Tuesday 1st July - Pennington Flash

Another pleasant, sunny evening for our walk - this time to Pennington Flash. Unfortunately many of the hides are now locked early so we could not use these in the evening. We took the path clockwise around the Flash from the main car park, walking as far as the little stream, currently dry, before the sailing club. While it is possible to walk all of the way round the Flash in an evening, it is not at a botanist's pace! Claire had done a recce prior to the walk and took us to the most interesting sights, particularly the meadows, which must have a great variety of flora - with much evidence of flowers fruiting as well as many currently in flower.

The Corn-cockle and Cornflower were especially attractive - see photos below.

Corn-cockle (Agrostemma githago)

Other flora seen included: Spear and Marsh Thistle,Hogweed, Tufted and Bush Vetch, Red and White Clover, Hedge Bindweed, Meadowsweet, Raspberry (fruiting), Bramble (flowering), Crab Apple (fruiting) Silverweed, Creeping Buttercup, Yellow Rattle, Greater Bird's-foot Trefoil, Red Campion, Self-heal, Marsh Woundwort, Marsh Bedstraw (extensive stands of it), Ox-eye Daisy, Great Willowherb and Yellow Flag Iris.

Cornflower (Centaurea cyanus)

Other plants noted were: Great Reedmace, Reed Canary Grass, Great Horsetail, Pendulous Sedge and White Poplar.

There were innumerable Common Blue Damselflies on the flowers of one of the meadows, and the occasional Burnet Moth and Meadow Brown Butterfly.

Birds seen (or heard) were: Buzzard,Wood Pigeon, Blackbird, Jay, Magpie, Swallow, Swift, Chiffchaff, Whitethroat, Black-headed Gull, the beautiful Arctic Tern, Mute Swan, Mallard, Canada Goose, Tufted Duck and Great Crested Grebe. More water birds would have been expected had we reached the other side of the Flash with other wetland areas.

Two Rabbits were seen although one seemed to show some signs of myxymatosis.

There is clearly a major problem with Japanese Knotweed - while much has been killed, it seems to simply treat this as a challenge and returns with great vigour. It looks as though limiting the spread may be the objective, rather than the the almost impossible task of eradication.There are also extensive stands of Himalayan Balsam, the flowers of which at least, are attractive - to bees and us, even if the plant is highly invasive and difficult to control.

Pennington Flash

We were rewarded again with another beautiful sunset.