HARE HIGHLIGHTS

April 18, 2021

BROWN HARES ARE VERY CONSPICUOUS AROUND RIBCHESTER at the moment, as the grass in the fields is a little late in growing following the very cold start to the month. It always amazes me how daft they are, sometimes oblivious to me, when I crouch down. Standing up they keep their distance. Birding today included the first Yellow Wagtail for me and Phil in the village. I imagine the meadows in the valley were once full of them but they have not bred in East Lancs since I have been here and that’s over 15 years now. Three very loud single ‘tseeeep’ calls signalled its presence as we saw it fly over us on Shorton Lane and then over the farm towards the river. We spent some time trying to relocate it without any luck but I am not allowed off the footpaths here anymore so that was that.

Other highlights today included three Little Ringed Plovers opposite Churchgates, our highest number so far. There was a lot of song-flghting but one pair of them later flew west over Lower Barn. A redshank was on the field pool above Parsonage Farm where there are some excellent signs asking for dogs to be kept on leads in the field where the lapwings are nesting. There was a pair of skylarks here again today and three Greylag Geese too. A pair of Reed Buntings was on another field pool, a very scarce breeding bird down in the valley and I heard five singing Willow Warblers on my circuit this morning, also my highest count so far. No Common Sandpiper, whitethroat or redstart yet though but they have already reached nearby Alston and Brockholes so any day now but it looks like yesterday’s Fieldfares may have gone.

*Reed Bunting, male moulting into breeding plumage - almost there now!*

*A lovely cloudscape over Ribchester at dawn this morning, forming high heaps of Altocumulus*

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COMMON SCOTER IN RIBCHESTER

April 17, 2021

*Common Scoter (female), near Waterside Farm, Ribchester in a golden sunrise.*

THE KEY WORD IS ‘IN’… RIBCHESTER! I said ‘Hi’ to Phil on the riverbank this morning. ‘No luck with otters so far’ and then…’BAM!’. ‘Female Common Scoter’ on the river right next to us off the allotments. I hadn’t really expected we could get one actually on the river here as it isn’t that wide but there it was. No nocmig sound record or infrared-night-time-flyover-dot this one! But instead prolonged views of this terrific sea duck, pausing for some reason at the start of its trans-Pennine migration. Recent studies have shown that they migrate almost exclusively at night from the Irish Sea to the east coast and this one did not get very far. I wonder if it could possibly be the Brockholes bird last reported on the River Ribble there on 27 March? It was well-behaved enough to wait for Kris and Rachel to arrive as well.

We don’t get many interesting duck species on the patch in Ribchester so two in one day was exceptional when a drake Red-breasted Merganser appeared on the river below us at Red Bank. It afforded some great views as it slowly swam upstream towards Boat House. I am guessing that, in view of its genuine rarity in the lower valley area, it was the same bird as on 8 April.

Other interesting sightings today included a Little Ringed Plover song-flighting along the riverbank, one Common Redshank over Lower Alston Farm, a flock of around 30 Fieldfares in oaks north of Red Bank (it is getting late for this winter visitor now!), two singing Eurasian Skylarks (one of which was paired up), several Meadow Pipits, at least four singing Willow Warblers on the same circuit as last Sunday and flyover Linnet and redpoll. All on a glorious sunny spring morning that warmed up nicely after the overnight frost.

So April presses ahead as the best month of the year, now on 85 bird species (all time)/78 (2021) and my Ribchester patch list moves up to 117 (all time)/89 (2021). It’s all good fun!

*Red-breasted Merganser (drake), Boat House, Ribchester.*

*Common Scoter complete with Ribchester riverbank evidence!*

*The regular Tawny Owl had switched perches today!*

*Eurasian Skylark still clings on in the farmland around Ribchester.*

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RIBCHESTER OSPREY NO.#2

April 11, 2021

The second Ribchester osprey in a week! A collage of the 1529 sighting. CLICK IMAGES FOR LIGHTBOX — *The second Ribchester osprey in a week! A collage of the 1529 sighting.* **CLICK IMAGES FOR LIGHTBOX**

