Back in the county.

Hello

Back on line now after just over two weeks! In that time we have visited the ever fabulous Isles of Scilly and enjoyed the birds and other wildlife on offer down there.

Birding in the county today was varied with a Pink-footed Goose with a small flock of Canada Geese in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton this morning plus four Golden Plovers and a pair of Stonechats. Small numbers of Redwings are now widespread in the county. This afternoon a female Hen Harrier was hunting around Blueberry Farm, Maidwell and then headed into the Brampton Valley.

At Hollowell Reservoir there was a Caspian Gull and four Stonechats and Ravensthorpe Reservoir hosted fourteen Great White Egrets, four Green Sandpipers, a Common Snipe and a female Red-crested Pochard.

Stanford Reservoir hosted a Marsh Harrier, a Great White Egret, twenty-eight Little Egrets, a Cackling Goose of unknown origin, a Kingfisher, one hundred and fifty Cormorants, a Siskin, two colour-ringed Black-headed Gulls (one a Dutch bird), a Siskin and four Cetti's Warblers.

An adult Caspian Gull was at Daventry Country Park today.

Pitsford Reservoir was the venue for a Slavonian Grebe in the Holcot Bay, a juvenile Black Tern, a juvenile Arctic Tern, a juvenile Common Tern, at least five Yellow-legged Gulls, one hundred and forty-two Cormorants, at least twelve Great White Egrets, a Common Redshank, five Egyptian Geese, a Kingfisher and at least six Pintail.

A drake Ring-necked Duck was a great find at Thrapston Pits and perhaps the returning bird on the Titchmarsh reserve (Heronry Pit), and other sightings were a Bittern, a Marsh Harrier and three Stonechats.

A Glossy Ibis was seen at Summer Leys where also two Marsh Harriers and two Stonechats.

Morning birds at Clifford Hill Pits were a Whinchat, a pair of Stonechats, a Great White Egret, three Ringed Plovers and eight Grey Partridges, with two Little Gulls there late this afternoon.

Some recent ringing sessions at Linford Lakes have provided plenty of birds and the Reed Bunting numbers suggest a good breeding year perhaps. Six Redwings have already been processed and both Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs continue to move through plus a few Meadow Pipits with scarcer captures being a rather late Yellow Wagtail, a couple of Cetti's Warblers and a Common Snipe.

Regards

Neil M

Reed Bunting.

Common Snipe.

Yellow Wagtail.

Meadow Pipit.

Redwing.

All images courtesy of Kenny Cramer.

Here come the Stonechats!

Hello

My apologies but we will be off-line for a couple of weeks so this will be the last blog for a while.

More ringing activity locally has included a number of wildfowl sessions with quite a number of Mute Swans, Canada Geese, Greylag Geese and Mallard ringed. Eight more Barn Owls were located and ringed in what is proving to be an exceptionally good year for the species. Kenny at Linford Lakes has been working hard with another roost catch of fifty-nine Swallows and a Yellow Wagtail. Today a general ringing session there yielded another hundred birds, most of which were newly-ringed. Fifty-seven Blackcaps was an impressive total plus fifteen Reed Buntings, five Chiffchaffs, two Sedge Warblers, a late Willow Warbler and two Meadow Pipits. Bigger birds were a Blackbird, a Green Woodpecker and a Jay but the seemingly star bird was a Stonechat, only the second one to have been ringed at Linford.

Two hundred and eighteen new birds were ringed at Stanford Reservoir today which included a Grasshopper Warbler, a Garden Warbler, a Willow Warbler and two Common Redstarts.

General birding in the county provided the Osprey again at the New Workings section at Earls Barton Pits where also a Hobby and a Marsh Harrier,

A Cattle Egret was photographed at Titchmarsh reserve, Thrapston Pits today and a Bittern was at Higham Ferrers Lakes, Ditchford Pits with a Kingfisher and a Shelduck on the Irthlingborough Lakes and Meadows reserve.

Birds at Hollowell Reservoir today included eleven Ringed Plovers, five Dunlin and a pair of Stonechat. Stanford Reservoir general birding also located two aythya hybrids which appear to be of Pochard x Tufted Duck parentage, fifteen Little Egrets, a Caspian Gull briefly and two Cetti's Warblers

Birds north of the causeway at Pitsford Reservoir were a first year Caspian Gull, two adult Yellow-legged Gulls, a Dunlin, five Ringed Plovers, a Common Snipe, two Pintail, three Shelduck, twelve Great White Egrets and a pair of Stonechat.

