Pitsford WeBs count

Hello

A small team of us completed the Pitsford Reservoir WeBs count today in calm weather conditions. There was one less Greylag Goose to count as yet another one had been hit by traffic on the causeway early this morning, and at high speed judging from the fatal injuries. I've lost track how many geese have been killed on the causeway this summer.

It was a quiet count and it seemed there were considerably less birds on-site than even yesterday when there were flocks of Gadwall and Pochard north of the causeway and these were mostly absent today. A Garganey was on the shoreline just south of the causeway car park, there were three drake Red-crested Pochard in the Scaldwell Bay, a Red-crested Pochard x Ferruginous Duck hybrid, an adult Yellow-legged Gull, a Greenshank, three Common Sandpipers, one or two Green Sandpiper(s), two Snipe, two Kingfishers, about fifteen Little Egrets and three Ravens. The meadow between the causeway and Maytrees Hide held freshly emerged Small Copper and Common Blue butterflies and Painted Ladies were still widespread.

At Stortons Pits today John Woollett and his team completed some bird ringing on the south side of the complex and caught 75 birds, 54 of which were new. Warblers made up the bulk of the birds as this is an excellent breeding area for a variety of scrub and reedbed specialities. Blackcaps totalled fifteen with four Garden Warblers, twelve Whitethroats, a Cetti's Warbler, twelve Reed Warblers and a Willow Warbler. Other birds included Wren, Robin, Dunnock, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Goldfinch and Reed Bunting.

A Raven was at Hanging Houghton today and at least one Whinchat and a Common Redstart were in Shrike Hedge in the Brampton Valley below the village. Another Common Redstart was again at Twywell Hills and Vales Country Park.

A Quail suddenly burst into song this afternoon, Eleanor hearing it quite clearly whilst visiting Fawsley Hall. It sounded as if the bird was calling from a nearby grass field containing sheep but was perhaps a little further away with the sound just carrying well.

Other birds reported today were two of the juvenile Cattle Egrets at Ringstead Pits with the other two juveniles with an adult at Stanwick Pits (plus a Ruff). Summer Leys attracted a Great White Egret (perhaps sharing this individual with Pitsford Reservoir as we couldn't find it today), a Spotted Redshank late this evening and a Green Sandpiper. The drake Common Scoter was again on the main barrage lake at Clifford Hill Pits but unfortunately the possible Marsh Warbler wasn't seen again.

Regards

Neil M

Painted Lady.

Common Blue.

Small Copper.

Tufted Duck. Female with five
well-grown ducklings approaching
full size.

Tufted Duck. Female with three recently
hatched ducklings. Five broods in total
have been seen at Pitsford this year. A female
Gadwall with two half grown ducklings
were also seen today...

Juvenile Common Gull. This species
does not breed regionally and is
likely to have flown quite a distance
during it's short life to reach us.

A little exotica!

Hello

This morning I was trundling around the wild bird feeding stations but not seeing very much for my troubles - three Grey Wagtails at Brixworth Treatment Works were probably the best. Scanning the main basin and dam at Pitsford Reservoir suggested little in the way of new arrivals, with or without the assistance of the south westerly winds. Eleanor went for one of her long runs, for a couple of hours running around the Northamptonshire countryside with a couple of dogs by her side, but didn't notice anything out of the ordinary.

Some shelter behind the trees near the Fishing Lodge at Pitsford Reservoir provided an opportunity to study a small collection of Migrant Hawker dragonflies.

In the meantime Mark Williams located an interesting and rather cold coloured 'accro' warbler in hedging at the western edge of the Clifford Hill Pits/Barrage complex. He managed a couple of obscured shots of the bird which resembles a Marsh Warbler. After that it became an 'aggro' warbler and remained elusive, not helped with some heavy showers scattering would-be observers there this afternoon! Just maybe this bird might give itself up and show better tomorrow in forecast pleasant weather conditions.

A drake Common Scoter was present on the largest pit there and other birds included Hobby, three Dunlin and a Common Sandpiper.

