DISMAL

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Great Black-backed Gull (second winter) collage, Ribchester 29 November 2020

A TYPICAL DREARY EAST LANCASHIRE MORNING, overcast and dull, silent and grey, ‘Everyday is like Sunday’ etc. I can’t remember such a quiet viz mig session, the only highlights being three separate Great Black-backed Gulls (one adult/near adult and two second winters), a single Little Egret and the only Linnet so far this month. There wasn’t even a single cormorant today. Something has obviously happened to them since yesterday. However, local residents like Grey Wagtail and Kingfisher were still around (one from the allotments and another downstream from Osbaldeston Hall, where there was still a small flock of Fieldfares).

There was quite a lot of disturbance today: lots of fishermen on the banks, dog walkers and a noisy chainsaw but there was generally very little happening anyway. There was an influx of woodcocks to the east coast in the last couple of days so we can probably expect some in the woodlands around Ribchester next week. I should make an effort to find one. We are still also waiting for Goldeneye for 2020, not having done any BTO BirdTrack walks in January/February this year.

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Common Blackbird, females can look surprisingly Song Thrush-like. Reminds me of an old b&w BB mystery bird photo

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Well the recently decimated hedgerows are good for something… unobscured images of Blackbirds

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… and Song Thrushes

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Just imagine if this was a rarity, like it is in Beijing? Or maybe when we have to sift through bluetails to find one in 2100?

RAIN STOPPED PLAY

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Mediterranean Gull collage, Ribchester 28 November

I MUST HAVE CHECKED THOUSANDS OF GULLS AT RIBCHESTER IN RECENT MONTHS and no Med Gull, until 9AM this morning and BAM! A nice adult flew upriver from the allotments. Every morning Black-headed Gulls drop in from the northwest, presumably having roosted at Alston Reservoirs, where there have been up to three Mediterranean Gulls lately so it has been on the cards. There are usually a few Herring Gulls and Common Gulls as well and along the river Great Black-backed Gulls have been putting in regular appearances and as mentioned before they always seem to be patrolling the river itself unlike the other big gulls. A single Lesser Black-backed Gull was also seen this morning. I am thinking that last Sunday morning’s big NW push of Herring Gulls was probably birds from Accrington having found Whinny Hill Tip not operating?

Other highlights this morning were my second dipper at Ribchester (103/2020), heard only, giving its distinctive ‘chink’ call as it flew up the Dummel Brook. A flock of five ravens was my highest count here to date and a skein of 39 Pinkfeet flew east as well. Along the river itself were single Goosander and oystercatcher and four lapwings. There was no sign of Little Grebe but we didn’t look extensively today giving up after 9AM when heavy rain set in. It appears the Met Office is just as inaccurate as the BBC, I was only expecting a 5% chance of rain.

On Friday morning a few hours at Barrow Upper Lodge (BUL) produced another dipper. I recall they wander widely along the brooks in the Clitheroe/Barrow area in winter from my time living there. The Cetti’s Warbler was still present in the NE corner and the Great Crested Grebe and young Goldeneye from earlier this month were also still around but there was neither sight nor sound of the Water Rail reported a couple of times this month.

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Great Black-backed Gull, Ribchester, a fourth winter/adult, still moulting p10 and look at that heavy bill!

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Common Goldeneye at BUL, a first winter with a dull bill. We still haven’t seen one along the river yet this autumn.

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The White-throated Dipper at Barrow Upper Lodge was quite shy!

WIGEON NEW FOR THE RIBCHESTER PATCH

Eurasian Wigeon, River Ribble, Ribchester 22 November 2020 (Mike Watson)

OUT OF THE PRE-DAWN SHADOWS ON THE RIVERBANK APPEARED A WIGEON on Sunday morning! It had been resting with the Mallards, with which it remained loosely until I left it, a little upstream from the allotments. This is my first at Ribchester, the second good bird on successive weekends that the local Mallards have pulled in and it was interesting to note that the second half of November is the BTO Bird Track annual peak time for them. After the torrential rain stopped on Saturday an afternoon walk produced a few interesting birds, notably a Little Grebe on the Lower Alston Farm bend, a sparrowhawk, a flock of 15 Tree Sparrows and around 100 Fieldfares feeding in fields between Lower Barn Farm and Boat House, where a flock(!) of eight Song Thrushes was something special. They were feeding together in a newly sown field. I’ve seen migrants more or less together before but I have never seen anything like this in winter.

The Sunday morning watch from the allotments was very lively starting with the Eurasian Wigeon (Ribchester 102 2020/110 all time) then Goosander, Little Grebe, four flocks of Pinkfeet totalling around 450 birds, three Whooper Swans that flew west along the river, three ravens flew north and there was a very noticeable steady northwesterly movement of Herring Gulls all morning that ended up with a total of 184. I was surprised to see that there are still woodpigeons (78) migrating south, I expected that all of them would have gone by now. Most Redwings seem to have gone already, with only one seen today.

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Great Cormorant against a fiery dawn sunrise

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Three Whooper Swans flying downstream on 22 November

(Un)Common Gull. Numbers increase in the Ribchester area in winter, where they are still outnumbered by more than 100 to 1 by Black-headed Gull

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Eurasian Wigeon, my first in Ribchester

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Tree Sparrow still flourishes in Ribchester, thanks to the conservation efforts of Glyn Anderton and the kind residents who feed them throughtout the year

MANDARIN NEW FOR THE RIBCHESTER PATCH

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Pink-footed Geese over The Stydd on 15 November (Mike Watson)

A MANDARIN AT RED BANK was new for me on my Ribchester patch (101 2020/109 all time) on a weekend of very mixed weather. Bill Aspin reported that they have become commoner at Brockholes in recent years so probably overdue. I have been checking the big Mallard flocks this year as well. A few sunny intervals were a welcome break from endless heavy squalls. I could hear the rain hammering on my window when I woke up both mornings. The Saturday morning full count as usual included a couple of hours vizmigging on the riverbank from the allotments. There were a few starling flocks obviously flying south and a handful of Fieldfares but no Redwings at all, which was a surprise. Only eight Redwings were seen in the afternoon on a very rainy and muddy walk to the eastern edge of the patch just beyond Dewhurst House. It seems they have mostly moved on now, unlike last winter.

The weekend’s highlights were the Little Grebes on the river from the allotments (calling, flying and sometimes swimming through the fash sections of the river), the Kingfisher was active here again, a snipe flew up from a flood pool along Gallows Lane on Saturday and a nice flock of c.110 Pink-footed Geese flew west over the Stydd on Sunday. The usual pink attraction at the Stydd, the Pink Waxcaps were still out but mostly nibbled/damaged by now. The Northern Lapwing was again opposite the allotments at first light, where it is probably roosting and it seems to feed in the flood meadow between the Stydd and Gallows Lane during the day. What a sad situation that it should be a lone bird? What have things come to now?

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A typical view of a Little Grebe along the riverbank at Ribchester, they are so shy here (Mike Watson).

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The lonely lapwing (Mike Watson)