Little Gulls - Pennington Flash, Greater Manchester

After spending the week on holiday visiting family in Mallorca, I was glad the inland Little Gull influx continued until I got a chance to catch up with them! After work, I made the short trip to Pennington Flash Country Park, near Leigh, where there have been some impressive numbers over the last few days.

I soon picked up several distantly from the car park, so made my round to the far side of the flash. They never came particularly close, but these were only my second Little Gulls and my first in summer plumage so I was super happy to see them!

Their characteristic, tern-like flight was the key ID feature when viewing distantly

They spent the majority of the time in the middle of the flash

I watched them for about an hour as several weather fronts came through. These birds are a nearctic species that can be seen fairly regularly on passage in the UK, but doesn't breed regularly. They are certainly small, but their bouncy flight, dark heads on the adults and almost pinkish tinge are other key features.

One juvenile remained the whole time I was there

It was very difficult to gauge how many birds there were. At the start, I estimated at least 10, but birds seemed to be constantly leaving and arriving, so I would guess that I saw well into double figures. There were also hundreds of Hirundines, huge flocks of Sand Martin arrived regularly and there may have been up to 1,000 birds. There were also plenty Swallow too.

Terns were a constant presence too, the largest group I saw was four, but again birds kept arriving and moving through. There could easily have been 10. The majority appeared to be Common Tern. Unfortunately, I couldn't pick out any Arctics among them.

Tern ID is not my strong suit but I think they were all Common Terns

There was a backdrop of Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and my first Reed Warblers of the year. Several Oystercatchers were on the spit, Little Ringed Plovers were heard but not seen and at least 1 Little Egret was present.

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