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COMMON SCOTER IN RIBCHESTER

Common Scoter (female), near Waterside Farm, Ribchester in a golden sunrise.

THE KEY WORD IS ‘IN’… RIBCHESTER! I said ‘Hi’ to Phil on the riverbank this morning. ‘No luck with otters so far’ and then…’BAM!’. ‘Female Common Scoter’ on the river right next to us off the allotments. I hadn’t really expected we could get one actually on the river here as it isn’t that wide but there it was. No nocmig sound record or infrared-night-time-flyover-dot this one! But instead prolonged views of this terrific sea duck, pausing for some reason at the start of its trans-Pennine migration. Recent studies have shown that they migrate almost exclusively at night from the Irish Sea to the east coast and this one did not get very far. I wonder if it could possibly be the Brockholes bird last reported on the River Ribble there on 27 March? It was well-behaved enough to wait for Kris and Rachel to arrive as well.

We don’t get many interesting duck species on the patch in Ribchester so two in one day was exceptional when a drake Red-breasted Merganser appeared on the river below us at Red Bank. It afforded some great views as it slowly swam upstream towards Boat House. I am guessing that, in view of its genuine rarity in the lower valley area, it was the same bird as on 8 April.

Other interesting sightings today included a Little Ringed Plover song-flighting along the riverbank, one Common Redshank over Lower Alston Farm, a flock of around 30 Fieldfares in oaks north of Red Bank (it is getting late for this winter visitor now!), two singing Eurasian Skylarks (one of which was paired up), several Meadow Pipits, at least four singing Willow Warblers on the same circuit as last Sunday and flyover Linnet and redpoll. All on a glorious sunny spring morning that warmed up nicely after the overnight frost.

So April presses ahead as the best month of the year, now on 85 bird species (all time)/78 (2021) and my Ribchester patch list moves up to 117 (all time)/89 (2021). It’s all good fun!

Red-breasted Merganser (drake), Boat House, Ribchester.

Common Scoter complete with Ribchester riverbank evidence!

The regular Tawny Owl had switched perches today!

Eurasian Skylark still clings on in the farmland around Ribchester.

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RIBCHESTER OSPREY NO.#2

The second Ribchester osprey in a week! A collage of the 1529 sighting. CLICK IMAGES FOR LIGHTBOX

MORE SKY-GAZING FROM THE BENCHES BY THE SCHOOL PRODUCED ANOTHER OSPREY TODAY. At 1450 I noticed a group of Black-headed Gulls form a very tight flock as they flew upstream, calling noisily, looked up into the sky and bingo! Another Osprey! However, on a day of fluffy cotton wool clouds and huge updrafts this one was very high in the clouds. I fired off a few record shots and called Phil but it was quickly lost in the whiteness. Staring at the sky for almost another 40 minutes and nothing until 1529. BAM! There it was again, this time flying downstream from the benches, pausing for a while to hover over the river just down from Lower Alston Farm. Checking photos later it appears to be the same bird (as you would expect). It has a couple of distinctive notches in the trailing edge of the left wing and it has quite a ragged tail. The wing pattern looks a little different in the photos but the first set, when the bird was further away, is so much poorer resolution and the detail is insufficient to compare the barring etc. It was another adult, like the bird on Thursday.

The morning walk produced a respectable total of 58 species and highlights were no fewer than three skylarks, two of them singing, one over the meadow on the opposite side of the river to Boat House and the other singing overhead at Red Bank. These could have been the same bird of course but it was chasing with another Red Bank so there were definitely at least two. A rare bird down in the valley nowadays. A Jay was at Red Bank and three kingfisher sightings included a pair downstream from Boat House. A Redpoll and three Reed Buntings were at Red Bank and the pair of Little Ringed Plovers was still along the riverside. Spring migrants included two singing Willow Warblers, two chiffhcaffs and five Blackcaps. Mammals were quite in evidence on another glorious sunny spring day with nine hares, a rabbit, two Roe Deer and an otter.

