Viewing entries tagged
Fieldfare

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COMMON SCOTER IN RIBCHESTER

Common Scoter (female), near Waterside Farm, Ribchester in a golden sunrise.

THE KEY WORD IS ‘IN’… RIBCHESTER! I said ‘Hi’ to Phil on the riverbank this morning. ‘No luck with otters so far’ and then…’BAM!’. ‘Female Common Scoter’ on the river right next to us off the allotments. I hadn’t really expected we could get one actually on the river here as it isn’t that wide but there it was. No nocmig sound record or infrared-night-time-flyover-dot this one! But instead prolonged views of this terrific sea duck, pausing for some reason at the start of its trans-Pennine migration. Recent studies have shown that they migrate almost exclusively at night from the Irish Sea to the east coast and this one did not get very far. I wonder if it could possibly be the Brockholes bird last reported on the River Ribble there on 27 March? It was well-behaved enough to wait for Kris and Rachel to arrive as well.

We don’t get many interesting duck species on the patch in Ribchester so two in one day was exceptional when a drake Red-breasted Merganser appeared on the river below us at Red Bank. It afforded some great views as it slowly swam upstream towards Boat House. I am guessing that, in view of its genuine rarity in the lower valley area, it was the same bird as on 8 April.

Other interesting sightings today included a Little Ringed Plover song-flighting along the riverbank, one Common Redshank over Lower Alston Farm, a flock of around 30 Fieldfares in oaks north of Red Bank (it is getting late for this winter visitor now!), two singing Eurasian Skylarks (one of which was paired up), several Meadow Pipits, at least four singing Willow Warblers on the same circuit as last Sunday and flyover Linnet and redpoll. All on a glorious sunny spring morning that warmed up nicely after the overnight frost.

So April presses ahead as the best month of the year, now on 85 bird species (all time)/78 (2021) and my Ribchester patch list moves up to 117 (all time)/89 (2021). It’s all good fun!

Red-breasted Merganser (drake), Boat House, Ribchester.

Common Scoter complete with Ribchester riverbank evidence!

The regular Tawny Owl had switched perches today!

Eurasian Skylark still clings on in the farmland around Ribchester.

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SLOW START TO DECEMBER

Little Egret, the only one around Ribchester today (Mike Watson)

THIS MORNING’S BTO BIRDTRACK WALK ALONG THE RIVER WAS BRIGHTENED UP BY FIVE SKEINS OF PINKFEET totalling 226 birds and all heading southeast. We often see them moving just after the weather improves but they are still going mostly southeast towards the beet fields of Norfolk at the moment. Phil had an early Goosander and happily cormorants appeared to be more or less back to normal. I wonder what happened last weekend? Seven Lapwings were logged and two Great Black-backed Gulls flew downstream but things were otherwise very quiet.

A single Little Egret was hunting widely in the fields between Lower Alston Farm and Red Bank but it did not settle, it was probably have difficulty finding anything to eat in the sterile ‘green concrete’ fields. On the other hand the thrush flock was still feeding in the recently sown field between Lower Barn Farm and Boat House. Fieldfares dominated with smaller numbers of Redwings, Song Thrushes, Blackbirds and two Mistle Thrushes.

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AUTUMN SLOWDOWN ON THE RIVERBANK

After the rain followed blue skies and birds of prey: Peregrine, Eurasian Sparrowhawk and Common Kestrel

THE RIBBLE VALLEY AROUND RIBCHESTER IS QUIETLY SETTLING DOWN FOR WINTER, I didn’t see a single summer migrant this weekend and our winter visitors are now arriving. A couple of BTO BirdTrack walks along the riverbank were pretty quiet, mostly owing to another series of heavy showers tracking across East Lancashire. There was nothing new for the year this weekend and highlights were rather few. Woodpigeons are still on the move south across the river and I tallied a total of around 460 over the two days but most of the winter thrushes have pushed through now. Redwings barely made three figures after the big numbers last weekend and Fieldfares didn’t even pass the 40 mark. Little Egrets peaked at four on Saturday and there were only a couple of Grey Herons around, there were no goosanders and I haven’t seen a goldeneye yet this autumn. I guess they will probably appear next month? The best sighting of the weekend was another (or the same) juvenile Peregrine that was toying with Carrion Crows over Red Bank today as the sun came out after this morning’s torrential rain showers. A sparrowhawk and kestrel followed in blue skies but the farmland around Ribchester was otherwise very quiet today. The hawthorns are bare now but they do hold a decent berry crop, the fields are waterlogged and I noticed a nice looking flood pool in a field above Parsonage Farm that I haven’t check before. I will have to include it on my regular walk now!

Early morning on the riverbank

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EAST LANCS MIGRATION

Eurasian Curlew flying west up the Ribble Valley at Ribchester 

THERE IS A LOT OF MIGRATION TAKING PLACE ACROSS THE UK RIGHT NOW including reports of thousands of Redwings from watch points in southern England. A pre-dawn walk up Pendle Hill in a howling easterly wind was hard work in the low cloud but a single Fieldfare sheltering behind peat hags right at the summit was my first on the ground here. Martin Naylor managed to twitch it and told me later that he has occasionally seen them and Redwings in weather like today. I could hear Redwings going over Pendleside in the dark on my way up the hill and three Fieldfares were near the shelterbelt at Pendleside Farm. As I was watching a pair of Common Ravens skirting the hill a small passerine came into view in the sky, it gradually flew closer before diving into the bracken on the hillside, it was a greenfinch. Back in the valley I watched from the benches by the river at Ribchester for around 40 minutes and in that time five Whooper Swans flew east, 316 Redwings flew northeast over the town, two Eurasian Curlews flew east and a kingfisher and Goosander were on the river itself. Migration is an amazing spectacle, even on a small and local scale. 

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