Goldeneyes on the River Ribble, just upstream from Ribchester
GOLDENEYE! I can’t help saying this in the style of Tina Turner’s James Bond theme song.
See reflections on the water
More than darkness in the depths
See him surface in every shadow
On the wind I feel his breath
[Dave Evans/Paul Hewson]
These words could have been written about this awesome duck rather than James Bond. I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited by a goldeneye either. I got a WhatsApp message from birding friend Phil, who had found them this morning just upstream from the bridge at Little Town. We missed it last year but then again we don’t usually search upstream from the village. I guess we will now. The two adult drakes were throwing their heads back in display to make things even more exciting. One of the effects of lockdown has been to send me right back to the start so I’ve been looking forward to catching up with Goldeneye on the river again. As you can see from the charts below, I’ve had a few before at this time of year in Ribchester and it is also the best time of year nationally (by recording rate at least). We don’t know how long they have been here but it is possible they have been pushed off a frozen lake somewhere?
Goldeneye - Ribchester weekly maxima
Goldeneye - BTO BirdTrack UK reporting rate
Today saw a few other additions to the Ribchester year list in the form of Lesser Black-backed Gull, Lesser Redpoll and Eurasian Sparrowhawk taking it to 63. So, in three days I’ve seen the same as in the whole of December! Today’s walk also included checking some of the wooded cloughs towards Salesbury on the south side of the river, the first time I have walked some of these areas. They look great for woodcock but there was no sign today. A pair of Little Egrets flew by the early morning watchpoint and the Canada Goose flock has built up to 268, taking the top spot as commonest bird on my BTO Birdrack walk. They had even pulled in a couple of Pink-footed Geese and the sight and sound of the roost take-off on the riverbank was pretty impressive. There were still 4 snipe today on unfrozen stretches of water around the village and at least 77 lapwings passed through but the snow had mostly melted by lunchtime in the sunshine.
Pre-dawn Canada Geese leaving their roost
Little Egrets over Ribchester Village
This male Kestrel was hunting small birds on the riverbank today, no wonder there were hardly any Pied Wagtails and Meadow Pipits about.