Friday 9 November 2018

Ditchford WeBS (Central)

Hello

I completed the central section of the Ditchford Pits WeBS count today - again it was mild, mostly dry and breezy. The main pit between Higham Ferrers and Irthlingborough again held spectacular numbers of wildfowl which included over 200 Mute Swans, over 400 Wigeon and over 500 Gadwall. There was hardly any room for the swimming Otter to manoeuvre around the ducks and surprisingly there was minimal interest in this aquatic mustelid which is quite capable of taking a duck or two!

I failed to find any particular birds of interest with just singles of Kingfisher and Cetti's Warbler, up to three Chiffchaffs, a Grey Wagtail, a Siskin and two Little Egrets.

I finished the day by popping in to Stanwick Lakes via the Diamond Centre end and managed to see three of the Cattle Egrets trying to keep up with fast moving cattle (at 4pm), a Little Egret and a Great White Egret - who would have predicted a trio of egrets spectacle twenty years ago?

Eric visited Thrapston Pits again today and connected with the six Velvet Scoters still on Town Lake, a Great White Egret and several Cetti's Warblers. He and Debbie later visited Stanwick this afternoon and saw all four Cattle Egrets, the Great White and a couple of Little Egrets too...

Regards

Neil M


A charm of Goldfinches!

Red Kite.

Female Shoveler.
 The older and shallower pits in the
Ditchford Gravel Pits complex
provide excellent foraging opportunities
for dabbling ducks, in particular Wigeon,
 Shoveler and Gadwall.

Cormorant.

A small section of the
Gadwall armada!

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