Viewing entries tagged
Little Egret

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RETURN OF THE PINKFEET

Pinks in and out of the mist today!

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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FIRST PEREGRINE OF THE AUTUMN

Peregrine, juvenile over the White Bull in Ribchester, 14 September 2021

LOCK UP YER PIGEONS! The first Peregrine of the autumn wheeled into view over the White Bull on my way home tonight, a pristine juvenile bird only just over the rooftops. It was obviously prospecting the village for an evening meal and was five days earlier than last autumn’s first on 19 September. I was very sorry it appeared after Phil and Lee had gone home - it would have looked great from the benches, assuming it passed that way. Peregrine is a regular feature in the lower valley during the winter but they range widely so you can never be sure of when and where they will appear.

Also around this evening were Little Egret (up to four recently), a kingfisher (it seems to be fond of the large willow on the island at the moment), a flock of 11 lapwings over, several Grey Wagtails (which also roost in the island willow), a sparrowhawk dangling an injured leg and a couple of buzzards of note. Five swallows were around Lower Alston Farm, they are becoming scarce now and a large salmon flopped out of the water almost around the bend upstream from us. The cold easterly wind felt like autumn this evening so I didn’t stay until dusk.

A Little Egret flies upstream past the benches this evening

Ribchester sunset on the riverbank, looking east towards Pendle Hill

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DAMP RIVERBANK

A young Blackcap finding a ready supply of insects at Red Bank

IT HAS RAINED EVERY DAY FOR WEEKS NOW. Today was no exception although the forecasted storm did not occur during my walk along the riverbank. Everything is damp, especially the air. The variety of bird life is slowly increasing again and my walks usually exceed 40 bird species. Four ravens over Red Bank was a welcome sight as was the Spotted Flycatcher, which continues in the dell there. The hedgerows are alive with parties of young Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tits accompanied by a Chiffchaff and a couple of Willow Warblers. Grey Herons are still just ahead of Little Egrets at 5-4 today but their days are certainly numbered. This morning’s walk even had a few butterflies (scarce around Ribchester at the best of times) including Gatekeeper and Speckled Wood. There were also Brown Hawker dragonflies on the wing patroling the hawthorns at Red Bank and along Shorton Lane.

Evening watches this week produced an Osprey on 19 August, which roosted by the river in the herons’ favourite dead tree in Old Park Wood but sadly was not present again in the following days. Seven curlews NW and a single snipe over on the same evening was also notable. There was still a couple of swifts among the Sand Martins. House Martins and Swallows on 21 August, they will soon all be gone and with the maize crop at Lower Alston Farm much reduced this year there are fewer swallows roosting there, maybe around 20 this week. Things feel more exciting now that we are approaching September and there will soon be many more migrants on the move.

Spotted Flycatcher at Red Bank, always welcome!

Look downstream at Red Bank, the silage grass meadow monocultures looking unaturally green today.

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AUGUST OSPREY

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.

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