*Blue teal over the Ribble at Red Bank, Ribchester*

TODAY MARKED THE LAST DAY OF COLD WEATHER for a while. I have enjoyed walking on the frozen fields around Ribchester but from tomorrow it’s back to rubber boots and a quagmire of mud. The early watch on the riverbank produced a pair of Barn Owls hunting over the sheep field behind the allotments. What a great start! Now the cold weather has persisted since New Year some birds seem to have moved on. There were few Black-headed Gulls around today, no snipe or Grey Wagtail and again, no kingfisher. I did manage 54 species though, which is above the benchmark for January. The other highlights were 5 teal on the shingle bank at Hothersall and a female/immature goldeneye that flew upstream past the allotments. There were three Little Grebes here as well and the Canada Goose roost contained 269 birds, making it the commonest bird on the walk again. There were still 20 lapwings and 25 oystercatchers around as well as two Little Egrets, six Grey Herons and 18 Meadow Pipits. They will all no doubt appreciate the warmer weather on the way. Small bird highlights included 6 nuthatches and 12 Tree Sparrows as we detoured via Parsonage and Singleton Farms checking the brooks in these areas. Again there was no sign of woodcock. We only saw a single Redwing - there were four in my street when I got home. They have almost finished the cotoneaster berries now so nothing left should there be any waxwings, which looks very unlikely now. A flock of 59 Pink-footed Geese flew overhead at Parsonage Farm, heading towards the Fylde, as usual their wobbly calls were heard long before the ragged skein of geese was spotted. Raptors were represented by buzzard, kestrel (on pylon T37 as usual) and sparrowhawk but the biggest surprise was a Small Tortoiseshell butterfly on the wing near Stoneygate Lane, no doubt disturbed from hibernaton somewhere by the warm sunshine in the late morning.