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RISE OF THE MED GULL

State of this! A Mediterranean Gull in heavy wing moult over Ribchester riverfront today

THE RISE OF THE MEDITERRANEAN GULL CONTINUES! It is interesting to relate my increasing ad hoc local sightings to the fortunes of this bird in the UK. Mediterranean Gull first bred in the UK in Hampshire in 1968 and increased slowly to around 100 pairs by 2000 and then 600-700 pairs by 2010. The current popluation was estimated at around 1200 pairs in 2013-17. This increase is part of a westward range expansion from its ciore areas around the Black Sea that started in the 1950s and in winter our breeding poulation is boosted by more birds from Europe taking it to around 4000 individuals during 2011-15. I imagine that this figure is even bigger now. So, they became so common that I now see one or two around my village in East Lancashire in almost every month of the year, usually when slurry spreading on the silage meadows of the dairy farms causes wandering birds to linger a while. Another reminder that not everything is heading for the exit, these, Little Egrets and ospreys are certainly welcome addiitons to the bird life along the river on my local patch.

Med Gull easily passes in a crowd on the river in Ribchester…

…until it takes to the air and flashes its white wings!

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AUGUST OSPREY

Western Osprey, Old Park Wood, Ribchester, 15 August 2021

THE OSPREY WHICH HAS BEEN PRESENT IN THE VALLEY AT BROCKHOLES FOR THE LAST FEW DAYS made a visit upriver to Ribchester’s Old Park Wood stretch of the Ribble this morning. It perched in a tree overlooking the river for a while before flying off downstream. Bizarrely I heard it at Red Bank about half an hour earlier without realising what it was. I had been concentrating looking down the viewfinder while photographing a Spotted Flycatcher there and had not looked up when I heard the strange high pitched call. It called again at Old Park Wood and the penny dropped! That’s osprey number #5 for me in the Ribchester 5kO this year so far.

The riverbank was a little more lively today. The chirping calls of Sand and House Martins filled the air overhead and a couple of swifts were around, the village breeding birds have departed now. Willow Warbler and wren were singing at Red Bank, where treecreeper and bullfinch were also heard. A flock of lapwings flew downstream opposite the school and a Little Egret fed in the shallows there, prancing around trying to disturb fish. Numerous other egret sightings included at least four birds. The shrill calls of young Lesser Black-back Gulls could be heard as they begged from their parents while flying south over the valley, this has been a feature of the last couple of weeks. Other good birds lately were a hobby over the garden at breakfast on Friday 13th and a Great Crested Grebe in breeding plumage just upstream from the allotments on 10 August.

I imagine osprey will probably breed in our area before too long, it has bred in Lancashire this year after all!

Little Egret - a year-round resident on the Ribble at Ribchester

Little Egret feeding activity

Spotted Flycatcher, an unobtrusive and scarce breeding bird in the lower Ribble Valley

Great Crested Grebe is seen regularly on small reservoirs and lakes in the lower Ribble Valley but it is very uncommon on the river itself at Ribchester with only 1-2 records per year.

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SUMMER SLIPS AWAY

A fresh juvenile Willow Warbler peers down from a hawthorn bush

WILLOW WARBLERS WHISTLING IN THE HEDGEROWS, A SIGN THAT SUMMER IS SLIPPING AWAY in Ribchester. As well as their subtley different calls, their bright orange feet, lemon-washed underparts and long wing points distinguish them from chiffchaffs, which usually reappear after the midsummer quiet a little later. Species diversity is still quite low in early August but other signs of autumn today included the first cormorant for weeks, a couple of Little Egrets and a major movement of 102 lapwings, flying downstream ahead of the thunderstorms to the east. There is no reason for them to linger. Typical birds of the riverbank were still around today including kingfisher, Grey Wagtail and Common Sandpiper by the school and several flocks of Sand Martins as far as Red Bank. Two jays flew over and landed in the hedge by Lower Alston Farm and several Gatekeeper butterflies were at Red Bank.

Willow Warblers are a very welcome feature of the early autumn around the village

Willow Warbler, a more typical view

Lapwings heading west, downstream towards the Ribble Estuary

The riverbank of the Ribble at Ribchester is quiet again with just a few fishermen now that the paddling and swimming day-trippers seem to have gone

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OPERATION SHELDUCK - FAIL

Eurasian Curlews in heavy wing moult, on their way northwest over Ribchester

AFTER 11 ATTEMPTS AND OVER 30 HOURS OF EVENING SCANNING from the benches by the school at Ribchester in July, ‘Operation Shelduck’ is finally over, with a zero return. I was trying to catch some on their cross-Pennine flight on their journey to moutling grounds, which might now only be in the Humber Estuary, rather than the Waddensee in Germany as historically. I picked mostly clear evenings this month with a light westerly breeze, as recomended by Bill Aspin and I watched until after sunset. Well maybe I started a little too late, or they simply went through en masse on the evenings i missed or maybe they take another route eastwards? Either way I didn’t manage a single one and it is still missing from my Ribchester patch list despite (probably) breeding within 5km near Alston. I’ve seen it flying over Longridge Fell on my way to work previously but nothing from down in the valley at Ribchester yet. I’ll try again next year.

The shelduck vigils weren’t a complete waste of time though. I enjoyed watching Kingfisher, Common Sandpiper and Grey Wagtails on the river by the school and latterly small groups of up to five Little Egrets have been making what are presumably roosting flights downstream. Uncommon birds this month included a Great Crested Grebe on the river at Hothersall and a Spotted Flycatcher at nearby Red Bank, where they bred last year.

On a couple of evenings flocks of curlews flew over, heading northwest calling. They are in heavy wing moult at the moment and I guess they’re on their way to Morecambe Bay? Now I’ve got a pretty good sample of counts right across the year for Ribchester, the BTO Bird Track charts are starting to show the full picture of their presence here. The first returning birds appear at the end of January/first days of February, with small numbers passing through until early March, by which time the handful of local breeding pairs are established. Then foillows a peak in early May of presumably European breeding birds staging before their migration (as shown by sightings of colour-ringed birds at nearby Alston). Sightings of the local breeding birds continue until July ( I hear them calling at dawn over our house as they fly down to the riverside meadows to feed), then post-breeding passage starts, followed by a few sightings of birds flying over into autumn.

I didn’t check Alston much lately, the mud on the wetland is bone dry like concrete now and Grimsargh also lived up to its name when I visited, apart from a nice Roe Deer.

Ribchester curlew sightings - all time weekly maxima

Little Egrets fly to roost along the river at dusk

Roe Deer at Grimsargh Wetland

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