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SPRING MIGRATION RESUMES IN THE RIBBLE VALLEY

A big, bold female Northern Wheatear at Alston is no doubt on its way to somewhere far to the northwest of here.

AFTER A COUPLE OF WEEKS OF COLD NORTHERLIES AND FROSTS, as soon as the wind veered to the southeast, spring bird migration picked up again and new arrivals started to appear locally. Although wheatears were spotted on both Gannow Fell and at Alston in March, these were local/UK-breeding birds and the birds appearing on passage migration now are heading much further northwest to Iceland, Greenland and maybe even beyond? One such bird was on the stone bank of Alston No.#1 Reservoir on 23 April, where there was also a Lesser Whitethroat singing nearby. Another bird passing through Ribchester on 24 April (maybe Iceland-bound?) was a White Wagtail on the riverbank opposite Churchgates, see photo below. Cuckoo and Common Sandpiper were back in their usual spots on Friday 23 April, an early hobby was seen circling over Lower Alston Farm and Glynn Anderton saw a swift on Stoneygate Lane, both on 25 April. There was another swift on the same day at Alston but the rarest migrants locally were more Yellow Wagtails, flying north, calling, over Gannow Fell on 24 April and at Alston on 26 April. However, we are still waiting for House Martin, Spotted Flycatcher, Common Whitethroat, Garden and Sedge Warblers around the village so there are still plenty of spring migrants to look for. By the way I don’t intend to post locations for breeding birds from now but if you are a local birder and need help seeing something then please DM me.

The whimbrel roost at Alston is one of the highlights of the birding year as northbound birds (again probably heading for Iceland) spend a few days staging in meadows of the lower Ribble Valley. The evening of 24 April saw a new record of 147 birds, watched from the central screen along Pinfold Lane. Apart from a handful of early evening birds, the main arrival from the surrounding fields is usually just after sunset and is a sight and sound to behold. The Lancashire synchronised count on the evening of 25 April totalled 1294, with an awesome 488 at Barnarce! Alston scored a very respectable 141. There will be another synchro-count on 2 May. Up to three gorgeous breeding-plumaged Black-tailed Godwits (of Icelandic origin) were at Alston in recent days, along with three golden plovers on 23 April, also in breeding plumage. These were northern birds, a couple of them with solid jet black faces. Golden-spangled beauties headed far away from here. Looking ahead, the showers on Tuesday will probably ground an interesting shorebird or two at Alston and the next couple of weeks is usually the best period of the spring for them here.

Winter visitors are not quite all gone though! Phil Larkin photographed a late Whooper Swan over the river from ‘The Tush’ very early on 25 April!

White Wagtail, Ribchester 24 April. ‘White Wagtail and Pied Wagtail: a new look’ by Peter Adriaens, Davy Bosman & Joris Elst is a good reference and this bird looks to have a Grey Scale score of c7 on its scapulars and flanks putting it comfortably lighter and outside the range for subspecies yarrellii (i.e. Pied Wagtail) and a score of 0/1 for the extent of grey on the flanks, which strongly suggests White Wagtail but does not completely rule out Pied. The head pattern is spot on for a male White Wagtail though with a very sharp demarcation of the black hood and grey mantle and a large gap between the black on the sides of the neck. The rump can’t be seen clearly in my photos so is of no use either way but without seeing the rump I can’t completely rule out an intergrade.

Whimbrels coming in to roost at Alston Wetland

Whimbrel motion blur at Alston Wetland

Two of the northern European Golden Plovers at Alston

And the winner of unnecessary sign of the week is…

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RETURN TO PENDLE

A steady passage of northern golden plovers across Pendle Summit was the highlight of my first visit since last May. Check those black faces!

THE MOURNFUL CALLS OF GOLDEN PLOVERS ECHOED ACROSS PENDLE SUMMIT this morning. As well as a song-flighting, local breeding bird there was a steady movement of goldies heading northeast off the summit just after dawn. I haven’t seen anything like this before. Just the occasional party but never a continuous movement of birds. They all appeared to be black-faced northern birds as well, flying uphill to the summit from the Ogden Clough direction and obviously bound for somewhere far away from here. The largest single group was 13 birds but most parties were only five or six. The movement had stopped by 0800 and totalled 127 by that time. This more than made up for failing to find any dotterel on what would have almost a certainty 15 years on this date in light SSE winds. There is plenty of time yet this soring of course. Also on Pendle were four wheatears and a few Red Grouse of note and below the hill I only saw one displaying lapwing but at least there is still a Tawny Owl in its usual spot.

