 A few highlights from the past week. Fortunately we missed the worst of the snow whilst Bolton and Wigan were hit by blizzards we received a couple of inches of slush. By mid-day on Saturday most of it was gone. There now appears to be at least 3 groups of Scarlet Elf Cups in Stenner Woods with 2 groups on dead Elder and 1 group rather bizarrely on a weeping Willow. |
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| Slightly further afield on the outskirts of Leigh I was fortunate enough to enjoy a couple of hours at Pennington Flash.
On a quiet Friday morning it’s an attractive place to visit with a good range of wetland and woodland birds. Unfortunately on this occasion the water levels were far too high for any waders and the Goosanders, Gadwall, Goldeneye, Teal and Shovellers were out of range. Fortunately the woodland species were far more obliging.
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 A Willow Tit spoilt for choice |
 The normally shy Bullfinch striking a pose |
 The Long-tailed Tit always one of the highlights of birdwatching in Winter. |
 There would have been a photo of a Brambling as well if a Sparrowhawk hadn’t dropped by. Very difficult to tell amongst all the chaos whether or not the Brambling escaped however during the next half an hour neither the Brambling or Willow Tit reappeared. |
