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SPRING ON THE RIVERBANK

River Ribble at Ribchester looking towards Pendle Hill

SPRING IS NOW WELL UNDERWAY ALONG THE RIVERBANK and today I added Blackcap and Stock Dove to the Ribchester year list, my walks this weekend and last totalling 49 and 40 species respectively, the former my highest so far, boosted by the summer migrants. There is now a pair of kingfishers along the Old Park Wood bank, which I hope will stay to breed and a Linnet was singing from the wire fence near Osbaldston Hall. Cormorants are few now and the winter thrushes have gone (although I did see a Fieldfare near Todmorden today during a futile attempt to see the hoopoe there). The Rib year list now stands at 68, with a few more easy ones still missing so I think somewhere between 80-90 is possible if I keep at it.

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EAST LANCS BIRDING

Great Crested Grebe and a Perch, East Lancashire

A VERY ENJOYABLE MORNING BIRDING IN EAST LANCS WITH ALAN McBRIDE started with a quick bite to eat at the A59 Scottish Restaurant, followed by a return to the dotterel on a very misty Pendle, where spring migrants also included six Ring Ouzels and five wheatears. Other notable birds today included a pair of Great Crested Grebes with two small youngsters on Barrow Upper Lodge, a Willow Warbler singing at Moor Piece, eight Common Redshank at Alston Wetland and an early whimbrel on Grimsargh Reservoir, where the supporting cast included 25 curlews, a drake Gadwall and two pairs each of shelduck and shoveler.

Willow Warbler, Moor Piece LWT Reserve

Alan McBride watching his first Ring Ouzels for 40 years on Pendle!

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PENDLE HILL DOTTEREL TIME!

The first dotterel of 2014 on Pendle Hill

EVERY DAY WITH MY FAVOURITE BIRD IS A SPECIAL ONE! A big thank you to John Metcalf, who found the first dotterel of 2014 on Pendle Hill today. After a fish and chips lunch and a pint at Hurst Green I made my annual pilgrimage up the hill and was very happy to catch up with this lovely bird. I was the only person here for most of the time in the late afternoon sunshine, joined later by Pendle regular Chris Tomlinson. The calls of golden plover, skylark, Meadow Pipit and Red Grouse filled the air just north of the trig point not far from where Barry James's ashes were scattered. He would have loved to see this one. Rest in peace Barry.

A little more shy than usual this bird eventually got used to my presence and fed actively only a few metres away

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BOWLAND FELLS

Eurasian Curlew, Bowland Fells

CURLEWS ARE ONE OF MY FAVOURITE BIRDS. I can never tire of them, whether it is on a windswept estuary in winter or watching their glorious bubbling song flights on the fells near where I live. We ought to spend more time watching them as in a global context they are one of our most threatened species, classified as 'near threatened' by Birdlife International it gets an amber warning rating, having declined by 53% in the UK during the period 1970-2005 and 37% over the period 1994-2006. I was hoping to record their song today but although it was perfectly still when I left the house, it was very windy up on the Bowland Fells...as always. Three wheatears were presumably newly arrived this week and there were still around 80 Fieldfares on Champion Moor. Six Golden Plover along Lord's Close Road were also new since last weekend on a lovely hazy spring morning.

Shorebirds like lapwings ought to benefit from the high water table at the moment!

Adder (or Common Viper), Bowland

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