Unfortunately the hill is in a bad way these days. The new ‘mega path’ is eroding already (hardly surprising considering its design) and the walk to the summit now looks more like a dual carriageway is being built up there. The way the beautifully weathered gritstone was treated during the works was a disgrace with caterpillar tracked vehicles driven over the ‘mini-Cairngorms’ area that was once a favourite spot for dotterel and now the rocks below the landslide trail have been smashed up during recent repair work. There is more litter than there used to be, including face masks (a new phenomenon) and dog shit bags (on old one). There is now even a stall selling snacks by the Pendleside stile. While new folks wanting to visit might still enjoy Pendle, those who had been before the ‘improvement’ works will be shocked by the sad state of the hill now. On a brighter note I haven’t seen the grass as short on the summit for many years and there is plenty of dotterel habitat away from the hideous pathways.

Badly eroded ‘road’ to the summit. What ever were they thinking of?

Mega path showing signs of wear already

Recent repairs now include a pipe under the path

Unsightly smashed up gritstone blocks on the landslide (old weathered ones to the rear and right).

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ALSTON OSPREY

18 April Alston Osprey collage

2021 ELOC OSPREY NO. #3 FOR ME flew over Alston Reservoirs this evening at 1853–1902. It makes a nice change from missing them, which is what I normally do, however, I have made more effort than usual this spring. It was lucky that I turned around and scanned to the south from the central screen when I did, so I picked it up flying in from way to the south. This allowed enough time for Gavin Thomas to scramble and intercept it as it flew from no.#1 reservoir and crossed to no. #2, before pausing to hover briefly and then continue away over the town. I wouldn’t mind a closer osprey this spring but it is always a thrill to see one on migration. Gav tells me they detour to take a look in each reservoir without fail as they fly north over the site. It was getting quite late in the day and we wondered where it might roost this evening.

The rest of the evening’s birding at Alston was fun with highlights the nine whimbrels that flew in to roost with 38 curlews after sunset. A lovely sight and sound although it was all curlew song rather than piping whimbrels. A drake shelduck flew in too and four shovelers were present - more new 2021 5km-from-home-list birds! Other birds on the wetland included a Great Black-backed Gull, nine teal, two Tufted Duck, two snipe and Little Ringed Plovers and three redshanks. Five Goosander was apparently a recent peak count and a flock of 58 Fieldfares was in the trees that line the fields to the south of Pinfold Lane. Spring migration through the ELOC area is always an anjoyable time of year!

Curlews at dusk with a few early whimbrels

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HARE HIGHLIGHTS

Brown Hare, Ribchester

BROWN HARES ARE VERY CONSPICUOUS AROUND RIBCHESTER at the moment, as the grass in the fields is a little late in growing following the very cold start to the month. It always amazes me how daft they are, sometimes oblivious to me, when I crouch down. Standing up they keep their distance. Birding today included the first Yellow Wagtail for me and Phil in the village. I imagine the meadows in the valley were once full of them but they have not bred in East Lancs since I have been here and that’s over 15 years now. Three very loud single ‘tseeeep’ calls signalled its presence as we saw it fly over us on Shorton Lane and then over the farm towards the river. We spent some time trying to relocate it without any luck but I am not allowed off the footpaths here anymore so that was that.

Other highlights today included three Little Ringed Plovers opposite Churchgates, our highest number so far. There was a lot of song-flghting but one pair of them later flew west over Lower Barn. A redshank was on the field pool above Parsonage Farm where there are some excellent signs asking for dogs to be kept on leads in the field where the lapwings are nesting. There was a pair of skylarks here again today and three Greylag Geese too. A pair of Reed Buntings was on another field pool, a very scarce breeding bird down in the valley and I heard five singing Willow Warblers on my circuit this morning, also my highest count so far. No Common Sandpiper, whitethroat or redstart yet though but they have already reached nearby Alston and Brockholes so any day now but it looks like yesterday’s Fieldfares may have gone.

Reed Bunting, male moulting into breeding plumage - almost there now!

A lovely cloudscape over Ribchester at dawn this morning, forming high heaps of Altocumulus

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