A zoomed-in collage of the 1450 Osprey sighting.

A zoomed-in collage of the 1450 Osprey sighting.

Common Gull (second calendar year). They become very infrequent around Rib by mid April..

One of Ribchester’s terrific old willow trees.

A rather precariously over-hanging willow. It’s days are numbered sadly so enjoy it while you can.

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GULLS!

Little Gull, adult hawking for insects over Alston No.#1 reservoir CLICK IMAGES FOR LIGHTBOX

GULLS WERE THE MAIN FEATURE OF A BRIGHT AND SUNNY SPRING DAY and I saw seven species within 5km of Ribchester! The highlights being the lovely adult Little Gull at Alston, found by Gavin Thomas and a second calendar year Iceland Gull that flew east at Red Bank at 1046 (a new patch bird for me, identified later from photos with help from Pete Morris, Gavin Thomas and Bill Aspin). There were at least three adult Mediterranean Gulls in the Red Bank area today, no doubt attracted by a combination of slurry spreading and a huge insect emergence on the river. A Peregrine was in the Ribchester area this morning. Unfortunately it was a bit of a mess and showed some ‘non-physiological’ feather damage, which is being scrutinised. A Reed Bunting flew north during a small movement of Meadow Pipits at Red Bank - the first on the Ribchester patch this year.

It was great to see around 60 Sand Martins too, excavating nest burrows and getting back to normal after the Arctic weather last week. There was only a handful of swallows today though. Buzzards were again well into double figures and included one kettle of 8 birds mixed with gulls at Red Bank, an awesome sight!

At Alston there were also two Black-tailed Godwits, two Redshank, three Little Ringed Plovers and a drake Gadwall of note on a splendid day on the local patch that resulted in 63 species. Other stats are now Ribchester 2021 (88) and all time (116), Ribchester April 2021 (74) & Ribchester April all time (82), making April the most productive month of the year.

Iceland Gull (second calendar year) heading east at Red Bank, Ribchester

Iceland Gull, note the light bill

Mediterranean Gull, breeding plumage adult at Red Bank, Ribchester

Little Gull, Alston

Little Gull and Black-headed Gull, Alston

Little and Black-headed Gulls, look at that size difference!

Peregrine (second calendar year), maybe the bird which has been in the area on and off all winter?

Peregrine, showing worrying feather damage, watch this space for an analysis soon.

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RIBCHESTER OSPREY!

Osprey over Ribchester (collage, photos by Phil Larkin)

AT LAST! After so many hours spent sky gazing this spring an Osprey finally flew over Ribchester riverside. We had done the short version of our usual walk along Shorton Lane without much to show for our efforts in the gusty westerly wind. A couple of swallows were battling into it, their numbers way down and I suspect some will have perished in the frosts and windchill of the last couple of days, and we were well pleased to see a drake Red-breasted Merganser fly downstream past Churchgates! This is a rare bird this far down in the valley even though it breeds in several places not far away in Bowland. Phil suggested we try watching from the benches for a while before we packed in, ‘hoping for a double ?’ I joked. I rang Bill Aspin to order some merganser factoids and just as I was moaning that Stocks was getting yet more osprey action (and we still hadn’t managed to see one this spring)...’OSPREY!’ I yelled into the mobile as one swung into view right in front of us only just above rooftop level. It crossed the river and headed north over the allotments (and therefore Phil’s house). Wow! That was exciting! Another ‘I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited about a _____’ moment. A couple of other Rib lane-walking regulars managed to see it before it flew north out of sight. Looking at Phil’s photos it looks like an adult with a dark tail band and solid black greater coverts. Phil had one do almost exactly the same thing on 6 April last year and it is ironic that the factoid request revealed that Red-breasted Merganser is actually a much rarer bird on the lower Ribble than Osprey! There have only been four records at Brockholes! Oh and sorry to deafen you Bill.

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