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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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GREEN WARBLER AT BUCKTON

Green Warbler, Buckton, East Yorkshire 11 September 2021

SOME NUMBERS INCREASED BY ONE THIS WEEKEND. That’s about what my birding amounted to. First of all a Pectoral Sandpiper at lunchtime on 10 September at Alstion Wetland, found by Gavin Thomas, was a new bird for the Ribchester 5KO and the East Lancs ELOC area for me. It spent the brief few minutes I was there creeping around the far shore of the wetland lagoon, so basically rubbish views before I had to go and move my car so Phil and I decided to shove off home/back to work.

Secondly the Green Warbler at Buckton in East Yorkshire moved my UK list on by one as well. Many thanks to Rocket for the lift and another grand day out. The warbler kept us waiting in the dell for almost three hours, which is bascially Mark Thomas’s ringing station project. Top marks and many thanks to him for his years of hard work that culminated in this 8th record for Britiain and only 2nd for the mainland. The crowd of birders assembled by the dell had been instructed by Mark to stay back and he did a brilliant job of keeping it a pleasant atmosphere with no-one rushing the bird, which returned to a small crab apple tree, surrounded by willows waving in the wind in the middle of the dell. It was apparent that some folks still need to spend some time getting know Willow Warblers, of which there was a couple and a Yellow Wagtail flew north, calling. I have been talking about what next after White-tailed Lapwing and Sykes’s Warbler from Central Asia, so what next then?

Oh and there was the Black-browed Albatross on Staple Newk at Bempton Cliffs RSPB reserve as well, a bit distant and then it flew directly out to sea to continue the series of poor distant views. This didn’t seem to matter too much, it was great to catch up with some friends today as well.

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DAMP RIVERBANK

A young Blackcap finding a ready supply of insects at Red Bank

IT HAS RAINED EVERY DAY FOR WEEKS NOW. Today was no exception although the forecasted storm did not occur during my walk along the riverbank. Everything is damp, especially the air. The variety of bird life is slowly increasing again and my walks usually exceed 40 bird species. Four ravens over Red Bank was a welcome sight as was the Spotted Flycatcher, which continues in the dell there. The hedgerows are alive with parties of young Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tits accompanied by a Chiffchaff and a couple of Willow Warblers. Grey Herons are still just ahead of Little Egrets at 5-4 today but their days are certainly numbered. This morning’s walk even had a few butterflies (scarce around Ribchester at the best of times) including Gatekeeper and Speckled Wood. There were also Brown Hawker dragonflies on the wing patroling the hawthorns at Red Bank and along Shorton Lane.

Evening watches this week produced an Osprey on 19 August, which roosted by the river in the herons’ favourite dead tree in Old Park Wood but sadly was not present again in the following days. Seven curlews NW and a single snipe over on the same evening was also notable. There was still a couple of swifts among the Sand Martins. House Martins and Swallows on 21 August, they will soon all be gone and with the maize crop at Lower Alston Farm much reduced this year there are fewer swallows roosting there, maybe around 20 this week. Things feel more exciting now that we are approaching September and there will soon be many more migrants on the move.

Spotted Flycatcher at Red Bank, always welcome!

Look downstream at Red Bank, the silage grass meadow monocultures looking unaturally green today.

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SUMMER SLIPS AWAY

A fresh juvenile Willow Warbler peers down from a hawthorn bush

WILLOW WARBLERS WHISTLING IN THE HEDGEROWS, A SIGN THAT SUMMER IS SLIPPING AWAY in Ribchester. As well as their subtley different calls, their bright orange feet, lemon-washed underparts and long wing points distinguish them from chiffchaffs, which usually reappear after the midsummer quiet a little later. Species diversity is still quite low in early August but other signs of autumn today included the first cormorant for weeks, a couple of Little Egrets and a major movement of 102 lapwings, flying downstream ahead of the thunderstorms to the east. There is no reason for them to linger. Typical birds of the riverbank were still around today including kingfisher, Grey Wagtail and Common Sandpiper by the school and several flocks of Sand Martins as far as Red Bank. Two jays flew over and landed in the hedge by Lower Alston Farm and several Gatekeeper butterflies were at Red Bank.

Willow Warblers are a very welcome feature of the early autumn around the village

Willow Warbler, a more typical view

Lapwings heading west, downstream towards the Ribble Estuary

The riverbank of the Ribble at Ribchester is quiet again with just a few fishermen now that the paddling and swimming day-trippers seem to have gone

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