Stanwick today hosted two Cattle Egrets, a Greenshank, a Ruff, a Little Ringed Plover, two Common Sandpipers, two Green Sandpipers and five Yellow-legged Gulls.

Birds today at Pitsford Reservoir included a Great White Egret in the Scaldwell Bay, a juvenile Osprey, an adult Yellow-legged Gull, a Turnstone, a Greenshank, up to four Common Sandpipers, a Green Sandpiper and a Dunlin. A female Pochard was sporting a blue shield on it's bill but was a little too distant to read the numbers/letters.

A/the Sacred Ibis is still around today in the Braunston area and birds at Blueberry Farm this evening included two Common Redstarts and two Whinchats.

Regards

Neil M

Kingfisher courtesy
of Robin Gossage.

Slavonian Grebe
courtesy of Robin Gossage.

Migrant Hawker.

Strong winds but no birds (yet)!

Hello

Well despite being out and about quite a bit today I didn't find much of interest. The strong winds so far don't seem to have provided any extra birds for us...but sometimes it's the calm days after the stormy ones which provides the birds.

I saw a Hobby near Maidwell easily coping with the strong gusts and three Ravens with other corvids on fields near Hanging Houghton were not overawed by the conditions.

So the remainder of this blog posting is devoted to photos!

Regards

Neil M

Common Tern by
Phil Davies.

Yellow-legged Gull
by Robin Gossage.

Gold at the end of the rainbow!
Golden Plover by Robin Gossage.

Common Buzzard by
John Tilly.

Wren by
John Tilly.

Song Thrush
by John Tilly.

Gulls

Hello

Not a great deal to report today...a couple of short excursions to Pitsford Reservoir this afternoon and some walks in the Hanging Houghton area in increasingly blustery conditions was pleasant but many of the small birds were inconspicuous. At least there were plenty of the usual raptors and gulls up in the air enjoying the windy conditions.

Birds visible from Maytrees Hide early this afternoon looking into the Scaldwell Bay included an adult Yellow-legged Gull, two eclipse drake Red-crested Pochard, a Greenshank, a Black-tailed Godwit, a Dunlin and three Snipe.

At the other end of the reservoir this evening there was a juvenile Mediterranean Gull with Black-headed Gulls near to Moulton Grange Bay.

The Wood Sandpiper re-appeared at Stanwick Pits today and this time remained on view for most visitors to catch up with it. Other birds included a Green Sandpiper and a Common Sandpiper.

Down the road at Summer Leys another Wood Sandpiper was reported and the Great White Egret was there again.

Regards

Neil M

Juvenile Mediterranean Gull.

Adult Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Juvenile Great Black-backed Gull.

All images taken at Pitsford this evening. Will
the strong winds bring something a little more
out of the ordinary during the next couple of days?

Ringing at Harrington and Pitsford

Hello

Today's weather was pleasant and warm with sunshine and cloud, and with reportedly volatile weather around the corner this represented the only day we could really ring safely this week. 

Dave Francis completed the Constant Effort Site ringing session at Pitsford Reservoir in the Scaldwell Bay, catching 53 birds of 19 species (37 new and 16 re-traps). A surprise catch was a Common Buzzard which flew up from the ground next to a mist net and occupied one of the pockets before being (carefully!) extracted and ringed and released! Other birds included a Song Thrush, two Blackbirds, seven Robins, three Dunnocks, five Wrens, six Great Tits, three Blue Tits, two Willow Tits, a Marsh Tit, a Long-tailed Tit, a Chiffchaff, a Willow Warbler, a Garden Warbler, thirteen Blackcaps, a Whitethroat, two Bullfinches, a Reed Bunting and a Yellowhammer.

David Arden found a Black-necked Grebe in the Scaldwell Bay this afternoon and it was still present at 6pm.

A ringing session at Harrington Airfield today was also successful with some 130 captures of eighteen species made up of two Blackbirds, a Great Spotted Woodpecker, five Robins, three Dunnocks, three Wrens, twenty-nine Willow Warblers, four Chiffchaffs, two Blackcaps, fifteen Whitethroats, two Lesser Whitethroats, a Garden Warbler, four Swallows, eight Blue Tits, a Bullfinch, a Goldfinch, an impressive forty-one Linnets, two Reed Buntings and seven Yellowhammers.

