.

Redhead Smew still at Turner's Flash yesterday (12th).

Info thanks to Judith Smith

Redhead Smew at the western end of Turners Flash this morning.

Info thanks to Judith Smith

Saturday 3rd August 10.00-13.30

Enjoyable walk down the canal from Wigan town centre, around Ochre Flash and Bryn Marsh and back, my first time exploring this area. Not masses of birds showing, 33 species but an earlier start would likely have helped and probably not being somewhat hungover...in May I bet the place is much more vibrant anyway. Brilliant reedbed habitat, maybe some of the Bitterns and Bearded Tits settling in the North West will breed here in the next year or two?

Best I saw was a Kingfisher from the high concrete viewpoint over Bryn Marsh, lovely views as it shuttled with fish in its bill, presumably to a nest in there somewhere. A single Reed Warbler was in trees on the canal and I had some lovely views of a family of Whitethroats and some superb views of fishing Common Terns, full plunge dives, stunning. Predictably heard Cetti's Warbler and Water Rail but no views.