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Ruff

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RUFF AT ALSTON

Juvenile female Ruff, Alston Reservoirs (Mike Watson) CLICK IMAGES FOR LIGHTBOX

AT LAST I FOUND SOMETHING INTERESTING AT ALSTON, it’s been a while. A lovely juvenile female Ruff was feeding on the wetland among lapwings yesterday evening. There was a dark and threatening mauve sky to the west, a wall of thunderstorms and maybe the Ruff pitched down at Alston rather than head into it? It was still there when I checked this morning, after the terrific lightning storm last night, but I was surprised to hear that it had moved to the No.#1 reservoir a couple of hours later and even better it was showing down to a few metres. Gavin Thomas commented that he was probably the first human it had seen? I reckon I must have been the second then, it even walked right up to me and checked out my lens hood. The closest I have ever been to a Ruff, a simply awesome experience in bright sunshine now. It was working the stone banks of the reservoir catching lots of tiny flies in the spindrift of the waves lapping the shore.

I was thinking about anniversaries today. Yesterday evening’s exquisite juvenile greenshank at Alston was 45 years after my first, at Leighton Moss in 1975 and the ruff is only a couple of weeks short of the 40th anniversary of my first Ruffs, at Voss in Norway in August 1980. They are scarce in East Lancs and this one is only my fourth in the ELOC recording area. The Covid-19 pandemic has certainly made me appreciate local rarities!


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EAST LANCS RUFF

Ruff, Alston Wetland, Longridge

A RUFF AT ALSTON WETLAND was a nice local bird a few minutes from home, when I popped out for a walk today. The wetland is looking very nice at the moment, now is a great time for rare shorebirds to turn up and maybe it will attract something else in the near future of the magnitude of the Killdeer Gavin Thomas found here a couple of years ago? I was away at the time, watching lots of killdeer in the USA, so if it happens next week it will be either Marsh or Terek Sandpiper... or Great Snipe! Also here were single Dunlin, Common Ringed Plover, Eurasian Whimbrel, Eurasian Curlew, Common Oystercatcher and Common Snipe, a pair of Little Ringed Plovers and Gadwall of note. I must make the effort more often.

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LEIGHTON MOSS SHOREBIRDS

Ruff from the new Eric Morecambe hide (Mike Watson) 

LEIGHTON MOSS'S ALLEN POOL WAS FULL OF SHOREBIRDS this afternoon. Joined by Mark Varley I had some great close views of juveniles of some of the c.20 Curlew Sandpipers, ruffs and Icelandic Black-tailed Godwits. Also here were four Little Stints, two Spotted Redshanks, a few lapwings, one oystercatcher and a lot of Common Redshanks. The influx of Curlew Sandpipers has been one of the events of the autumn so far and this number at Leighton is quite exceptional. Around 10 Little Egrets was barely noticed, as usual, how times have changed! This was the first time I have been in the new hides. They are the same style as the new Griesdale hide, like large greenhouses with loads of glass that doesn't conceal the occupants. I noticed this caused the shorebirds to flush a couple of times, when folks rushed to the windows or made sudden noisy movements. The window frames prevent easy viewing when standing up as well and the seats are too low so in a nutshell they were disappointing. I often wonder how much (or little) thought goes into the design of hides on bird reserves but the RSPB's move to become 'nature's home' also tells me that they are no longer interested in birders, which is a shame. 

The new Eric Morecambe hide would make a good greenhouse or a potting shed

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