HIGH IN CATALONIA'S SERRA DE BOUMORT (= 'mountain of the dead cow' on account of the cows that got their legs stuck in or were fatally injured in the rocky landscape) we enjoyed probably our best photo session so far for Lammergeiers. They are notoriously shy creatures and take some time to come down for a free meal, circling for ages and thoroughly checking the surrounding area for danger before risking a landing. The local population of these truly amazing birds continues to flourish, thanks to the regular supply of carrion put out for the last 30 years at several feeding stations in this part of the Pre-Pyrenees range. Here they are 'bone-swallowers' rather than 'bone-breakers', thanks to the ideally-sized sheep's limbs provided for them. As usual we saw all four regular Spanish vultures from the hide including an insane frenzy of griffons but the Lammers stole the show, also as usual. They have the look of a missing link about them and would not be out of place in such as Avatar with their striking plumage, beard (or rather moustache) and just under three meters wingspan! PH1 stomach acid allows the vultures to digest bone inside 24 hours - I have seen them swallow two sheep legs at one sitting previously.
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.
Noctule Bat hunting in midday sunshine at Ribchester
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.
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.