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FIRST PEREGRINE OF THE AUTUMN

Peregrine, juvenile over the White Bull in Ribchester, 14 September 2021

LOCK UP YER PIGEONS! The first Peregrine of the autumn wheeled into view over the White Bull on my way home tonight, a pristine juvenile bird only just over the rooftops. It was obviously prospecting the village for an evening meal and was five days earlier than last autumn’s first on 19 September. I was very sorry it appeared after Phil and Lee had gone home - it would have looked great from the benches, assuming it passed that way. Peregrine is a regular feature in the lower valley during the winter but they range widely so you can never be sure of when and where they will appear.

Also around this evening were Little Egret (up to four recently), a kingfisher (it seems to be fond of the large willow on the island at the moment), a flock of 11 lapwings over, several Grey Wagtails (which also roost in the island willow), a sparrowhawk dangling an injured leg and a couple of buzzards of note. Five swallows were around Lower Alston Farm, they are becoming scarce now and a large salmon flopped out of the water almost around the bend upstream from us. The cold easterly wind felt like autumn this evening so I didn’t stay until dusk.

A Little Egret flies upstream past the benches this evening

Ribchester sunset on the riverbank, looking east towards Pendle Hill

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GREEN WARBLER AT BUCKTON

Green Warbler, Buckton, East Yorkshire 11 September 2021

SOME NUMBERS INCREASED BY ONE THIS WEEKEND. That’s about what my birding amounted to. First of all a Pectoral Sandpiper at lunchtime on 10 September at Alstion Wetland, found by Gavin Thomas, was a new bird for the Ribchester 5KO and the East Lancs ELOC area for me. It spent the brief few minutes I was there creeping around the far shore of the wetland lagoon, so basically rubbish views before I had to go and move my car so Phil and I decided to shove off home/back to work.

Secondly the Green Warbler at Buckton in East Yorkshire moved my UK list on by one as well. Many thanks to Rocket for the lift and another grand day out. The warbler kept us waiting in the dell for almost three hours, which is bascially Mark Thomas’s ringing station project. Top marks and many thanks to him for his years of hard work that culminated in this 8th record for Britiain and only 2nd for the mainland. The crowd of birders assembled by the dell had been instructed by Mark to stay back and he did a brilliant job of keeping it a pleasant atmosphere with no-one rushing the bird, which returned to a small crab apple tree, surrounded by willows waving in the wind in the middle of the dell. It was apparent that some folks still need to spend some time getting know Willow Warblers, of which there was a couple and a Yellow Wagtail flew north, calling. I have been talking about what next after White-tailed Lapwing and Sykes’s Warbler from Central Asia, so what next then?

Oh and there was the Black-browed Albatross on Staple Newk at Bempton Cliffs RSPB reserve as well, a bit distant and then it flew directly out to sea to continue the series of poor distant views. This didn’t seem to matter too much, it was great to catch up with some friends today as well.

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ANOTHER LAPWING ON A DIFFERENT RIVERBANK

White-tailed Lapwing, Blacktoft Sands RSPB Reserve 27 August 2021

WELL AT LEAST MY VIEWS OF WHITE-TAILED LAPWING IN THE UK ARE STEADILY GETTING CLOSER. I reckon the range of each one has halved from a very distant flight view (Caerlaverock) to the distant through-the-fence view at Seaforth and now this, at the back of the scrape from Xerox hide at the RSPB’s Blacktoft Sands reserve. Although it spent most of its time out of sight behind the reed island I guess this added to the drama when its black-and-white wings flashed onto the stage. Alexander was competing in Sheffield today so it wasn’t much of a detour to show him somewhere special. He even endured a queue for the hide wait and then another spell waiting for a second one minute view before we left. I love Blacktoft, mostly as its always been kind to me. I’ve seen quite a few new birds here and haven’t missed anything yet on my very occasional visits since my first ever Marsh Harrier on 6 June 1981, to Hudsonian Godwit and Red-necked Phalarope in 1983, Red-necked Stint in 1986 and Montagu’s Harrier more recently. Back to the present day, once it appeared, the White-tailed Lapwing stalked the back of the very shallow muddy lagoon passing Green Sandpipers, Ruffs, Teal and Water Rails before it wandered out of view. A Spotted Redshank flew over calling, a couple of Marsh Harriers floated over the vast reedbed and a male Bearded Tit hopped around at the base of the reeds. What a nice selection of birds in a lovely setting. I’ve commented this is probably the worst-looking White-tailed Lapwing I’ve seen but it looked great from a distance today!

Here’s how I prefer to see one, driving up to it in a field in Oman.

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RIBCHESTER DIPPERS

White-throated Dipper, Ribchester 25 August 2021

THAT’S RIGHT, DIPPERS! They are very uncommon this far downstream on the River Ribble in Ribchester and are even nore unexpected in summer. My previous two records in the last 10 years were both in winter. They are even rarer further downstream at Brockholes! I was very pleased to see two of them chasing each other around the island by the school on 25 August but later heard from Simon Small that he had videoed one by his garden in our street earlier in the week. No doubt one of the same birds! It will be interesting to see if they stick around, unlike my previous dippers here. A juvenile Goosander is still about, seeking safety in the most public of places on the river. Another Osprey on 25 August took the year’s tally to seven (it feels odd for osprey to be relegated to the ‘other sightings’ category now) and it was a different bird to the one which has been hanging around the lower valley area for the last few weeks, this bird had a blue colour ring on the left leg. Two flocks of shorebirds passed the benches on 24 August, one of 9 snipe and the other of 43 lapwings! Little Egrets continue to fly downstream to roost on most evenings and a hobby scythed its way through the swallows over the Lower Alston Farm maize field at dusk (2015) on 26 August. The lovely weather for evening watches of the last few days has been very welcome and my 2021 Ribchester patch list now stands at 101. Despite many hours of effort, dipper was the only addition for weeks.

Osprey sighting no.#7 for the 5KO!

Goosander, juvenile Ribchester

Sunset over Red Bank

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