A Tree Pipit was present and flying around at 6am but not seen subsequently.

Steve Fisher located some good birds at Stanwick again first thing today with a Cattle Egret, a Wood Sandpiper, two Green Sandpipers, two Common Sandpipers and two Dunlin. A little later the Cattle Egrets had increased to three. Birds at Summer Leys included a Turnstone, a Great White Egret and two Common Sandpipers.

Regards

Neil M

An immaculate Lesser Whitethroat
having just completed it's post juvenile
moulting process...

Linnet. All forty-one
of the birds caught today
were juveniles suggesting
high productivity locally...

Dorset insects

Hello

A quiet day for me wildlife wise - an early walk at Harrington Airfield provided a fishing Osprey over the airfield pool which was a nice surprise! A Turtle Dove was heard 'purring' briefly and the bushes held reasonable numbers of common warblers.

Breezy conditions and squally showers induced plenty of gulls on the move to spend time on ploughed fields and areas of water, with hundreds (and probably thousands) of Black-headed and Lesser Black-backs migrating through the county. A juvenile Mediterranean Gull was at Pitsford Reservoir with one of these flocks this afternoon. Other birds in the Scaldwell Bay included an adult Yellow-legged Gull and singles of Common and Green Sandpiper. At 7pm this evening it was possible to see a fishing Osprey hovering over the reservoir north of the causeway (I was actually in fields east of Hanging Houghton at the time), such was the quality and clarity of the light.

Steve Fisher saw a Merlin fly over Stanwick Pits this morning plus a Cattle Egret, two Green Sandpipers and a Common Sandpiper and Jonathan Cook's venture to Hollowell Reservoir this afternoon yielded six juvenile Shelduck, ten Dunlin and two Little Ringed Plovers.

Regards

Neil M

Brown Silver Lines Moth.

Silver-studded Blue.

Sloe Shield-bug.

Large Skipper.

Leather Shield-bug

Golden-ringed Dragonfly.

Green Tiger Beetle.

All images taken in
Dorset by John Gamble.

Ditchford WeBS count

Hello

A wander around at Harrington Airfield this morning confirmed plenty of Willow Warblers on site plus a Hobby, but nothing else of note was seen. Another ringing session is planned here on Thursday when certain areas will have restricted access. Please let me know if you would like to come along to observe.

I then spent the remainder of the day over at Ditchford Pits completing the August WeBS count. I found it very quiet for birds with very few wildfowl on show and most of the small birds keeping a low profile. A few bits and pieces included twelve Egyptian Geese (including a pair with eight half size goslings), a Mandarin Duck, a Common Sandpiper, just one Kingfisher and three Grey Wagtails. Not surprisingly the Cetti's Warblers were mostly silent, a single Water Rail was heard calling and the tit flocks contained migrant Willow Warblers on their way south from Scotland.

A Pond Turtle, which is a very long-lived individual, was sunning itself in it's favourite spot and there were good numbers of odonata on the wing with particularly high numbers of Blue Emperors and Brown Hawkers. The highlight though was a fine Lesser Emperor holding territory on the west shore of the old Skew Bridge Ski Pit, access from the Rushden Lakes Shopping Centre. It was by the congregation of red buoys and not far from the successful Common Tern rafts.

Stanwick today yielded a Cattle Egret, a Dunlin, a Little Ringed Plover, a Redshank, two Green Sandpipers, two Common Sandpipers and two Yellow-legged Gulls. An adult Yellow-legged Gull was also seen in the Scaldwell Bay at Pitsford Reservoir and a male Common Redstart was at Twywell Hills and Dales Park, in a hedgerow that leads off towards Twywell village.

Regards

Neil M

Black-tailed Skimmer
Pitsford Reservoir.

Pond Turtle sp.

Common Tern.

Common Tern and
Mallard in eclipse plumage.

