April 2023
First Willow Warbler
I saw and heard my first Willow Warbler of the year on the 1st, at Dean Clough. The Willow Warbler song is one of the classic sounds of spring and something I always look forward to. I’ve not heard of any other reports of any locally yet so this could be the first arriving in east Lancs this year. I had to wait until the 8th though until I saw my first two Swallows.
Rookery update
There are now nine nests in the new Whinney Lane Rookery
Bee records
I’ve been more active in recording some invertebrates this year particularly bumblebees and have recorded a few queens on iRecord so far including Bombus terrestris, Bombus pascuorum and Bombus lapidarius. I’ve been trying to fill in a few gaps in the distributions of bees locally that I know are there but are unrecorded. So far this season I’ve added a few new dots to the maps including a new tetrad for Bombus terrestris at Dean Clough and a new tetrad and 10km square – SD63Q – for Bombus lapidarius. B. lapidaruis or red-tailed bumbleebee is not particularly uncommon and I’ve seen loads but if nobody records them then the distributions are poorly understood, even of common species.
Common Scoter
A drake scoter on Parsonage res on 7th and 8th gave nice close views for some photography
