Sunny Sunday morning

After yesterday's wet weather this morning was a very pleasant, if rather chilly, surprise.  I decided to make the most of it with a rather 'iffy' forecast for the rest of the week and headed up to Harrington Airfield for the first part of my outing. Harrington was unspectacular with a Stonechat near the second bunker being the highlight.  A number of Golden Plover were vocal in the autumn sunshine, various flocks numbering ~80 birds in total. Assorted finches and buntings were present in good numbers without anything unusual being noted.
The second part of the morning was spent in the Scaldwell Bay at Pitsford Reservoir. The first bird observed was the Great-white Egret in flight between the Walgrave and Scaldwell Bays where it landed beside the Willows Hide. 5 of its smaller Little Egret cousins were dotted about the reserve.  I bumped into Dave Francis who said there was a Stonechat between the feed station and the Bird Club Hide, unfortunately I couldn't relocate it. 
A Green Sandpiper was on the mud next to the Bird Club hide and 10 Pintail were to the left of it just off the bund with a further 2 in front of the Willows Hide. 16 Red-crested Pochard were present, 9 of which were drakes including the leucistic bird. A pair of Black Swans were sailing serenely close to the Bird Club Hide.
The glorious weather had obviously not gone unnoticed by the raptors, 16 Buzzards were up at one point, 9 in the same thermal along with a Kestrel and a Sparrowhawk.

          Regards,

                            Neil H.