River Ribble at Ribchester looking towards Pendle Hill
SPRING IS NOW WELL UNDERWAY ALONG THE RIVERBANK and today I added Blackcap and Stock Dove to the Ribchester year list, my walks this weekend and last totalling 49 and 40 species respectively, the former my highest so far, boosted by the summer migrants. There is now a pair of kingfishers along the Old Park Wood bank, which I hope will stay to breed and a Linnet was singing from the wire fence near Osbaldston Hall. Cormorants are few now and the winter thrushes have gone (although I did see a Fieldfare near Todmorden today during a futile attempt to see the hoopoe there). The Rib year list now stands at 68, with a few more easy ones still missing so I think somewhere between 80-90 is possible if I keep at it.