*Blue-headed Wagtail, Alston Reservoirs, 4 May*

ANOTHER GREAT FIND BY GAVIN THOMAS, A MALE BLUE-HEADED WAGTAIL was the culmination of a nice selection of grounded passerines at Alston Reservoirs. The April rain showers and northerlies had come around a month late but served to stop some northbound migrants in their tracks. At the weekend a lovely gathering of four wheatears and three male Whinchats was near the northwest corner of No.#1 reservoir, the Whinchats hanging around the tiny marshy patch in the sheep field there. More rain followed over the next couple of days and on 4 May Gavin found the wagtail in more or less the same place. It was super shy and I could hardly get within 50m of it by the time I had finished work etc. I was surprised it stayed so long but needless to say it was gone by the next day. It is a big rarity in East Lancashire but there has been quite a good movement of flava wagtails recently, in fact it’s the third I’e seen within 5km of home this year!

The whimbrel roost continues but numbers have dwindled, maybe dragged away to the new roosting spot near Chipping? The heavy rain also brought a Dunlin and five Common Ringed Plovers to the wetland, which lingered until 5 May. Luckily they survived a bombing run by a Peregrine that blasted low across the pools yesterday evening. Summer migrants are nearly all back now, both whitethroats are singing in the hedgerows along the lane and swifts are now a common sight over the reservoirs. The next few days are historically the best for shorebird passage in East Lancs and the water levels at Alston look great. Fingers crossed!

*A wheatear forages on the weedy stone banks of no.#1*

*A few pixels of Whinchat, Alston Reservoirs*

*A whimbrel zooms in to roost at Alston Wetland*

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*A lone swift hawking for insects above Ribchester on 6 September. Note the Lammergeier tail shape (Mike Watson)*

SEPTEMBER SWIFT is a term I learned from Steve Lister at Spurn in 1982. I think that was the first time I realised that most of them had already left the UK, bound for their winterting grounds in Africa by the end of August. Ever since, I have always been happy to see a swift in September, so imagine my delight when there was one wheeling over the village this morning! Our breeding swifts had all left a couple of weeks ago so I wonder where this one came from? Funny that the first four birds new for the month on my BTO BirdTrack walk today all began with the letter ‘S’ - the swift and then Sparrowhawk, Song Thrush and Siskin. Four nuthatches around the village this morning was also notable. Kingfisher and Grey Wagtail were both along the river by the school and the Tree Sparrow flock behind Lower Alston Farm has reached at least 61, with many juveniles. They obviously had a good breeding season. I didn’t walk from Old Park Wood to Lower Barn today owing to the amount of rain we had overnight meaning I would have got drenched cutting along the side of the maize field but instead spent about an hour with the Willow Warbler, which was still in the same riverside vegetation as yesterday and this time I was able to get some nice views of it in the early morning sunshine before the rain set in. There are fewer nicer birds around here than a lemon yellow juvenile Willow Warbler and I am making the most of them before they too have gone south for another year.

*Willow Warbler juvenile by the Ribble at Old Park Wood, look at those orange feet! (Mike Watson)*

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BLUE-HEADED WAGTAIL AT ALSTON

SEPTEMBER SWIFT