Hello
A consecutive day of bird ringing at Harrington Airfield provided a true picture of the number of birds utilising the scrub and grassland of the old airstrip. We caught 104 birds of which 96 were new which means two hundred small new birds in just those scattered bushes in two days!
The total today included a juvenile male Common Redstart, which was definitely more expected than the Kingfisher that landed in the net! Fifteen other species were made up of 24 Willow Warblers, 2 Wrens, 7 Dunnocks, 3 Great Tits, 9 Blue Tits, 27 Whitethroats, a Lesser Whitethroat, 6 Blackcaps, 2 Swallows, a Robin, 2 Blackbirds, 5 Linnets, a Goldfinch, 2 Chaffinches and 10 Yellowhammers.
A Turtle Dove was heard 'purring' and a Green Sandpiper flew over very high up. A House Sparrow in bushes for a short duration is a rare sighting here!
This evening at Pitsford Reservoir an Osprey was fishing in the Walgrave Bay. The humid and rather still conditions triggered an explosion of flying ants; terns, gulls and others were taking advantage of the bounty but I was surprised to see Tree Sparrows fly-catching for them.
Elsewhere and other observers working favoured sites in the county provided sightings of an Osprey at Hollowell Reservoir this morning plus several Common Sandpipers, a Greenshank and three Dunlin, and the Ruddy Shelduck seemingly switching to nearby Ravensthorpe Reservoir. At Thrapston Pits, Nick saw another Osprey which caught a fish, a Yellow-legged Gull and a Green Sandpiper. There were still four juvenile Cattle Egrets at Ringstead Pits today and two Whinchats were noted in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton.
Regards
Neil M
A consecutive day of bird ringing at Harrington Airfield provided a true picture of the number of birds utilising the scrub and grassland of the old airstrip. We caught 104 birds of which 96 were new which means two hundred small new birds in just those scattered bushes in two days!
The total today included a juvenile male Common Redstart, which was definitely more expected than the Kingfisher that landed in the net! Fifteen other species were made up of 24 Willow Warblers, 2 Wrens, 7 Dunnocks, 3 Great Tits, 9 Blue Tits, 27 Whitethroats, a Lesser Whitethroat, 6 Blackcaps, 2 Swallows, a Robin, 2 Blackbirds, 5 Linnets, a Goldfinch, 2 Chaffinches and 10 Yellowhammers.
A Turtle Dove was heard 'purring' and a Green Sandpiper flew over very high up. A House Sparrow in bushes for a short duration is a rare sighting here!
This evening at Pitsford Reservoir an Osprey was fishing in the Walgrave Bay. The humid and rather still conditions triggered an explosion of flying ants; terns, gulls and others were taking advantage of the bounty but I was surprised to see Tree Sparrows fly-catching for them.
Elsewhere and other observers working favoured sites in the county provided sightings of an Osprey at Hollowell Reservoir this morning plus several Common Sandpipers, a Greenshank and three Dunlin, and the Ruddy Shelduck seemingly switching to nearby Ravensthorpe Reservoir. At Thrapston Pits, Nick saw another Osprey which caught a fish, a Yellow-legged Gull and a Green Sandpiper. There were still four juvenile Cattle Egrets at Ringstead Pits today and two Whinchats were noted in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton.
Regards
Neil M
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| Lesser Whitethroat. |
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| Common Redstart. |
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| Swallows. |
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| Kingfisher. All images courtesy of John Tilly. |
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