Hello
Birds at Hanging Houghton today included a male Brambling around the garden this morning and a Barn Owl hunting the Brampton Valley below the village this afternoon.
A walk around Ravensthorpe Reservoir this morning was very pleasant but I was unable to find Saturday's Water Pipit. Birds on-site included a Great White Egret, two Green Sandpipers, two or three Grey Wagtails and two or three Chiffchaffs.
Harrington Airfield was much quieter than of late, the hundreds of Fieldfares that have been up there seemingly now moved on after depleting the hawthorn berries!
Pitsford Reservoir again provided plenty of birds with a fresh-in drake Smew in the Scaldwell Bay, the adult Bewick's Swan, six Whooper Swans (although I could only find five this afternoon), four Great White Egrets, the Ruddy Shelduck still, the Great Northern Diver still, ten Red-crested Pochard, four Pintail, three Green Sandpipers and two Stonechats. No doubt the Ring-necked Duck is still there somewhere but it didn't seem to be in the Scaldwell Bay today.
Roger Eads has been in contact about a Pochard that he photographed at Pitsford on Friday. This bird was affixed with a blue nasal saddle (a device on the beak) which was blue in colour and displayed the letters HJL. This bird was caught and ringed in France on 15th May 2015 and the nasal saddle affixed to prompt field sightings. In between these dates this bird has been seen at Val-de-Reul in Northern France between Le Havre and Paris and many times in the summer at Saint-Philbert-de-Grand-Lieu off the Atlantic coast in West France south of Nantes. We have seen other Pochard at Pitsford with such nasal saddles over the years and they all seem to originate from France and Iberia. Sometimes the saddle letters are difficult to read as they seem to eventually fade but at least this one was marked well enough to identify which bird it referred to.
Other birds reported included a hunting male Hen Harrier at the north east end of Stanwick Pits this afternoon, and Kim Taylor again saw the Great White Egret at Summer Leys plus about five hundred Golden Plovers.
Regards
Neil M
Birds at Hanging Houghton today included a male Brambling around the garden this morning and a Barn Owl hunting the Brampton Valley below the village this afternoon.
A walk around Ravensthorpe Reservoir this morning was very pleasant but I was unable to find Saturday's Water Pipit. Birds on-site included a Great White Egret, two Green Sandpipers, two or three Grey Wagtails and two or three Chiffchaffs.
Harrington Airfield was much quieter than of late, the hundreds of Fieldfares that have been up there seemingly now moved on after depleting the hawthorn berries!
Pitsford Reservoir again provided plenty of birds with a fresh-in drake Smew in the Scaldwell Bay, the adult Bewick's Swan, six Whooper Swans (although I could only find five this afternoon), four Great White Egrets, the Ruddy Shelduck still, the Great Northern Diver still, ten Red-crested Pochard, four Pintail, three Green Sandpipers and two Stonechats. No doubt the Ring-necked Duck is still there somewhere but it didn't seem to be in the Scaldwell Bay today.
Roger Eads has been in contact about a Pochard that he photographed at Pitsford on Friday. This bird was affixed with a blue nasal saddle (a device on the beak) which was blue in colour and displayed the letters HJL. This bird was caught and ringed in France on 15th May 2015 and the nasal saddle affixed to prompt field sightings. In between these dates this bird has been seen at Val-de-Reul in Northern France between Le Havre and Paris and many times in the summer at Saint-Philbert-de-Grand-Lieu off the Atlantic coast in West France south of Nantes. We have seen other Pochard at Pitsford with such nasal saddles over the years and they all seem to originate from France and Iberia. Sometimes the saddle letters are difficult to read as they seem to eventually fade but at least this one was marked well enough to identify which bird it referred to.
Other birds reported included a hunting male Hen Harrier at the north east end of Stanwick Pits this afternoon, and Kim Taylor again saw the Great White Egret at Summer Leys plus about five hundred Golden Plovers.
Regards
Neil M
 |
| Great White Egret courtesy of John Tilly. |
 |
| Drake Pochard. |
 |
| Drake Smew courtesy of Robin Gossage. |
No comments:
Post a Comment