Sunny Sunday

Hello

After a heavy period of ringing at a variety of sites in the county during the last nine days, today was a day of consolidation and I left it to others to take advantage of the very good ringing weather. Chris Payne carried on down in the south of the county and successfully captured 51 birds in his garden which were mostly made up of birds not caught before. Not surprisingly most of the birds were birds hatched this year, the most prevalent species being Greenfinch, Goldfinch and House Sparrow.

Many of the local Swallows have already departed, and for some reason many pairs have only produced a single brood this year. This is despite seemingly excellent conditions with a warm and moist summer producing plenty of insects. Established pairs often produce two broods of young and in the most southern range of the species they can produce three broods.

Visible migration over Hanging Houghton this morning included a steady trickle of Meadow Pipits and Yellow Wagtails and a single Grey Wagtail. Chiffchaffs seemed to be calling from every hedgerow today and there were still plenty of Blackcaps about. At least one Raven remained at Hanging Houghton.

Two Redstarts and a Spotted Flycatcher were at Harrington Airfield late morning. Two visits to the Blueberry Farm complex at Maidwell provided views of a female Peregrine, two Hobby, five Ravens, a Redstart, a Spotted Flycatcher, a Tree Pipit and four Whinchats.

Finally, birds visible from the vicinity of the dam at Pitsford Reservoir this evening included six Yellow-legged Gulls, a first winter Mediterranean Gull, a Bar-headed Goose, three Common Sandpipers and a Grey Wagtail.

Regards

Neil M