Having a wander around the scenic trails at Pennington Flash
Last time out we headed over to the National Trust property at Dunham Massey. Last week we followed that up with a visit to Pennington Flash.
Pennington Flash is essentially a large lake and country park. It’s easily accessible from Manchester and is a little less than 30 miles from our home and turned out to be a very decent place to visit.
The county park has been developed and shaped from old mining land and made into a wide lake (approx’ 70 hectares) and surrounded by well managed wetlands, meadows, and woodland.
Plenty of bird life
It has quite a reputation for its birdlife, with several hides dotted around the water.
I understand there are regular sightings of everything from herons and kingfishers to wintering wildfowl. When we were there it was bitterly cold and pretty quiet (both in terms of visits and birdlife)
It’s a lovely place to wander around. The walking trails loop through quiet reed beds and provide decent views across the water.
Although the weather was freezing cold whilst we were there, I can imagine on a hot summer’s days the trees would provide plenty of welcome shade.
We will be going back
It’s an easy place to wander around without any sort of plan and it felt pretty much ideal for a slow walk, some photography and even just enjoying the simple pleasure of getting out in the fresh air. Even before we left we resolved to return in the Spring.
And decent refreshments as well …
There is a very decent cafe on the site called The Hide Coffee House with an excellent selection of food and drink, with good service and reasonable prices.
You can read a little more about it at this link.
Picture set 1 – wandering around Pennington Flash
This first set of pictures give a reasonable sense of wandering around Pennington Flash. What isn’t quite captured is how unhurried it all felt or the fascinating mix of birdsong, all of which help make a short walk feel like a proper escape into nature.
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Picture set 2 – is there anyone who doesn’t like to see a Robin?
Although robins are plentiful at most places that we go to, and are often the first birds you’ll spot on a quiet walk, I don’t think I have ever seen so many at one time as on this short trip. There’s some decent pictures in this set of some pretty and confident robins.
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Picture set 3 – Grey squirrels and redwings
There were plenty of grey squirrels about whilst we wandered around – busy rummaging through leaves, leaping between branches, or just sat staring as we passed. Although they are supper common they are always worth a watch and always easy to photograph. The real bonus for us during our trip to Pennington Flash was that we saw a couple of Redwings.
The Redwing is a pretty regular winter visitor to the UK and it’s actually the smallest of the thrushes.
It’s a pretty bird with a creamy eyestripe and with orange/red patches that make it easy to pick out and identify. The Redwing isn’t a common in our gardens and they would only really head that way if the weather was espeicially harsh and they had to look elsewhere for their food away from their normal country side locations,
The Redwing is also a protected species as a Schedule 1 bird under the Wildlife and Countryside Act. You can read more about them at this link.
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