THE WOBBLY CALLS OF PINK-FOOTED GEESE OVER THE VILLAGE has been a feature this weekend so far. In fact a couple of flocks have passed over the house in the dark while I was looking at my photos for this post. There has been a massive push of Pinkfeet over the last few days down the east coast, Twitter has been alive with them so it has been great to join in the excitement as some of them chose to cross the Pennines and fly down the Ribble Valley. They have all been heading west here, a total of 236 in 7 flocks since the first on Friday evening. It is fantastic to have them back!

This blog post could easily have been ‘Golden Plover - new for me in Ribchester’ instead as one flew over calling at Red Bank, also heading west, presumably a little lower than usual thanks to the low cloud base/mist. Phil has seen them in the fields at Salesbury before but not in recent years. It brought up 120 species for me in Ribchester, not bad for somewhere with no notable habitats. Other migrants today included a few summer visitors still around - by coincidence c.120 hirundines on the wires at Osbaldeston Hall and hawking low over the river there was a magnificent sight. They were mostly swallows but included around 10 House Martins as well.

A late Common Whitethroat was in an isolated riverside hawthorn . We tallied seven Common Chiffchaffs today, including one daft bird singing at Red Bank. Another very conspicuous bird at the moment is jay, they seem to be everywhere in the northwest right now, or maybe just more visible as they rush around stashing food for the winter? The juvenile Osprey seems to have moved on now though, it took my 5KO sightings to 13 this year! Finally, I thought our eight Little Egrets was pretty good until I learned that 46 roosted at Sawley this evening!

*Golden Plover collage in the mist over Red Bank*

*A late Common Whitethroat, surely the last of 2021?*

*Chiffchaffs are dull compated to Willow Warbler! Look at those short wing tips too!*

*Very dark legs and only a couple of flecks of yellow = chiffchaff*

*A damp Red Bank with a low cloud base hanging over the Ribble Valley this morning, there are plenty of hawthorn berries for the Redwings, which will soon be here again for the winter.*

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*Blue-headed Wagtail, Alston Reservoirs, 4 May*

ANOTHER GREAT FIND BY GAVIN THOMAS, A MALE BLUE-HEADED WAGTAIL was the culmination of a nice selection of grounded passerines at Alston Reservoirs. The April rain showers and northerlies had come around a month late but served to stop some northbound migrants in their tracks. At the weekend a lovely gathering of four wheatears and three male Whinchats was near the northwest corner of No.#1 reservoir, the Whinchats hanging around the tiny marshy patch in the sheep field there. More rain followed over the next couple of days and on 4 May Gavin found the wagtail in more or less the same place. It was super shy and I could hardly get within 50m of it by the time I had finished work etc. I was surprised it stayed so long but needless to say it was gone by the next day. It is a big rarity in East Lancashire but there has been quite a good movement of flava wagtails recently, in fact it’s the third I’e seen within 5km of home this year!

The whimbrel roost continues but numbers have dwindled, maybe dragged away to the new roosting spot near Chipping? The heavy rain also brought a Dunlin and five Common Ringed Plovers to the wetland, which lingered until 5 May. Luckily they survived a bombing run by a Peregrine that blasted low across the pools yesterday evening. Summer migrants are nearly all back now, both whitethroats are singing in the hedgerows along the lane and swifts are now a common sight over the reservoirs. The next few days are historically the best for shorebird passage in East Lancs and the water levels at Alston look great. Fingers crossed!

*A wheatear forages on the weedy stone banks of no.#1*

*A few pixels of Whinchat, Alston Reservoirs*

*A whimbrel zooms in to roost at Alston Wetland*

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RETURN OF THE PINKFEET

BLUE-HEADED WAGTAIL AT ALSTON