Western Osprey, Old Park Wood, Ribchester, 15 August 2021
THE OSPREY WHICH HAS BEEN PRESENT IN THE VALLEY AT BROCKHOLES FOR THE LAST FEW DAYS made a visit upriver to Ribchester’s Old Park Wood stretch of the Ribble this morning. It perched in a tree overlooking the river for a while before flying off downstream. Bizarrely I heard it at Red Bank about half an hour earlier without realising what it was. I had been concentrating looking down the viewfinder while photographing a Spotted Flycatcher there and had not looked up when I heard the strange high pitched call. It called again at Old Park Wood and the penny dropped! That’s osprey number #5 for me in the Ribchester 5kO this year so far.
The riverbank was a little more lively today. The chirping calls of Sand and House Martins filled the air overhead and a couple of swifts were around, the village breeding birds have departed now. Willow Warbler and wren were singing at Red Bank, where treecreeper and bullfinch were also heard. A flock of lapwings flew downstream opposite the school and a Little Egret fed in the shallows there, prancing around trying to disturb fish. Numerous other egret sightings included at least four birds. The shrill calls of young Lesser Black-back Gulls could be heard as they begged from their parents while flying south over the valley, this has been a feature of the last couple of weeks. Other good birds lately were a hobby over the garden at breakfast on Friday 13th and a Great Crested Grebe in breeding plumage just upstream from the allotments on 10 August.
I imagine osprey will probably breed in our area before too long, it has bred in Lancashire this year after all!
Little Egret - a year-round resident on the Ribble at Ribchester
Little Egret feeding activity
Spotted Flycatcher, an unobtrusive and scarce breeding bird in the lower Ribble Valley
Great Crested Grebe is seen regularly on small reservoirs and lakes in the lower Ribble Valley but it is very uncommon on the river itself at Ribchester with only 1-2 records per year.