The impressive 70m long Grade II listed Ribchester Bridge, built in 1775. The centre span is 23m wide.
THE GOLDENEYES LAST WEEKEND have encouraged me to check upstream of the village on one of my weekend BTO BirdTrack walks. There was still a adult female Goldeneye diving close to the bank just upstream from the bridge in the early morning but she had gone by the time I returned. Other highlights upstream were a kingfisher near the bridge, a flock of 19(!) Mistle Thrushes in a field at Salesbury, where they outnumbered Redwings and Fieldfares. I don’t recall seeing that before! A snipe was in the marshy fields in this area and the total for the morning was another above-benchmark-for-January 53. Everything has melted in the valley now after the midweek snow and things are getting back to normal. There were hardly any lapwings around today for instance. The birds that visited us in the hard weather birds seem to have moved on. It is amazing to think that work started on Ribchester Bridge in the same year that the American War of Independence began, 1775!
I checked downstream on Sunday recording another 53 species taking my Ribchester year list to 72, but again, no Goosander at all. I also found a dead cormorant, which had bled profusely from its mouth, presumably shot. The highlights today were a flyover Linnet but much better a lovely singing Mistle Thrush below Parsonage Farm. A Stock Dove was singing at Red Bank, one of three sightings and a couple of skeins of Pinkfeet passing overhead, one west, the other east also raised my spirit. Little Egret and Little Grebe were both on the river upstream from Lower Alston Farm and a herd of six Roe Deer, including a buck with fine antlers was spotted today. Raptors were also in evidence with a kestrel, two sparrowhawks and six buzzards. A sign of spring at Hothersall is the flock of Oystercatchers at their regular gathering spot, that has built up to 27 now. Walking around the village is heavy going at the moment with the sodden ground, every step was an effort going uphill. There is a yellow rain warning from tomorrow onwards, which will no doubt raise water levels on the river. It could be interesting.