A distant record shot
was all I could manage
of the Lesser Emperor today...

August heat and downpour!

Hello

A wander around the bushes at Harrington Airfield this morning provided a calling Common Redstart by Bunker Three but nothing else of particular note, and two Ravens were on the outskirts of the village of Old this afternoon.

Eric saw two Garganey on the Titchmarsh reserve at Thrapston and the nomadic Sacred Ibis of unknown origin which has been wandering around the whole of the county it seems during the last couple of weeks turned up at Braunston this evening!

A ringing session at Stortons Pits was busy this morning with over eighty birds caught. Warblers dominated and included four Cetti's Warblers, six Sedge Warblers, twenty-one Reed Warblers, seventeen Blackcaps, ten Garden Warblers and nine Whitethroats. There was also a Wren, a Robin, two Dunnocks, a Blackbird, two Great Tits, nine Blue Tits, a Treecreeper, a Greenfinch and a Reed Bunting.

Several Northants Ringing Group members are currently coming to the end of their week-long stay on the island of Skokholm off the Pembrokeshire coast. For the last seven years members have visited this very special island to help out on the census and ringing work which is carried out daily. Chris Payne has been working on a project to try and film Storm Petrel activity within a nest, something that has not been achieved before. Using infra red equipment he has been able to successfully record what goes on in a nest chamber without disturbing the birds. The recorded observations will undoubtedly provide a new insight into the breeding biology of this amazing bird, something that has been subject of speculation in the past.

Regards

Neil M

Some stills of Storm Petrel
footage taken with infra red
equipment in a purpose-built
nest chamber on Skokholm.
The images depict an adult
Storm Petrel tending to it's
single chick. Images courtesy
of Chris Payne.

Sparrowhawk courtesy
of Robin Gossage.

Common Snipe courtesy
of Robin Gossage.

Northants Bird Club meeting 7th Aug

Hello

The next indoor meeting of the Northants Bird Club will be at 7.30pm on Wednesday 7th August at the usual venue of the Fishing Lodge at Pitsford Reservoir.

Club member Paul Fuller will be providing an illustrated talk entitled 'Uganda - Pearl of Africa'.

'Uganda, well known for it's trips to see Gorillas but often overlooked by birdwatchers and general safari travellers in favour of other East African destinations, has snow-capped mountains, impenetrable forests, wetlands to dry savanna, good visitor facilities and friendly people giving much to offer any natural history enthusiast.

This illustrated talk shows some of the variety of birds and mammals to be seen in this fascinating country.'

As usual hot drinks and biscuits are provided free of charge and this meeting is open to members and non-members alike. I hope to see you there!

Regards

Neil M

Zebra.

Dwarf Mongoose.

Shoebill Stork.

Harrington Ringing 2

Hello

A consecutive day of bird ringing at Harrington Airfield provided a true picture of the number of birds utilising the scrub and grassland of the old airstrip. We caught 104 birds of which 96 were new which means two hundred small new birds in just those scattered bushes in two days!

The total today included a juvenile male Common Redstart, which was definitely more expected than the Kingfisher that landed in the net! Fifteen other species were made up of 24 Willow Warblers, 2 Wrens, 7 Dunnocks, 3 Great Tits, 9 Blue Tits, 27 Whitethroats, a Lesser Whitethroat, 6 Blackcaps, 2 Swallows, a Robin, 2 Blackbirds, 5 Linnets, a Goldfinch, 2 Chaffinches and 10 Yellowhammers.

A Turtle Dove was heard 'purring' and a Green Sandpiper flew over very high up. A House Sparrow in bushes for a short duration is a rare sighting here!

This evening at Pitsford Reservoir an Osprey was fishing in the Walgrave Bay. The humid and rather still conditions triggered an explosion of flying ants; terns, gulls and others were taking advantage of the bounty but I was surprised to see Tree Sparrows fly-catching for them.