Single Stonechats were at Upton Country Park and between Kelmarsh and Arthingworth.

The Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton was good for a female Merlin, six Golden Plovers, a Wheatear, two Stonechats and a Whinchat.

Regards

Neil M

Barn Owls!

Chicken of the Woods fungi.

Robin courtesy of Tony Stanford.

Green Woodpecker.

Blackbird.

Jay.

Stonechat.

Above four images courtesy
of Kenny Cramer.

Northants Ringing Group in action

Hello

A very busy twenty-four hours for the Northants Ringing Group with several locations and techniques employed to process both resident and migrant birds.

Kenny and his team have continued with efforts at catching birds coming to roost at Linford Lakes the last two evenings, successfully ringing seventy-five Swallows, a Sand Martin and two Yellow Wagtails.

Ringers operating at Stortons Pits today managed one hundred and ten birds of fifteen species which included fourteen Chiffchaffs, thirty-four Blackcaps, five new Robins, five Cetti's Warblers, a Reed Warbler, two Song Thrushes, three Goldfinches and singles of Goldcrest and Treecreeper.

A ringing demonstration took place at Pitsford Reservoir as arranged with the Peterborough Bird Club and yielded forty-nine captures with the star birds being eighteen Meadow Pipits, seven Reed Buntings and a male Stonechat. In addition we enjoyed the presence of six year old Hannah who subsequently went home and drew a Blue Tit (please see below)!

In addition some late season next box visits provided four Barn Owls and a Stock Dove.

General birding today provided a Barn Owl between East Haddon and Holdenby, a Wheatear and two Whinchats at Harrington Airfield, a Grey Wagtail in Hanging Houghton village and two more in the Brampton Valley below the village.

Birds north of the causeway at Pitsford Reservoir included a Ruff, six Ringed Plovers, a Little Ringed Plover and at least two Yellow-legged Gulls and three Grey Wagtails passed over.

A Bittern was seen at Stanford Reservoir where also twelve Little Egrets and eighteen Pochard and Hollowell Reservoir's sightings were eight Ringed Plovers and three Dunlin.

The Titchmarsh reserve at Thrapston Pits provided two Marsh Harriers, a Ruff, a Green Sandpiper, two Common Snipe and a Common Sandpiper and Clifford Hill Pits hosted eight Barnacle Geese, two Great White Egrets, a Water Rail, two Common Snipe, a Common Sandpiper and rather late individuals of Common Whitethroat and Lesser Whitethroat.

The Osprey was again in the Nene Valley at Whiston Wetlands/Earls Barton New Workings.

Regards

Neil M

Blue Tit by Hannah Reith 6 years.

Ringing station at Pitsford Reservoir.

First year male Stonechat
courtesy of Sean Gower.

Nestling Stock Dove.

Meadow Pipit courtesy
of Jane Neill.

Barn Owl.

Warm and sunny autumn day

Hello

A sunny and calm day after the recent windy weather.

Birds in the village at Hanging Houghton included Little Owl, Raven and Grey Wagtail and the Brampton Valley below the village and towards the Blueberry Farm area provided a Short-eared Owl, a Wheatear, a Common Redstart, two Stonechats, one Whinchat, twelve Ravens and four Golden Plovers.

The Titchmarsh Reserve at Thrapston Pits provided a Ruff, a Green Sandpiper, a Common Sandpiper and a Greenshank.

The long-staying Osprey was again at Whiston Wetlands/Earls Barton New Workings. An adult Caspian Gull was briefly on Mary's Lake, Earls Barton Pits.

North of the causeway at Pitsford Reservoir the massed birds in the shallow water included fifteen Great White Egrets, two Pintail, three Shelducks, three Yellow-legged Gulls, a Ruff, a Greenshank, five Ringed Plovers and a fly-over Golden Plover.

Hollowell Reservoir hosted the local female Ruddy Shelduck, a Black-tailed Godwit, nine Ringed Plovers and two Dunlin.

Regards

Neil M

Kingfisher.

Ruff.

Meadow Pipit.

Little Grebes.

Above images courtesy
of Tony Stanford.

Peacock.

Small Copper.

Plenty of butterflies in the
warm and sunny weather today
including plenty of Clouded Yellows.

Ringing the migrants again

Hello

It was another day suitable for ringing the migrants and Kenny and his team down at Linford Lakes were busy with a massive catch of one hundred and fifty-eight birds with thirty-six Chiffchaffs, forty Blackcaps, twenty-four Meadow Pipits and twenty Reed Buntings. Three Reed Warblers, a Cetti's Warbler and a Sedge Warbler were also caught plus a late Willow Warbler and a re-trap Sparrowhawk.

