*Eurasian Curlews in heavy wing moult, on their way northwest over Ribchester*

AFTER 11 ATTEMPTS AND OVER 30 HOURS OF EVENING SCANNING from the benches by the school at Ribchester in July, ‘Operation Shelduck’ is finally over, with a zero return. I was trying to catch some on their cross-Pennine flight on their journey to moutling grounds, which might now only be in the Humber Estuary, rather than the Waddensee in Germany as historically. I picked mostly clear evenings this month with a light westerly breeze, as recomended by Bill Aspin and I watched until after sunset. Well maybe I started a little too late, or they simply went through en masse on the evenings i missed or maybe they take another route eastwards? Either way I didn’t manage a single one and it is still missing from my Ribchester patch list despite (probably) breeding within 5km near Alston. I’ve seen it flying over Longridge Fell on my way to work previously but nothing from down in the valley at Ribchester yet. I’ll try again next year.

The shelduck vigils weren’t a complete waste of time though. I enjoyed watching Kingfisher, Common Sandpiper and Grey Wagtails on the river by the school and latterly small groups of up to five Little Egrets have been making what are presumably roosting flights downstream. Uncommon birds this month included a Great Crested Grebe on the river at Hothersall and a Spotted Flycatcher at nearby Red Bank, where they bred last year.

On a couple of evenings flocks of curlews flew over, heading northwest calling. They are in heavy wing moult at the moment and I guess they’re on their way to Morecambe Bay? Now I’ve got a pretty good sample of counts right across the year for Ribchester, the BTO Bird Track charts are starting to show the full picture of their presence here. The first returning birds appear at the end of January/first days of February, with small numbers passing through until early March, by which time the handful of local breeding pairs are established. Then foillows a peak in early May of presumably European breeding birds staging before their migration (as shown by sightings of colour-ringed birds at nearby Alston). Sightings of the local breeding birds continue until July ( I hear them calling at dawn over our house as they fly down to the riverside meadows to feed), then post-breeding passage starts, followed by a few sightings of birds flying over into autumn.

I didn’t check Alston much lately, the mud on the wetland is bone dry like concrete now and Grimsargh also lived up to its name when I visited, apart from a nice Roe Deer.

OPERATION SHELDUCK - FAIL