EASTER MONDAY

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Pendle Hill at dawn from the A59 near Clitheroe

ANOTHER DAY OF HIKING on Pendle Hill and later around Ribchester added a few more newly arrived migrants. On the hill the Grasshopper Warbler was still present reeling from a bed of rushes on the lower slopes, where two male stonechats were staking their territories, a couple of golden plovers were in the mist at the summit and two more redpolls flew north calling. My usual circuit at Ribchester added four new migrants - Common Sandpiper on the river at Osbaldeston Hall, three House Martins flying north over fields near Boat House, a Common Whitethroat singing near Parsonage Farm and two singing Willow Warblers along the stream north of there, taking me over 70 species for the year and still plenty of quite easy ones left to see. However, the biggest surprise was a couple of Noctule Bats hunting insects with the hirundines along the River Ribble in the sunshine just after midday. I have never seen this before but Bill Aspin tells me it is not uncommon at Brockholes just downstream. There were quite a few butterflies around today, almost all Peacocks and Small Tortoiseshells but also a couple of Speckled Woods at the Willow Warbler site.

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Noctule Bat hunting in midday sunshine at Ribchester

Willow Warbler singing on breeding territory in response to a rival singing bird, Eurasian Wren singing and Great Tit calling in the background.

BLEAK EASTER PENDLE

The mournful sound of a golden plover's songflight in a blasting easterly wind on Pendle

PENDLE HILL WAS EVIL TODAY in a blasting, cold easterly wind that was so strong at times I could hardly stand up at the summit. Consequently there were few birds, just a couple of local breeding wheatears and a flock of 15 golden plovers. I recorded the distant songflight of one yesterday as it struggled into a strong head-wind. Their mournful call is one of the sounds of my childhood birding walks on the moors near my grandparents' home in Weardale. There have not been any more dotterels yet but it is surely only a matter of time and it is weather like today's that produced a ringed plover on the summit a few years ago. It was interesting to note that the Christian fundamentalists who attached a wooden cross to the trig point took it down today, Easter Sunday. It wasn't a very impressive feat to carry such a small cross up the hill either, so small it was suitable only for crucifying a small child or a squirrel but I suppose it is the thought that counts.

BOWLAND PIED FLYCATCHER

Pied Flycatcher singing in mixed deciduous woodland in Bowland, East Lancashire with a background chorus including Blackbird, Robin, Chaffinch, Wren, Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler above the distant traffic noise

PIED FLYCATCHERS IS ONE OF OUR EARLIER RETURNING TRANS-SAHARAN MIGRANTS and is back on its territory in East Lancashire by mid April. I spent a few hours over the last couple of days watching one deliver its jaunty song in between scrapping with every other bird that came anywhere near its chosen nest box. Even a poor little Goldcrest was sent on its way. Of course Great Tits came in for the worst treatment and it may come as a surprise that such a cute little bird is so feisty when it comes to protecting its chosen nest site. The pretty wooded valleys of Bowland are one of its strongholds and, once you learn its song, Pied Flycatchers are easy to find in early spring. However, when the leafy canopy of the woodland develops they become much more difficult to track down.

PENDLE GRASSHOPPER WARBLER

Grasshopper Warbler singing from a bed of rushes at the foot of Pendle Hill with Common Blackbird singing in background, sheep and an aircraft overhead.

THE GRASSHOPPER WARBLER, WHICH JOHN METCALF FOUND LAST WEEKEND REELING in a bed of rushes at the foot of Pendle was the highlight of another lovely walk on the hill. There were a few migrants around including at least 10 Northern Wheatears, 10 golden plovers and we also heard two redpolls flying north over the summit this morning. John had another four Ring Ouzels as he went up the steps early this morning but they were not present later, however, four stonechats were very welcome - two males and a pair below the 'long wall'. We also found the remains of a lapwing here, presumably taken by a fox?