A Great White Egret and a Common Sandpiper were also present.

Another ringing session at Brixworth was much steadier with eighty birds processed which included thirty-one Chiffchaffs, a handful of Blackcaps, singles of Magpie, Sedge Warbler, Pied Wagtail and Song Thrush. Several Meadow Pipits were also processed but unfortunately the session was brought to a swift closure when Kestrels began to attack birds in the nets. A couple of Grey Wagtails were also present for much of the day and a couple of flocks of migrant Swallows lingered for a while before moving on. A Barn Owl was hunting there pre-dawn.

Presumably the same Short-eared Owl was found again in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton and there were also two Whinchats and this afternoon a Marsh Harrier too.

Pitsford Reservoir hosted a Caspian Gull and four Yellow-legged Gulls between the causeway and dam and other sightings were a Green Sandpiper, a Dunlin, a Ruff, sixteen Ringed Plovers, four Pintail, four Shelduck and a Stonechat.

Eight Ringed Plovers and a Dunlin were at Hollowell Reservoir today and one of the Bitterns showed again at Stanford Reservoir where also a Great White Egret, sixteen Little Egrets, three Cetti's Warblers, a Common Sandpiper and a Water Rail.

The Turnstone was again at Daventry Country Park and the juvenile Osprey was seen again at Whiston Wetlands/Earls Barton New Workings. A Cattle Egret and a Ruff were at Summer Leys LNR this morning.

A Cetti's Warbler was a good local record at Priors Hall, Corby and two Ravens were calling over Plumpton Wood.

Regards

Neil M

Tufted Duck.

Carrion Crow 'playing'
with a plastic toy!

Pied Wagtail.

Above three images courtesy
of Tyler Atkinson.

Sedge Warbler courtesy
of Kenny Cramer.

Windy and quiet

Hello

Strong winds today seemed to fail to bring us anything unusual in sunny Northants.

A Barn Owl was in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton early this morning.

Three Great White Egrets were at Stanford Reservoir today together with a Water Rail, a Common Sandpiper and good counts of one hundred and thirty-five Cormorants and one hundred and fifty-two Shovelers. Birds at Daventry Country Park still included the lingering Turnstone, a Pintail, six Ringed Plovers and two Black-tailed Godwits.

Eight Ringed Plovers, a Dunlin and a Hobby were at Hollowell Reservoir today and Pitsford Reservoir provided sightings of thirteen Ringed Plovers, a Dunlin, a Common Snipe, a Greenshank, a Common Sandpiper, six Shelducks, a Yellow-legged Gull, a Raven and a Stonechat - all north of the causeway.

Two Great White Egrets and a Cetti's Warbler were noted at Ravensthorpe Reservoir.

A Stonechat and a Marsh Harrier were at Summer Leys LNR and Thrapston Pits produced a Yellow-legged Gull, a Greenshank, a Green Sandpiper, a Common Sandpiper and a Hobby.

A Short-eared Owl was found at Borough Hill Country Park, Daventry this afternoon plus two Whinchats. Single Grey Wagtails were at Hanging Houghton and in the Brampton Valley below Brixworth.

Regards

Neil M

Magpie courtesy of
John Tilly.

House Sparrow courtesy
of John Tilly.

Grey Heron.

New birds required

Hello

Seems rather quiet out there - September has not lived up to the excitement of August which was a busy month in the county for warblers, chats, flycatchers, waders and much more.

Nevertheless there are still plenty of migrants on the move with wagtails, pipits, finches and gulls being the obvious movers during the daytime, and who knows what goes over at night!

Late summer and autumn is also a busy time for birds as many of them complete a moulting process of one sort or another. After and towards the end of breeding, most adult passerines complete a full moult during which time for example, the Robins and Blackbirds are at their quietest. Most juvenile passerines complete a body moult but retain their flight feathers until next year. There are a number of exceptions but this is the general rule for small song/perching birds. For bigger birds it's much more complicated and in some species they are in an eternal moult process, even during the time of migration. Understanding moult or some understanding of it helps differentiate birds hatched this year from older birds and can assist in identification of species too.

Reported sightings in the county today were minimal but the long-staying Turnstone was still at Daventry Country Park, this in itself is very unusual but it has been an extraordinary autumn for this species in the Midlands.

