Ring Ouzel, Pendle Hill
A LOVELY STILL AND SUNNY AFTERNOON ON PENDLE HILL ended with a flock of eight Ring Ouzels flying in to the landslip area from the southeast. I had already seen at least two, or maybe three others in this area before this happened so there may have even been up to 11 birds present today. There seems to be a big movement of them across England at the moment and I wonder just how many birds are involved in sightings on Pendle, maybe many more than we realise? Ring Ouzel used to breed on Pendle, along with Twite, Merlin and Dunlin but these birds are all gone now, some completely and others reduced to the status of occasional visitors. Despite the lack of variety I love Pendle and it gets easier with each visit. I am looking forward to racing up the hill over the next few weeks! I enjoyed this afternoon very much, even though the weekend's dottie has now moved on now but I returned home to be met by the news that missing Preston birder, Martin Lucas was found dead on St Annes beach on Monday. It makes me sick to think that I should have kept in touch with him but I did not find the time....