{"id":3214,"date":"2016-05-07T16:22:42","date_gmt":"2016-05-07T16:22:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/naturalbornblogger.co.uk\/?p=3214"},"modified":"2020-04-06T11:02:07","modified_gmt":"2020-04-06T11:02:07","slug":"in-search-of-the-ring-ouzel-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/naturalbornblogger.co.uk\/?p=3214","title":{"rendered":"In Search of the Ring Ouzel – Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Male<\/p>\n

Ring Ouzel (male) in the rain at Stanage Edge.<\/p>\n

Many years ago\u00a0I joined my Dad and a family friend\u00a0on a trip\u00a0up to\u00a0Riggindale. We parked up at the western end of Haweswater and began the walk uphill. As we scrambled\u00a0through the rocky hillside a blackbird appeared out of nowhere. Suddenly\u00a0it turned around to face us revealing a smart white bib. Even to a 10yr old it was clear this was no ordinary blackbird but a\u00a0Ring Ouzel. We walked on eventually reaching\u00a0\u00a0Riggindale. High up,\u00a0soaring along the mountain ridge we watched\u00a0several young\u00a0Golden Eagles before eventually returning\u00a0to the car.<\/p>\n

Over\u00a0the past\u00a040 years Riggindale has changed with the last female Golden Eagle dying several years ago\u00a0followed more recently by the male – missing in action since\u00a0Storm Desmond dropped 405mm of rain over\u00a0the central fells!\u00a0Despite the Ring Ouzel’s\u00a0habit of turning up almost anywhere on\u00a0migration until a recent visit to Stanage I hadn’t\u00a0seen one since visiting Riggindale all those years ago.
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