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Pink-footed Goose

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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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LAST DAY OF COLD

Blue teal over the Ribble at Red Bank, Ribchester

TODAY MARKED THE LAST DAY OF COLD WEATHER for a while. I have enjoyed walking on the frozen fields around Ribchester but from tomorrow it’s back to rubber boots and a quagmire of mud. The early watch on the riverbank produced a pair of Barn Owls hunting over the sheep field behind the allotments. What a great start! Now the cold weather has persisted since New Year some birds seem to have moved on. There were few Black-headed Gulls around today, no snipe or Grey Wagtail and again, no kingfisher. I did manage 54 species though, which is above the benchmark for January. The other highlights were 5 teal on the shingle bank at Hothersall and a female/immature goldeneye that flew upstream past the allotments. There were three Little Grebes here as well and the Canada Goose roost contained 269 birds, making it the commonest bird on the walk again. There were still 20 lapwings and 25 oystercatchers around as well as two Little Egrets, six Grey Herons and 18 Meadow Pipits. They will all no doubt appreciate the warmer weather on the way. Small bird highlights included 6 nuthatches and 12 Tree Sparrows as we detoured via Parsonage and Singleton Farms checking the brooks in these areas. Again there was no sign of woodcock. We only saw a single Redwing - there were four in my street when I got home. They have almost finished the cotoneaster berries now so nothing left should there be any waxwings, which looks very unlikely now. A flock of 59 Pink-footed Geese flew overhead at Parsonage Farm, heading towards the Fylde, as usual their wobbly calls were heard long before the ragged skein of geese was spotted. Raptors were represented by buzzard, kestrel (on pylon T37 as usual) and sparrowhawk but the biggest surprise was a Small Tortoiseshell butterfly on the wing near Stoneygate Lane, no doubt disturbed from hibernaton somewhere by the warm sunshine in the late morning.

Pink-foooted Geese heading NW over Parsonage Farm, Gav Thomas could see them from Alston while we were watching them overhead.

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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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RAIN STOPPED PLAY

Mediterranean Gull collage, Ribchester 28 November

I MUST HAVE CHECKED THOUSANDS OF GULLS AT RIBCHESTER IN RECENT MONTHS and no Med Gull, until 9AM this morning and BAM! A nice adult flew upriver from the allotments. Every morning Black-headed Gulls drop in from the northwest, presumably having roosted at Alston Reservoirs, where there have been up to three Mediterranean Gulls lately so it has been on the cards. There are usually a few Herring Gulls and Common Gulls as well and along the river Great Black-backed Gulls have been putting in regular appearances and as mentioned before they always seem to be patrolling the river itself unlike the other big gulls. A single Lesser Black-backed Gull was also seen this morning. I am thinking that last Sunday morning’s big NW push of Herring Gulls was probably birds from Accrington having found Whinny Hill Tip not operating?

Other highlights this morning were my second dipper at Ribchester (103/2020), heard only, giving its distinctive ‘chink’ call as it flew up the Dummel Brook. A flock of five ravens was my highest count here to date and a skein of 39 Pinkfeet flew east as well. Along the river itself were single Goosander and oystercatcher and four lapwings. There was no sign of Little Grebe but we didn’t look extensively today giving up after 9AM when heavy rain set in. It appears the Met Office is just as inaccurate as the BBC, I was only expecting a 5% chance of rain.

On Friday morning a few hours at Barrow Upper Lodge (BUL) produced another dipper. I recall they wander widely along the brooks in the Clitheroe/Barrow area in winter from my time living there. The Cetti’s Warbler was still present in the NE corner and the Great Crested Grebe and young Goldeneye from earlier this month were also still around but there was neither sight nor sound of the Water Rail reported a couple of times this month.

Great Black-backed Gull, Ribchester, a fourth winter/adult, still moulting p10 and look at that heavy bill!

Common Goldeneye at BUL, a first winter with a dull bill. We still haven’t seen one along the river yet this autumn.

The White-throated Dipper at Barrow Upper Lodge was quite shy!

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