Bamber Bridge Birder: Bamber Bridge & River Ribble, Brockholes

I met up with local birder Nick Green who took me to a park in Bamber Bridge to get my second tick of the week in the form of a Jack Snipe. The bird had been there for several days sat in a small stretch of ditch that hadn't frozen over in the cold weather we've experienced here of late. On our way Reece noticed a Snipe we flushed which had first led Nick to explore the area more carefully several days before. I managed a few poor shots on a second visit, the auto focus struggled with all the vegitation plus I was wary of local dog walkers as their pets which were taking some interest in me and I didn't want to flush the bird.

I have been down to the Brockholes section of the Ribble on several occasions over the past few days with the hope of getting some reasonable photos of the red headed Smew but with the bird relocating on more than one occasion and the light being poor these record shots are about as best I could manage up to now. Today (29th) it has been showing very well and the light hasn't been to bad but on my arrival I was told the bird had relocated after being in one location for most of the day. After a quick walk up stream I decided to head back as time was running out, meeting up with a local birder (sorry I should know your name) who told me it was back in the original location behind the Tickled Trout Hotel. I didn't have time to stop but put the word out as others were looking for it (thanks Colin for the mention). I'm hoping it hangs around for another 24 hours so I can pay another visit to see this rare Lancashire winter visitor and put my new sigma lens to the test.