One of five Sanderlings at Alston Reservoirs (all images by Mike Watson) CLICK ON IMAGE FOR LIGHTBOX
‘HAVE YOU GOT ANYTHING THIS MORNING?’. ‘Five Sanderlings on the east bank of number one’ was Gavin’s answer. Great, Alston’s No.1 reservoir is only 2km away from Red Bank, Ribchester as the crow flies, where I was at the time (Carrion Crow is the commonest bird on my Ribchester patch BTO Birdtrack walks these days by the way) but with lockdown easing I don’t feel bad about driving to Alston now. The Temminck’s Stint earlier in the week remained on the wetland and therefore out of range of the camera but number one usually offers photo opportunities. I had only managed a couple of Little Egrets of note during a quiet walk along the riverbank this morning so the Sanderlings were an exciting prospect. We chatted about the small number of Arctic-breeding shorebirds that we get in spring in East Lancashire, for instance where was their last landfall? Knowing how far shorebirds fly non-stop on migration we might get a surprise if we knew? Gav’s right in saying that every time we get to see an Arctic shorebird at Alston it is a privilege!
In fine sunny weather shorebirds do not usually bother to stop here so we look forward to rain in spring for this reason but it seems that today’s blustery northwesterly wind was also enough to do the trick. The low water levels at the moment at Alston mean that shorebirds will see a lovely pale halo around the water as they fly over the Ribble Valley, which ought to be something of a magnet for them. Also the increased distance from the water’s edge to the top of the bank right now also means that the zillions of tresspassing dog walkers are less likely to flush shorebirds as they walk around, unless their dogs are off the lead of course. Happily the Sanderlings were confiding and approached me along the stone bank, they look great at this time of year in their lovely ‘Kelloggs Frosties’ breeding plumage. I was also happy not to flush them and leave them refuelling for their next flight.
I plan to write something about my birding during lockdown soon, now we can talk a bit more freely about it. I have certainly reconnected with birding and even Alexander has shown an interest too. I have managed to see over 100 species in the Ribble Valley between Pendle Hill and Alston during the lockdown as well as taking my Ribchester patch list over 100, which is not bad considering it is mostly agricultural land inland on the ‘wrong’ side of t’Pennines and how little wetland habitat it has. Thanks to Gavin Thomas for finding the Sanderlings, they brightened up my day!