A Bittern and three fly-over Goosanders were the best on offer at Summer Leys LNR this morning and the Earls Barton New Workings was still the venue for the juvenile Osprey this afternoon (but absent earlier in the day), plus six Hobbies, a Ringed Plover and two Green Sandpipers.

Eight Barnacle Geese and a Whinchat were at Clifford Hill Pits, seven Ringed Plovers and a Dunlin were at Hollowell Reservoir and Sywell Country Park hosted two Common Sandpipers, a Green Sandpiper, a Stonechat and two Spotted Flycatchers.

A Short-eared Owl was seen over a field adjacent to Wicksteed Park, Kettering and the regular Caspian Gull was at Naseby Reservoir today.

Regards

Neil M

Spotted Flycatchers...just a few
left now...images courtesy of
Tyler Atkinson.

Long-eared Owl courtesy
of Robin Gossage.

Migrant Hawker.

Rare wader imminent?

Hello

Stanford Reservoir today continued to host a Bittern plus a Greenshank, two Common Sandpipers, a Mandarin Duck, a Hobby and three Cetti's Warblers.

Pitsford Reservoir was scoured today with rare waders appearing all around the country and following a mystery wader heard calling there after dark last night, but nothing unusual was located. The low water levels and expansive mud is proving popular with Teal, Shoveler, loafing gulls and Lapwings and in amongst them and the flock of Pied Wagtails were at least twenty-four Ringed Plovers, a Little Ringed Plover, a Dunlin, a Common Snipe, a Common Sandpiper and a Greenshank. Being such an awkward shape you can never be sure that there isn't something lurking in one of the bays at Pitsford, but it is the Scaldwell Bay that attracts many of the waders.

Standing over the smaller birds there were eleven stately Great White Egrets either fishing the shallows or standing in a group with the Grey Herons, making it relatively easy to count them. The terns have slipped away but a variety of gulls are lingering including a well-marked juvenile Caspian Gull, at least two Yellow-legged Gulls and still several Great Black-backed Gulls bullying everything else in order to consume dead fish in the water. Two Stonechats were by the Sand Martin hut, at least five Pintail were in amongst the Wigeon, Gadwall and Mallard and three Shelduck including an adult were mobile. A Wheatear was on the dam this evening.

A family of Hobby remain (surprisingly) still in situ at Blueberry Farm, Maidwell where still a fine male Common Redstart. A Stonechat was at Upton Country Park and a Whinchat was at Clifford Hill Pits plus a Ringed Plover, a Common Sandpiper and eight Barnacle Geese.

The Osprey was again at Earls Barton New Workings where also a Green Sandpiper, and two Hobbies were seen at Summer Leys LNR.

A Black-tailed Godwit and a Ringed Plover were at Boddington Reservoir and six Ringed Plovers remained at Hollowell Reservoir.

A pod of seventeen Long-finned Pilot Whales were a long way up the River Thames today and I very much hope they U-turn before coming to any grief!

News surfaced of a Manx Shearwater taken into care after being found in a Crick garden last Friday.

Regards

Neil M

Stonechat at Upton Country Park today
courtesy of Tony Stanford.

Drake Gadwall.

Clouded Yellow at Pitsford Reservoir today.

A bit of movement

This is definitely my favourite time of year.  I love the myriad of colours, the bare fields following harvest,  sunshine,  blue skies,  the temperatures and of course just being out and about enjoying everything that this time of year offers.  However it is also interesting to watch other people and wonder how on earth they can be oblivious to the world around them.  But it's their loss.

I was out early as usual and said "good morning " to two Whinchats near shrike hedge before loitering at Gamboro plantation which was quite busy with birds.  Many times I have stood there and struggled to see or hear anything but this morning there were at least 4 Crossbills and 2 Siskins present plus a few Nuthatches and the resident woodland birds.   My next stop was Blueberry area where a gorgeous male Common Redstart was in his favourite hedge.   Two Golden Plovers and a Peregrine flew over and there were good numbers of Skylarks and Meadow Pipits in the fields.   I did visit shrike hedge/blueberry again this afternoon and it was much quieter. Infact I saw very little of note until I got back to my car and found a Northern Wheatear sitting next to it.                                I managed a sneaky visit to Lamport Hall whilst the tea was cooking and there was quite a large flock of tits/finches and warblers (mainly Chiffchaffs) moving along the hedge plus 4 Spotted Flycatchers and a Common Redstart. 

