Saturday 21 January 2017

Saturday round-up

Hello

Debbie and Eric Graham were at their beloved Titchmarsh Reserve at Thrapston GP today and notched up a Great White Egret.

Two Ravens were again at Hanging Houghton and this afternoon another one was visible near Harlestone village.

Birds visible at Borough Hill Country Park (Daventry) today included a Short-eared Owl (being mobbed as it sat on a field hedge), an adult female Peregrine and a pair of Stonechat. Nearby Daventry Country Park hosted two Ravens flying towards Borough Hill and eight Goosanders.

Two Otters were showing at dusk at Ravensthorpe Reservoir and the birds were made up of a flock of 46 Goldeneye just off the dam, 2 Great White Egrets and 2 Grey Wagtails.

Jacob spent all day at Pitsford Reservoir and his hard-earned list of birds included a Great White Egret, a female Red-crested Pochard, 10 Pintail, 2 Redshanks, a first winter Mediterranean Gull, 2 Caspian Gulls, a Yellow-legged Gull, 2 Ravens, a Little Owl and a Grey Wagtail.

Some ringing at Sunderland Wood on the Kelmarsh Estate provided 97 captures from just one mist net. This total didn't include a Great Tit sporting a grotesque growth and five Chaffinches with the all too familiar leg disease (these birds are immediately released following extraction at the net).

The total was made up of a Blackbird, a Great Spotted Woodpecker, a Dunnock, 25 Great Tits, a Treecreeper, 48 Blue Tits, 7 Coal Tits, 4 new Marsh Tits, a Robin, 6 healthy Chaffinches, a Bullfinch and a Nuthatch.

Regards

Neil M




A Great Tit with a head growth at
Sunderland Wood today. This first year
female was perky but is clearly seriously
challenged and can have no forward
vision in its right eye due to the extent
of the growth.


Raven and Common Buzzard
over Summer Leys yesterday
courtesy of Robin Gossage.

Marsh Tit at Summer Leys
yesterday courtesy of Robin Gossage.
 The habitat here is far from ideal for the Marsh Tit
 but the plentiful supply of food makes it irresistible!

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