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SEPTEMBER SWIFT

A lone swift hawking for insects above Ribchester on 6 September. Note the Lammergeier tail shape (Mike Watson)

SEPTEMBER SWIFT is a term I learned from Steve Lister at Spurn in 1982. I think that was the first time I realised that most of them had already left the UK, bound for their winterting grounds in Africa by the end of August. Ever since, I have always been happy to see a swift in September, so imagine my delight when there was one wheeling over the village this morning! Our breeding swifts had all left a couple of weeks ago so I wonder where this one came from? Funny that the first four birds new for the month on my BTO BirdTrack walk today all began with the letter ‘S’ - the swift and then Sparrowhawk, Song Thrush and Siskin. Four nuthatches around the village this morning was also notable. Kingfisher and Grey Wagtail were both along the river by the school and the Tree Sparrow flock behind Lower Alston Farm has reached at least 61, with many juveniles. They obviously had a good breeding season. I didn’t walk from Old Park Wood to Lower Barn today owing to the amount of rain we had overnight meaning I would have got drenched cutting along the side of the maize field but instead spent about an hour with the Willow Warbler, which was still in the same riverside vegetation as yesterday and this time I was able to get some nice views of it in the early morning sunshine before the rain set in. There are fewer nicer birds around here than a lemon yellow juvenile Willow Warbler and I am making the most of them before they too have gone south for another year.

Willow Warbler juvenile by the Ribble at Old Park Wood, look at those orange feet! (Mike Watson)

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A SEPTEMBER BTO BIRDTRACK WALK IN RIBCHESTER

Common Whitethroat at Red Bank. Red Bank never lets us down! (Mike Watson)

MY FIRST COMPLETE SEPTEMBER LIST on the BTO’s BirdTrack along the river at Ribchester only just broke 40 species despite going slow and checking every bird, even scanning into the distance! It can be hard work at times but I appreciate being able to see birds like Little Egrets, Kingfishers and Tree Sparrows just a few minutes from my back doorstep. Alexander even found the first Little Egret today himself, he’s coming along regularly now. Notable sightings today included 8 Meadow Pipits flying south, they have started to move now and a gorgeous Common Whitethroat in the dell at Red Bank. A pair of oystercatchers was the first for a while but no Sand Martins were around today, maybe they have gone now? I am looking forward to what the rest of the autumn will bring. I am hoping to find an uncommon migrant in the willows along the river, let’s see what it will be.

Little Egrets on the River Ribble by Ribchester School (Mike Watson)

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THEY'RE ALL SINENSIS AREN'T THEY?

‘Continental’ Cormorant (juvenile, probably female) Ribchester August 2020 - the young birds always look a bit dopey to me

I’VE BEEN LOOKING AT CORMORANTS IN EAST LANCASHIRE since I got here in 2005, partly because there was little else to look at much of the time, and the overwhelming impression I get is that all the birds I see inland are of the sinensis subspecies, known as ‘Continental’ Cormorant. Many of them have obtuse gular patch angles and look distinctly shag-like. This angle needs to be more than 72 degrees to be clear of the most extreme nominate carbo birds and you can see the birds in these photos appear to be more like a 90 degrees right angle. This shouldn’t really be a big surprise as all the cormorants I see are miles inland and fishing in the River Ribble. They are also shot here from time to time as they obviously predate fish stocks so the youngsters are usually the most approachable for obvious reasons.

‘Continental’ Cormorant (immature), Ribchester August. 2020


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BACK ON THE RIVERBANK AGAIN

Spotted Flycatcher, Red Bank, Ribchester CLICK ON IMAGES FOR LIGHTBOX

MY DEFAULT BIRDING PLAN is to walk out of the back door, put my wellies on and head to the riverbank. Having done plenty of BTO BirdTrack walks this spring and finally passed the 100 species mark for Ribchester I’m building up some happy memories here. However, I hadn’t done any walks in the summer before so there must still be potential to find some surprises. The highlights of the last week or so along the riverbank between Ribchester village and Hothersall included a pair of Spotted Flycatchers feeding at least one newly fledged youngster at Red Bank. They were present each time I passed that way and were a real delight as they are so scarce locally these days. Another highlight was an apparent influx of Willow Warblers along the brook leading down to the Ribble from Lower Barn Farm. There were at least eight here at any one time, maybe more and were a mixture of adults and bright, yellow-bellied youngsters, flycatching in the lee of the hedgerow here. There was also a Chiffchaff and it was good to reaquaint myself with these two species in autumn, pretty easy really, especially the super bright juvenile Willow Warblers. They could easily just be local birds, although there has been a lot of immigration on the east coast in the last week so who knows?

Spotted Flycatcher habitat at Red Bank

Willow Warblers, near Lower Barn Farm, Ribchester

Today there was a Reed Warbler here as well. It popped up in a hawthorn and I was lucky to get a couple of images, which show the bluish grey legs, dark claws and prominent eye ring with very little supercilium, therefore ruling out the albeit much rarer other possibilities. There are only a couple of regular breeding sites for Reed Warbler in the ELOC area, although there are plenty just downstream at Brockholes. It was a surprising new patch bird nevertheless, I was expecting something like shelduck or Common Scoter instead.

European Reed Warbler, River Ribble near Lower Barn Farm, Ribchester - prominent eye-ring, very weak supercilium, blue grey legs and dark claws.

A Tree Pipit on Saturday flew up from a hawthorn by the riverbank, calling, also next to the cornfield, which is now very tall. I wonder if it has some pulling power for migrants? A Common Whitethroat was in the Himalayan Balsam at Lower Alston Farm, which is taking over the riverbank here like something out of the ‘Day of the Triffids’. The Little Egret tally hit five again this weekend, the same as Grey Heron, which are using the same newly sown field below Red Bank, the one from which the skylark was singing in the spring, that is also atrracting hundreds of Black-headed Gulls (up to 700) and just over 100 Lesser Black-backed Gulls. No Med Gulls, which is a pity as the location is ‘just below Flashers Wood’! I checked them several times but no luck yet. They are also feeding on the meadow on the Hothersall meander, which is being ploughed up at the moment, no doubt to make way for more ‘green concrete’.

A gorgeous Long-tailed Tit in the sallows below Lower Barn Farm, loosely associated with the Willow Warblers

Common Buzzard (a fairly typical adult, with a dark broad trailing edge to the wing and a bit ragged)

It has been striking how quiet things become in the afternoons along the riverbank at this time of year. Many resident birds are keeping out of sight, presumably moulting and remaining in the shadows. The number of species is way down on my springtime walks and it seems that a mere 40 is the new benchmark, despite a lot of effort. The following graphic of my patch Ribchester also shows I haven’t done any September or October walks yet either so there must be plenty of potential to add some new species, although I learned today there are another three that I am still missing that were seen so far this year - Little Owl, Common Cuckoo and… Common Scoter of course!

Blue represents 2020 sightings. I didn’t do much in June and July after lockdown eased and I’ve never done any complete lists in September or October.










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