17 for 5.

After the passing of Ophelia, it was a brilliant morning on Wednesday and I was keen to get off into Bowland to check out the early winter status of any birds to be found wherever I decided to go up there. One thing for sure, despite it now being mid-October, it was guaranteed I wouldn't be seeing many if any raptors, at least two species of which I certainly wouldn't be seeing, and at least a couple more I wasn't likely to, in the end I found just one....Imagine that, one raptor for 5 hours in Bowland in the 21st century.

But it was good to see 3 Stonechat on Hawthornthwaite Fell, distant and together, I'd suggest a female and two juveniles, with no adult male present. The count with the most interest was of 6 Wren, with 13 Red Grouse and 2 Meadow Pipit bringing up the rear.

Of the 17 species found, 14 were between Marshaw - Tower Lodge - Winfold Fell where I notched up 4 Coal Tit, 3 Treecreeper, 2 Robin, 2 Wood Pigeon, 2 Mallard and singles of Nuthatch, Mistle Thrush, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Blue Tit, and a Kestrel.

Dipper Richard Pegler

On the Marshaw Wyre I saw just one Grey Wagtail, and it was two hours before I found a Dipper. Two Red Grouse were seen from the track to Winfold Fell, when I was up here a month ago I had found at least 30 Red Grouse covering the same ground in the same time....Thanks for the Speyside Dipper Richard, much appreciated.   

Beech in Bowland. Pete Woodruff.

This magnificent Beech in the Tower Lodge area, doesn't yet look quite as autumnal as it did when I took this photograph of the same tree in early November 2010.