A RARE VISITOR TO PENDLE HILL

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Alexander and his daddy on Pendle Hill, first time up!

ALEXANDER'S FIRST TIME ON PENDLE HILL went much better than expected. He simply walked straight up without a complaint until near the top. It will not be long until I can say 'I wish I had his energy!'. Three Ring Ouzels were on the rocky slopes from the landslide trail and at least four wheatears were in the same area. Spring is definitely here now! The only new birds for the year in the ELOC area in the last couple of days were a Blackcap singing near Bolton-by-Bowland, a pair of linnets at Green Bank Quarry, Longridge and an early whimbrel at Alston Wetland. 

ELOC year list: 108. Blackcap 109. Common Linnet 110. Eurasian Whimbrel

THE SMALLEST LIST PLODS ON

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Whooper Swans, Stocks Reservoir.

THIS YEAR HAS APPARENTLY ALREADY SEEN A GOOD PASSAGE OF WHOOPER SWANS THROUGH EAST LANCS and I thought my chance had gone until the autumn. So I was very happy to see a flock of 25 resting in the Hodder Inlet of Stocks Reservoir today. Then I looked at my phone and saw they had already been reported. A guy who I chatted to briefly about photography was being frog-marched around the circular walk by his disinterested mates and didn't want to walk a few metres down to the hide to look at them. 'I've seen them at Slimbridge already' he said. I didn't have the inclination to tell him that they would have been Bewick's Swans and not Whoopers. A Black-tailed Godwit at Alston was also my first of the year in the ELOC area. Uncommon shorebirds have been scarce there so far but April is THE month for them so hopefully there are more to come soon. The smallest list plods on then. Otherwise Alexander also saw his first adders today, a very exciting moment for him to get very close to them and see what beautiful and placid creatures they are.

ELOC year list: 103. Black-tailed Godwit 104. Whooper Swan

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Black-tailed Godwit, Alston Wetland.

WILLOW WARBLERS RETURN

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Willow Warbler singing in East Lancs

WILLOW WARBLER IS ONE OF THE EARLIEST RETURNING TRANS-SAHARAN MIGRANTS, with most arriving in the first week of April. They have poured back into East Lancs this week and are busy establishing territories. I stopped off at a regular site for them today to find four males singing in an area of young conifers. Eventually the trees will grow too tall, becoming unsuitable for the warblers and they will have to find somewhere else. Sadly they are declining across the UK but appear still to be very common in East Lancs.

ELOC year list: 100. Little Owl 101. Gadwall 102. Willow Warbler

IBISBILL

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Ibisbill, Choglamsar, Ladakh

IBISBILLS WINTER IN SMALL NUMBERS IN THE INDUS VALLEY in Ladakh. These strange shorebirds are unique in filling an almost dipper-like niche along the fast flowing mountain rivers of the Himalayas and surrounding ranges of Central Asia. Their long curved bill is used to glean invertebrates from the shallows around invariably rounded stones along the edges of rivers and streams. In fact it is difficult to find a photo of them that does not have defocused smooth limestone rocks in the background. My first were almost 20 years ago in Nepal but here they were constantly disturbed by folks extracting gravel from the riverbeds for road construction. It was nice to see them relatively undisturbed along the sacred Indus in Ladakh, prayer flags fluttering from the nearby iron bridge across it at Choglamsar. Another unique feature is their purple legs during the breeding season (apparently the legs of ibisbills change color to a crimson similar to the bill shade shortly after death!).

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Ibisbill, Choglamsar, Ladakh - the waters of the sacred Indus turned rose gold in the evening light.