Wednesday 11 January 2017

Ditchford WeBs count

Hello

Eleanor went for a run around Pitsford Reservoir this morning (south of the causeway) and saw the Slavonian Grebe back by the Holly Tree (it's actually now a lone Hawthorn bush). Four White-fronted Geese flew south over the causeway and later were near the dam with Canada Geese.

A flock of Waxwings were discovered feeding on berries at School Lane in Kettering this morning, the flock size varying between 12 and 22 during the day.

I spent much of the day checking out the old gravel pits at Ditchford, the still short days meaning it took most of the available daylight hours to walk around and count waterbirds on just eleven of the thirty or so pits which form part of this very large complex. A drake Smew was on the main pit between Higham Ferrers and Irthlingborough and a pair of Red-crested Pochard were on the adjacent fishing pit. At least five Goosanders were present and other birds included three little Egrets, a Green Sandpiper, a Woodcock, a Jack Snipe, ten Snipe, three Kingfishers, a Grey Wagtail and small numbers of Cetti's Warblers.

Regards

Neil M

Purple Swamphen.

Little Bittern.

For the third Christmas in a row
I have co-led a Naturetrek tour to
The Algarve in Portugal. The two birds
above were among the star birds of the show.
I thought I would add them to the blog
because despite walking around with my
camera all day today, I didn't take any images
despite the sometimes rather nice light conditions!

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