IBISBILL

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Ibisbill, Choglamsar, Ladakh

IBISBILLS WINTER IN SMALL NUMBERS IN THE INDUS VALLEY in Ladakh. These strange shorebirds are unique in filling an almost dipper-like niche along the fast flowing mountain rivers of the Himalayas and surrounding ranges of Central Asia. Their long curved bill is used to glean invertebrates from the shallows around invariably rounded stones along the edges of rivers and streams. In fact it is difficult to find a photo of them that does not have defocused smooth limestone rocks in the background. My first were almost 20 years ago in Nepal but here they were constantly disturbed by folks extracting gravel from the riverbeds for road construction. It was nice to see them relatively undisturbed along the sacred Indus in Ladakh, prayer flags fluttering from the nearby iron bridge across it at Choglamsar. Another unique feature is their purple legs during the breeding season (apparently the legs of ibisbills change color to a crimson similar to the bill shade shortly after death!).

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Ibisbill, Choglamsar, Ladakh - the waters of the sacred Indus turned rose gold in the evening light.

THE MOORLAND MADNESS CONTINUES

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Pendle Hill trig point looking towards the lights of Burnley.

THANK GOODNESS THE RAIN SEEMS TO HAVE STOPPED at last and both hikes up Pendle Hill this weekend were dry. That's 13 times so far this year. I could even see some daylight on Sunday after which I went for a spin around some of my old Bowland patch adding skylark at Champion Moor and stonechat at White Greet to the ELOC year list in the process. A male Brambling, found by Nigel(!), was on the feeders at work on Wednesday and Thursday and a small flock of 6 Lesser Redpolls was near the board house at Stocks today. No owls this week and I am still to see both Short-eared and Little in the ELOC recording area this year - a sign of how badly they are both doing these days unfortunately. There are also still quite a few other soft birds missing too, like kingfisher, Green Woodpecker and Red-legged Partridge for instance. I'm still not really trying though!

ELOC year list 89. Eurasian Skylark 90. Common Stonechat

WAITING FOR STORM IMOGEN

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Trumpeter Swan, Ribchester (it's still here in case anyone is interested, unringed but wing-clipped it has been here for over 10 years now).

THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEKEND WAS A FLOCK OF FIVE SHELDUCK flying west over Alston Reservoirs at Longridge, while watching gulls arrive to roost on No.4 reservoir on Sunday afternoon. There were no scarce gulls amongst around 500 gulls of five species, one Great Black-backed was the most interesting. Oystercatchers have built up to 22, many must be getting ready to head upriver again and three Goldeneye was the only other notable sighting. I hiked up Pendle twice again, both times up and down in the dark during gaps in the rain, that's 11 times so far this year. I'm looking forward to being able to go up during daylight again soon. I heard Golden Plover on the summit both times as well as a Tawny Owl calling from Ing Ends in the valley below and a Barn Owl was sitting on a stone wall by the roadside on Saturday morning. Most peope now think I'm completely nuts but I quite enjoy hiking at night, the lights of the Colne Valley shining far below and the dark void of Pendle Hill make a nice contrast. I think it goes back to when I did the White Rose Walk on the North York Moors when was a kid in the 1970s. Storm Imogen is due to hit tomorrow, more strong winds and rain from the North Atlantic. Well at least it managed not to spoil my weekend walking.

ELOC year list 88. Common Shelduck

MOORLAND MADNESS

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Darkness at Pendle trig point.

CONTINUING MY MOORLAND-MADNESS-MINI-LEAGUE-OF-ONE (thanks for the title Bill!) I hiked up and down Pendle in the dark on both days this weekend. Surprsingly I even got an ELOC year tick in the process, a Tawny Owl in the pines in the small plantation at Pendleside Farm. The first time I have seen one here! Sunday's walk was number nine this year and the worst yet by far in driving snow and sleet. Just perfect training for what is coming next month. A few stops on Saturday morning added a couple more species to my ELOC little year. See how it has taken me all month to overtake the Breaks's January 1st total! At Chipping Moss (there was no sign of the bittern again) three Eurasian Curlews on the moss itself were the first returning birds I've seen this year and a pair of dippers was on the brook by the road just downstream from the small stone bridge. Five Stock Doves and a lovely Barn Owl hunting on the moss were also notable here. A Redwing, several Greenfinches and a siskin also flew over and a Meadow Pipit, a Common Snipe and a pair of Canada Geese were on the moss. I couldn't find anything else of interest around Longridge and Alston and I gave up when it started to hail. It seems we're back to a succession of depressions again. Ugh.

ELOC year list: 85. Eurasian Curlew 86. White-throated Dipper 87. Tawny Owl