The Black

Local wildlife artist Geoff Rollinson came across this bird whilst walking along the village riverfront on Friday 13th December 2002.

The bird was frequenting an area of riverbank adj to the mouth of the tributary which enters the River Ribble by the village school. Although Geoff was unsure about the identity of the bird, he clearly knew it was something unusual and had the presence of mind to photograph the bird as it perched on a large concrete block on the river-bank, thus ensuring that if the bird was not seen again, it would still be positively identified.

The afternoon of Saturday 14th Dec. saw the Night Heron relocate to a private stretch of the River Ribble, downstream of the village. The bird was roosting on the south side, in Old Park Wood, in trees overhanging the river. Strictly limited access was granted to the north bank the next day, enabling some 15 local birders to see the bird.

The following day, news of the birds presence and location was broadcast on the national grapevine, despite the fact that the situation, as those present on Sunday understood it, was that no further access was likely to be permitted.

Fortunately, despite comments to the contrary from some locals on the Sunday, the landowner on the north bank, Clem Taylor, was very approachable and kindly granted permission for birders to view the bird from this side, looking across to Old Park Wood, and, for the final three days of the birds stay, the Night Heron was very well appreciated by all those who traveled to see it.

Regrettably, despite the fact that the bird gave perfectly good views from the 'official' viewing area on the north bank, a few birders/photographers blatantly trespassed in Old Park Wood, on one occasion in full view of the Bailiff on the opposite bank.

There are two free-flying colonys of escaped Night Heron in Britain; one in and around Edinburgh Zoo, Lothian, and the other at Witchingham Park, Norfolk.

So, what of the origins of the Ribchester bird, especially bearing in mind that it occurred in mid-winter?

I have attempted to find out the exact status of both colony's of escaped birds as of 2002, including directly emailing Edinburgh Zoo and joining the Lothian bird newsgroup, but with no success from that part of the country.

" Edinburgh Zoo still has a free-flying colony involving 20 pairs. These birds regularly nest outside the confines of the park and many of the nestlings are un-ringed. Furthermore, at least 6 un-ringed birds continue to survive in Norfolk and are scattered close to Witchingham Park. With this in mind, it seems likely that the current Lancashire juvenile is an escape from Lothian. However, as this cannot be proven one way or the other, the bird is best left as of unknown origin. In recent years, severe cold on the Continent has pushed Night Herons westwards to the UK so this is also a plausible reason for its appearance."

The January issue of 'Birding World' magazine included the following comments;

"Escaped Night Herons do breed in the wild in small numbers (in Edinburgh and Norfolk at least), but this individual could just as easily have been a genuine vagrant. A Moscow-ringed Night Heron marked as a nestling on 8th June 1979 near Belyayevka (Odessa) was found shot 2,263km to the WNW in England in Skegness (Lincs) on 4th January 1980 (having been present there since 30th December 1979)."

Whatever the birds origins, it's occurrence certainly added further spice to an already outstanding, some would even say, best ever, winter for scarce birds in East Lancashire.

Acknowledgements: Thanks to the following; Tony and Lee Parnell for initially contacting me with news of the birds presence. Glynn Anderton for helping negotiate the strictly limited access on the Sunday. The landowner, Clem Taylor, for kindly granting access to the riverbank. Mark Breaks, for another outstanding image of the bird (you're getting almost as good as your mum!) and to Lee Evans and Birding World magazine for the quotes....Finally, to Geoff Rollinson for actually finding the bird!!