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RIBCHESTER OSPREY NO.#2

The second Ribchester osprey in a week! A collage of the 1529 sighting. CLICK IMAGES FOR LIGHTBOX

MORE SKY-GAZING FROM THE BENCHES BY THE SCHOOL PRODUCED ANOTHER OSPREY TODAY. At 1450 I noticed a group of Black-headed Gulls form a very tight flock as they flew upstream, calling noisily, looked up into the sky and bingo! Another Osprey! However, on a day of fluffy cotton wool clouds and huge updrafts this one was very high in the clouds. I fired off a few record shots and called Phil but it was quickly lost in the whiteness. Staring at the sky for almost another 40 minutes and nothing until 1529. BAM! There it was again, this time flying downstream from the benches, pausing for a while to hover over the river just down from Lower Alston Farm. Checking photos later it appears to be the same bird (as you would expect). It has a couple of distinctive notches in the trailing edge of the left wing and it has quite a ragged tail. The wing pattern looks a little different in the photos but the first set, when the bird was further away, is so much poorer resolution and the detail is insufficient to compare the barring etc. It was another adult, like the bird on Thursday.

The morning walk produced a respectable total of 58 species and highlights were no fewer than three skylarks, two of them singing, one over the meadow on the opposite side of the river to Boat House and the other singing overhead at Red Bank. These could have been the same bird of course but it was chasing with another Red Bank so there were definitely at least two. A rare bird down in the valley nowadays. A Jay was at Red Bank and three kingfisher sightings included a pair downstream from Boat House. A Redpoll and three Reed Buntings were at Red Bank and the pair of Little Ringed Plovers was still along the riverside. Spring migrants included two singing Willow Warblers, two chiffhcaffs and five Blackcaps. Mammals were quite in evidence on another glorious sunny spring day with nine hares, a rabbit, two Roe Deer and an otter.

A zoomed-in collage of the 1450 Osprey sighting.

A zoomed-in collage of the 1450 Osprey sighting.

Common Gull (second calendar year). They become very infrequent around Rib by mid April..

One of Ribchester’s terrific old willow trees.

A rather precariously over-hanging willow. It’s days are numbered sadly so enjoy it while you can.

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OTTERS ON THE RIVEBANK

Otter at Ribchester, presumably a female with a cub in tow. CLICK ON IMAGE FOR LIGHTBOX

A COUPLE OF OTTERS ON THE RIVER WAS REWARD FOR GETTING UP EARLY. An adult and a small cub, which got out of the water to have a look at me, too close for photos less than a metre away! I do not see many otters in Ribchester, they are quite mobile, usually secretive and active at dawn and dusk. Obviously they are unpopular with fishermen too but the coarse season does not have long left so the riverbank will be much more empty soon.

Birding was also quite good today with highlights: Mandarin (a pair on the river below Churchgates early on only); Woodcock and 15 Pinkfeet flying west. Curlews made double figures and they were singing a lot this morning. Lapwings reached 26, also with lots of display flight and song and a flock of Oystercatchers was at Hothersall again. The Fieldfare flock was still along the lane just past Lower Barn Farm, I counted 53 there and another six were upstream from the bridge. It was good to see some other interesting waterbirds along the river including Little Grebe (one upstream from the allotments), two Little Egrets (upstream from the bridge) and a scatter of four kingfishers, my first for several weeks and all from public footpaths! Birds of prey were also in evidence with buzzard, kestrel and sparrowhawk all putting in appearances. The Rib patch list is up to 77 for 2021 and 59 for March this year/74 all time, making it the second best month after February. It seems we get more winter visitors than summer visitors here.

You looking at me?

A more typical view in early morning pre-dawn light.

Ever stopped to appreciate what a terrific bird Blue Tit is? Could you colour one in correctly from memory?

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WHEATEAR IN RIBCHESTER

Northern Wheatear, River Ribble, Ribchester 27 September 2020 (Mike Watson). OK it’s a collage of rubbish photos but it’s a Rib Wheatear!

THE HIGHLIGHT OF A WALK ALONG THE RIVERBANK with Phil Larkin was a Northern Wheatear on the south bank just downstream from Boat House Barn. The first I’ve seen in Rib and more notably the first Phil has in 30 years of living here! I’d been wondering where I might see one and was thinking more in terms of a spring migrant on the newly sown corn fields so to see one on the ‘cliffs’ was a surprise. It was soon booted along by some dog walkers discussing how they were going to post their doggy selfies today. Other significant sightings included: three chiffchaffs (two of which were singing); a new high total of 25 cormorants, a flock of 27 House Martins hawking over the river at Red Bank; two kingfishers, a Little Egret; a pair of ravens that flew north east of the village first thing, the first skylark of the autumn and maybe the last swallow of the summer, hawking over treetops just north of Red Bank. Our BTO BirdTrack walk started off with an otter just off the ‘Tush’, it seemed to be quite fearless and was even snorting at me from only c10m away. It caught an eel in the race by the school and disappeared. A few birds are present in noticeably fewer numbers now - Mallard, Starling and Carrion Crow. All persecuted here in some way or other (shot, scared away and shot) but maybe just weather related?

House Martin collage. Juvenile top left. I must have seen thousands of them but I have never noticed that distinctive white line down the outer primary before!

Common Raven collage of the pair that flew across the river, showing their front-heavy appearance at times but also the unusual shapes they make in flight

Reed Bunting (a first winter female, although you can’t see its brown rump in this frame). They seem to like the corn fields at the moment

Otter taking a look at me in the blue half light before sunrise. It is great to see species like this and raven on the increase after decades of persecution

I learned some interesting things this month. As mentioned previously this is the first time I have done any BirdTrack walks in the autumn here but it seems that September is the best month for the highest number of species, with 73. April and August have 71 and May has 70. It is down to the crucial combination of summer and winter visitors but I would have bet on April or May being most productive up til now. I’m still looking forward to what the future holds here. October is now the only unrecorded month, there must be a chance of a Yellow-browed Warbler in the next few weeks (we continue to play its call), maybe Lockdown 2 is ahead, the ‘autumn version’ and there are lots of other obvious gaps in my Ribchester list.

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