Neil visited Harrington Airfield this morning and had Grey Wagtail and Golden Plover flying over plus a good passage of Meadow Pipits.  He noted that there has been a big release of Pheasants,  RL Partridges and Mallards ahead of the shooting season.        He also spent some time at Pitsford Reservoir which is looking very good at the moment we are keeping our fingers crossed for a goodie. Meanwhile he had to be satisfied with 5 Egyptian Geese,  Dunlin,  2 Yellow Legged Gulls,  Siskin and Grey Wagtail at the dam and north of the causeway,  21 Ringed Plovers,  3 Dunlin, 10 Pintail, 8 Great White Egrets,  Greenshank,  Yellow Legged and Caspian Gull. 

Other birds reported today include 7 Pink Footed Geese in flight over Byfield early morning,  a Greenshank and 2 Common Sandpipers at Stanford,  Turnstone,  Ringed Plovers and Black Tailed Godwits at Daventry Reservoir and the juvenile Osprey remains at the New Workings Earls Barton GP. 

Just out of the county Kenny Cramer held a ringing session at Milton Keynes where 111 birds were processed.  11 species represented and 98 were newly ringed which would suggest that migration is still very much happening.  Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs were the dominant species with 34 and 23 respectively. Other warblers included 6 Reed Warblers and 2 Sedge Warblers.        However star birds of the day were two Meadow Pipits which were the first ones of the season. 

Regards Eleanor 

Meadow Pipit courtesy of Kenny Cramer 

Chiffchaffs and a few other migrants

Hello

The early autumn migrants are thinning out now as the season progresses and we await new arrivals. However, this is the time for maximum Chiffchaffs with birds seemingly everywhere.

Birds at Pitsford Reservoir today included thirteen Ringed Plovers, a Black-tailed Godwit, four Greenshanks and two Green Sandpipers and a Hobby north of the causeway and with three adult Yellow-legged Gulls off the dam.

Stanford Reservoir hosted a fly-over Cattle Egret, a Bittern, two Ringed Plovers, three Common Sandpipers, a Hobby and three Cetti's Warblers.

Two Green Sandpipers and five Common Sandpipers were at Ravensthorpe Reservoir this afternoon plus a Common Snipe, still over a hundred Great Crested Grebes, a Great White Egret, a daytime roosting Tawny Owl mobbed by Coal Tits and Goldcrests, and three Grey Wagtails.

A Spotted Redshank was seen in flight at Summer Leys LNR where also a Ringed Plover, and four Curlews flew over this afternoon. The Osprey was again at the new workings section of Earls Barton Pits before flying off high.

Two Spotted Flycatchers were at Wicksteed Park, Kettering and a Common Redstart and a Marsh Harrier frequented Harrington Airfield.

Two Whinchats and a Wheatear were around shrike hedge in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton this morning with a male Common Redstart at Blueberry Farm, Maidwell.

Regards

Neil M

Little Egret.

Red Kite.

Speckled Wood butterfly.

Chiffchaff courtesy of
Tony Stanford.

Pitsford WeBS count

Hello

A WeBS count was completed at Pitsford Reservoir today, the movement of birds north of the causeway caused something of a compromise on the accuracy of the count but hopefully we managed something reasonable!

A group of three Common Scoters were between the causeway and the dam, disturbed by fishing boats. North of the causeway there was a Black-tailed Godwit, twenty-four Ringed Plovers, a Common Snipe, four Greenshanks, two Green Sandpipers, two Common Sandpipers, six Pintail, six Shelduck, seven Yellow-legged Gulls, a Hobby, a curious Tufted Duck with a pink bill and brown plumage, a drake 'aythya' hybrid (probably a Pochard x Tufted Duck), eleven Great White Egrets, a Raven and a Grey Wagtail.

A Turnstone was at Daventry Country Park still today and the Osprey was again showing nicely at the Earls Barton Pits New Workings where also a Hobby and two Ravens. A Bittern was seen in flight over the Titchmarsh reserve at Thrapston Pits. The Short-eared Owl was again in the Blueberry Farm, Maidwell area this afternoon after first being in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton. A Common Redstart and a juvenile Peregrine were also at Blueberry Farm.

A Hobby flew over Woodford Halse and a Dunlin and three juvenile Ringed Plovers were at Boddington Reservoir.

Two Bitterns were at Stanford Reservoir today plus two Ringed Plovers, the 'aythya' hybrid again, two Common Sandpipers and three Cetti's Warblers.

Regards

Neil M

Yellow-legged Gulls.

Clouded Yellow butterfly.

Yellow Wagtail courtesy
of Kenny Cramer.