Wednesday 26 October 2016

Pitsford WeBs count

Hello

Our focus today was Pitsford Reservoir where a small team successfully completed the monthly WeBs count. Wigeon dominated with well over three thousand birds present, to the degree where it became difficult to count anything else! Most of them were packed in the shallow water of the reserve section. Notable birds included one or two late Garganey (a singleton in the Walgrave Bay and also the Scaldwell Bay a little later), six Red-crested Pochard, two Goldeneye, thirty-six Pintail, three Great White Egrets, a Redshank, up to six Green Sandpipers, nine Snipe, nineteen fly-through Golden Plovers, two Kingfishers and both Willow Tit and Marsh Tit.

Near to the reservoir between Holcot and Walgrave this afternoon a cream-crown Marsh Harrier was flying around fields and a pair of Stonechat were in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton.

Yesterday (Tuesday) and Chris Payne was again ringing at Greens Norton and caught seventy-two birds in his relatively small garden. Forty-one of these were Goldfinches and there were also nine Greenfinches, three House Sparrows, three Great Tits, twelve Blue Tits, three Dunnocks and a Great Spotted Woodpecker. Today and Chris enjoyed watching a Grey Wagtail around his garden pond, the first time he has seen this species in his garden.

Regards

Neil M


There seems to be plenty
of Wigeon around at the moment!

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