MORE SKY-GAZING FROM THE BENCHES BY THE SCHOOL PRODUCED ANOTHER OSPREY TODAY. At 1450 I noticed a group of Black-headed Gulls form a very tight flock as they flew upstream, calling noisily, looked up into the sky and bingo! Another Osprey! However, on a day of fluffy cotton wool clouds and huge updrafts this one was very high in the clouds. I fired off a few record shots and called Phil but it was quickly lost in the whiteness. Staring at the sky for almost another 40 minutes and nothing until 1529. BAM! There it was again, this time flying downstream from the benches, pausing for a while to hover over the river just down from Lower Alston Farm. Checking photos later it appears to be the same bird (as you would expect). It has a couple of distinctive notches in the trailing edge of the left wing and it has quite a ragged tail. The wing pattern looks a little different in the photos but the first set, when the bird was further away, is so much poorer resolution and the detail is insufficient to compare the barring etc. It was another adult, like the bird on Thursday.

The morning walk produced a respectable total of 58 species and highlights were no fewer than three skylarks, two of them singing, one over the meadow on the opposite side of the river to Boat House and the other singing overhead at Red Bank. These could have been the same bird of course but it was chasing with another Red Bank so there were definitely at least two. A rare bird down in the valley nowadays. A Jay was at Red Bank and three kingfisher sightings included a pair downstream from Boat House. A Redpoll and three Reed Buntings were at Red Bank and the pair of Little Ringed Plovers was still along the riverside. Spring migrants included two singing Willow Warblers, two chiffhcaffs and five Blackcaps. Mammals were quite in evidence on another glorious sunny spring day with nine hares, a rabbit, two Roe Deer and an otter.

*A zoomed-in collage of the 1450 Osprey sighting.*

*Common Gull (second calendar year). They become very infrequent around Rib by mid April..*

*One of Ribchester’s terrific old willow trees.*

*A rather precariously over-hanging willow. It’s days are numbered sadly so enjoy it while you can.*

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GULLS!

April 10, 2021

Little Gull, adult hawking for insects over Alston No.#1 reservoir CLICK IMAGES FOR LIGHTBOX — *Little Gull, adult hawking for insects over Alston No.#1 reservoir* **CLICK IMAGES FOR LIGHTBOX**

GULLS WERE THE MAIN FEATURE OF A BRIGHT AND SUNNY SPRING DAY and I saw seven species within 5km of Ribchester! The highlights being the lovely adult Little Gull at Alston, found by Gavin Thomas and a second calendar year Iceland Gull that flew east at Red Bank at 1046 (a new patch bird for me, identified later from photos with help from Pete Morris, Gavin Thomas and Bill Aspin). There were at least three adult Mediterranean Gulls in the Red Bank area today, no doubt attracted by a combination of slurry spreading and a huge insect emergence on the river. A Peregrine was in the Ribchester area this morning. Unfortunately it was a bit of a mess and showed some ‘non-physiological’ feather damage, which is being scrutinised. A Reed Bunting flew north during a small movement of Meadow Pipits at Red Bank - the first on the Ribchester patch this year.

It was great to see around 60 Sand Martins too, excavating nest burrows and getting back to normal after the Arctic weather last week. There was only a handful of swallows today though. Buzzards were again well into double figures and included one kettle of 8 birds mixed with gulls at Red Bank, an awesome sight!

At Alston there were also two Black-tailed Godwits, two Redshank, three Little Ringed Plovers and a drake Gadwall of note on a splendid day on the local patch that resulted in 63 species. Other stats are now Ribchester 2021 (88) and all time (116), Ribchester April 2021 (74) & Ribchester April all time (82), making April the most productive month of the year.

*Iceland Gull (second calendar year) heading east at Red Bank, Ribchester*

*Mediterranean Gull, breeding plumage adult at Red Bank, Ribchester*

*Little Gull and Black-headed Gull, Alston*

*Little and Black-headed Gulls, look at that size difference!*

*Peregrine (second calendar year), maybe the bird which has been in the area on and off all winter?*

*Peregrine, showing worrying feather damage, watch this space for an analysis soon.*

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COMMON SCOTER IN RIBCHESTER

RIBCHESTER OSPREY NO.#2

GULLS!