AUTUMN SLOWDOWN ON THE RIVERBANK

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After the rain followed blue skies and birds of prey: Peregrine, Eurasian Sparrowhawk and Common Kestrel

THE RIBBLE VALLEY AROUND RIBCHESTER IS QUIETLY SETTLING DOWN FOR WINTER, I didn’t see a single summer migrant this weekend and our winter visitors are now arriving. A couple of BTO BirdTrack walks along the riverbank were pretty quiet, mostly owing to another series of heavy showers tracking across East Lancashire. There was nothing new for the year this weekend and highlights were rather few. Woodpigeons are still on the move south across the river and I tallied a total of around 460 over the two days but most of the winter thrushes have pushed through now. Redwings barely made three figures after the big numbers last weekend and Fieldfares didn’t even pass the 40 mark. Little Egrets peaked at four on Saturday and there were only a couple of Grey Herons around, there were no goosanders and I haven’t seen a goldeneye yet this autumn. I guess they will probably appear next month? The best sighting of the weekend was another (or the same) juvenile Peregrine that was toying with Carrion Crows over Red Bank today as the sun came out after this morning’s torrential rain showers. A sparrowhawk and kestrel followed in blue skies but the farmland around Ribchester was otherwise very quiet today. The hawthorns are bare now but they do hold a decent berry crop, the fields are waterlogged and I noticed a nice looking flood pool in a field above Parsonage Farm that I haven’t check before. I will have to include it on my regular walk now!

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Early morning on the riverbank

RISE OF THE WOODPIGEONS

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Part of the cloud of woodpigeons over the Ribble Valley on Sunday 18 October

HARDLY EXCITING BUT THERE’S A BIG PUSH OF WOODPIGEONS GOING SOUTH AT THE MOMENT is what I wrote on the East Lancs WhatsApp group yesterday. Well that was yesterday and the ‘big push’ by Ribchester standards was only 216. Today the estimated number was around 1700, including one mega flock of around 1200 birds that was flushed from the direction of Red Bank/Old Park Wood by a hot air balloon. I’ve not seen something like this before! Other highlights of my BTO BirdTrack walks around Ribchester included a flock of nine Whooper Swans that flew east low over Lower Alston Farm while watching a male Brambling and a Tree Pipit feeding in the same insect-laden sycamore! The Brambling was only my second in Ribchester. They are very uncommon here. The other main feature of the weekend was the arrival of the winter thrushes, Redwings and Fieldfares (780 and 145 respectively logged over the two days). They were everywhere in small groups. Redwings were feeding on the grass by the allotments, bursting out of every hawthorn and filling the bushes at Red Bank. Fieldfares were all only seen in flight, ‘chacking’ overhead. Blackbirds peaked at a minimum of 41 on Sunday, again they seem to be everywhere at the moment. Robins too, ticking away in the dark on my pre-dawn walk to the riverbank.

Another Peregrine powered over Red Bank towards the village and nine Little Egrets flew upstream on Saturday morning. There were still a few swallows around on Sunday morning with groups of three over the allotments and Lower Alston Farm. Surely these will be the last of the summer? A couple of skylarks were on the newly-cut maize field on Saturday with a good number of Pied Wagtails and Meadow Pipits but they were not here again on Sunday. The wagtails were chasing them non-stop so no surprise they had gone. I saw three Long-tailed tit flocks on Saturday but no luck yet with the hoped-for Yellow-browed Warbler despite much searching! A Noctule bat on Sunday morning along the river was nice and it is also interesting to see that Herring Gull has now replaced Lesser Black-backed Gull as the default large gull in the skies.

October now stands at 69 species and is therefore the fourth best month of the year on my Ribchester patch behind September, August and May in that order. The Rib year list is now on 99! One to go, what will it be?

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A collage of one of Sunday’s nine Whooper Swans

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Eurasian Skylark - a rare sight on the ground in Ribchester!