Elsewhere and other observers working favoured sites in the county provided sightings of an Osprey at Hollowell Reservoir this morning plus several Common Sandpipers, a Greenshank and three Dunlin, and the Ruddy Shelduck seemingly switching to nearby Ravensthorpe Reservoir. At Thrapston Pits, Nick saw another Osprey which caught a fish, a Yellow-legged Gull and a Green Sandpiper. There were still four juvenile Cattle Egrets at Ringstead Pits today and two Whinchats were noted in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton.

Regards

Neil M

Lesser Whitethroat.

Common Redstart.

Swallows.

Kingfisher.

All images courtesy
of John Tilly.

Harrington Ringing

Hello

Some bird ringing was completed at Harrington Airfield today and it ended up being a productive session with 108 birds caught and processed. For some reason we managed to avoid catching any Blackbirds, Blackcaps, Robins or Garden Warblers even though there are reasonable numbers of all these species up there! Only two birds were re-traps from previous sessions the others all being new birds, in total of 14 species.

Probably the best bird was a juvenile Grasshopper Warbler and warblers made up over half of the total birds caught with 33 Willow Warblers (a mixture of locally breeding birds and migrants), 3 Chiffchaffs, a Lesser Whitethroat and 27 Common Whitethroats. Other birds were 4 Wrens, 10 Blue Tits, a Great Tit, 7 Dunnocks, 7 Swallows, 7 Linnets, 2 Goldfinches, 3 Yellowhammers and 2 Song Thrushes.

An early migrating Tree Pipit was flying around and calling early morning and a Common Redstart was seen briefly. Blue Emperor and Black-tailed Skimmer dragonflies were active and there were still good numbers of Small Heath butterflies on the wing, this butterfly enjoying an incredibly good season locally.

The Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton proved good today with a Whinchat, a Common Redstart and four Crossbills (the latter which flew off towards Cottesbrooke) and the Blueberry Farm complex supported another Common Redstart, two Whinchats, a Grasshopper Warbler and a Peregrine.

Twywell Hills and Dales continued to attract at least two Common Redstarts today, Stanwick hosted a Cattle Egret, a Black-tailed Godwit and a Dunlin and Hollowell Reservoir was busy with the Ruddy Shelduck, two Egyptian Geese (rare at this location), a Greenshank, ten Common Sandpipers, three Dunlin and a juvenile Yellow-legged Gull.

Regards

Neil M

Juvenile Lesser Whitethroat.

Juvenile Grasshopper Warbler.

Juvenile Common Whitethroat.

Juvenile Willow Warbler.

Late summer/early autumn migrants

Hello

Yesterday's birds (31st July) in the county included a Common Redstart still at Harrington Airfield, two Cattle Egrets still frequenting Stanwick Pits, and a Greenshank at Ravensthorpe Reservoir. The Earls Barton Pits complex attracted three Egyptian Geese, a Dunlin, four Common Sandpipers, three Green Sandpipers, four Little Ringed Plovers, two Redshanks and a juvenile Arctic Tern. Hollowell Reservoir pulled in a Whimbrel, two Dunlin and eight Common Sandpipers and the Marsh Harrier again appeared in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton late in the evening. Five Yellow-legged Gulls were at Pitsford Reservoir.

Today (1st August) we have seen very little but other observers notched up a Spotted Redshank, three Cattle Egrets, a Dunlin, two Green Sandpipers and eight Common Sandpipers and eight Yellow-legged Gulls all at Stanwick (Steve Fisher), up to three Common Redstarts at Twywell Hills and Dales Country Park in a hedgerow that runs off the footpath towards Twywell village (Nick and Adrian) and three Garganey at Thrapston Pits on the Titchmarsh Reserve (Nick again).

At Hollowell Reservoir this evening Jonathan saw a Greenshank, up to twenty Common Sandpipers and a Dunlin and at Pitsford Reservoir this evening an Osprey was fishing between The Pines and Catwalk Bay and two Yellow-legged Gulls were loafing on buoys.

Just a reminder that general access to Harrington Airfield during the next two days is restricted due to ringing operations. The official footpaths and concrete track remains unaffected.

Regards

Neil M

Greenshank.

Yellow-legged Gull.