LOOKING FOR A BITTERN

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Ancient Hawthorn with an Alder in the background, Chipping Moss.

THERE WAS NO SIGN OF THE BITTERN at Chipping Moss this weekend despite many hours searching. Shame, it is a rare bird in the ELOC area. I did see a few interesting things, notably a treecreeper with a flock of Long-tailed Tits, in an alder on the moss itself. Probably quite a good record there? Two Common Snipe, 14 Common Teal, 83 lapwings (over, west) and a female sparrowhawk were also here as well as a couple of reed buntings, Meadow Pipits, Greenfinches and a cormorant, which flew over going west. A flock of around 100 Common Gulls also headed west, probably a daily movement from Stocks and small groups of starlings flew towards the plantations on the fells north of Chipping at dusk. Two Brown Hares also sought sanctuary here from the sound of shotguns that filled the valley on both days. It would be easy to convince myself that the bittern has gone but I guess it will probably reappear next week, having tucked itself away somewhere out of sight. There are plenty of places it could hide on the moss. I also hiked up Pendle Hill on both days but just to the trig point and back and mostly in the dark on Sunday. The only birds seen up there were raven and golden plover both times and a few Red Grouse on Saturday. That's seven times so far this year. I wonder if I can keep it going?

ELOC year list: 84. Common Treecreeper

AFTER THE FLOOD

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Ribchester Bridge - the properties in this photo were flooded on Boxing Day and the River Ribble remains high after never ending rain.

THE EAST LANCS COUNTRYSIDE IS COMPLETLY SATURATED and every rain storm raises the level of the rivers. Fortunately the spells of heavy rain this weekend did not stop me from hiking up Pendle Hill twice. Saturday's walk was mostly in thick mist and rain and Sunday's was in deep slush. the overnight snow melting rapidly. A couple of ravens were the only birds of note. I've only added a single bird to my East Lancs yearlist this week too, a redpoll on the feeders at work on Friday. Alston Reservoirs on Saturday afternoon produced 8 Goosanders; 9 Common Goldeneye; 35 Eurasian Wigeon and 46 Common Teal of note. Even the regular Ribchester Grey Wagtails seem to be keeping a low profile but at least the escaped Trumpeter Swan was back on the riverbank this afternoon. Also Common Oystercatcher and kestrel were here too.

ELOC year list: 79. Lesser Redpoll.

ANOTHER RAINY DAY IN EAST LANCS

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Champion Moor - bleak.

ANOTHER GRIM DAY RAINED OFF BY LATE MORNING had started quite well with a Barn Owl over the A59 en route to Bowland, after which I added a few birds I had missed on New Year's Day at Stocks Reservoir, including Northern Pintail and Little Grebe but more notably Common Crossbill (4 over at the new hide) and a female Greater Scaup (another find by the Breaks family, thanks again!), my first in the ELOC recording area. This year has started quite well from that point of view! Two Jack Snipe were still present but unapproachable unfortunately and four Common Reed Buntings in the same area were new for 2016. I had a quick look for the reported Little Egrets on the way home at Skirden Beck without luck in the now pouring rain. A few pickups included Meadow Pipit at Bashall flood pool and both Common Oystercatcher and Tree Sparrow (10) at Parsonage Farm nearer to home. I also managed to see all the birds from yesterday, which had been 'o-o-a' so the year list is now 100% purely within the ELOC boundaries so far but still miles behind the Breaks family's first day total after three days. I'm not really trying yet though.

ELOC year list: 67. Western Barn Owl 68. Northern Pintail 69. Eurasian Jay 70. Common Reed Bunting 71. Eurasian Nuthatch 72. Common Crossbill 73. Greater Scaup 74. Little Grebe 75. Dunnock 76. Meadow Pipit 77. Common Oystercatcher 78. Eurasian Tree Sparrow.

SODDEN GROUSE

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Red Grouse - we're probably not the only ones becoming weary of the endless rain this winter.

A SPIN AROUND BOWLAND IN THE RAIN TODAY with Alexander did not produce much of interest, except for plenty of Red Grouse on the Fells. Looking rather fed up, soggy and bedraggled we managed around 20 in the usual places. A flock of 70 Northern Lapwings on Lord's Close Road was quite high up and I finally managed to find some Fieldfares there too, only four though so way below the numbers we normally see in the fields at this time of year. Otherwise I only saw a handful of new species for the year but I'm still not really trying. There was hardly anyone around today, unsurprising in such filthy weather. There weren't many birds either, most would be keeping their heads down until the rain passed.

ELOC year list: 60. Lesser Black-backed Gull 61. Collared Dove 62. Fieldfare 63. Northern Lapwing 64. Eurasian Bullfinch 65. Common Woodpigeon 66. Mute Swan