Hello
It seemed a much quieter day for sightings in the county today, well that was until this afternoon when Stuart Munday witnessed two Common Cranes fly over his house in Duston, Northampton towards Sixfields! Unfortunately they weren't reported again.
The two juvenile Black-necked Grebes were still at Summer Leys LNR today as was a single Common Sandpiper.
The southern end of Pitsford Reservoir attracted four Yellow-legged Gulls at lunchtime with a fifth north of the causeway later. There was also a Spotted Flycatcher and a Grey Wagtail next to the Sailing Club and there were four Grey Wagtails in the Brampton Valley below Brixworth.
Four Siskins flew over our Hanging Houghton garden this morning and at Stanwick Pits this afternoon there were four Mediterranean Gulls, three Common Sandpipers and thirteen Siskins.
A ringing session near Greens Norton this morning demonstrated pre-planning with an excellent catch of 112 birds of eleven species made up of 39 Great Tits, 28 Blue Tits, 7 Robins, 2 Dunnocks, 7 Wrens, 5 Treecreepers, 3 Blackbirds, 5 Great Spotted Woodpeckers, 4 Blackcaps, 10 Chiffchaffs and 2 Bullfinches. At a few sites in the county this year, nest box usage by Great Tits has been more numerous than Blue Tits. This could be simply due to the larger Great Tit out-competing the Blue Tit for a prime nesting site or in some areas the Great Tit is now the more numerous of the two. However in our garden the ratio is about ten juvenile Blue Tits to one juvenile Great Tit!
Also this year I have been noticing a lack of Dunnocks with none currently in our garden and a couple of places which normally have a concentration of pairs where there are now only a few. Sadly Bullfinches have been reducing slowly during the last ten years and the population seems to have plateaued out at a new reduced level of birds - a scenario duplicated by quite a few passerines in Northamptonshire during the last three decades. On the plus side we now have more Goldfinches, Great Spotted Woodpeckers and Cetti's Warblers and Robin and Wren populations are doing well following a recent run of mild winters.
Regards
Neil M
It seemed a much quieter day for sightings in the county today, well that was until this afternoon when Stuart Munday witnessed two Common Cranes fly over his house in Duston, Northampton towards Sixfields! Unfortunately they weren't reported again.
The two juvenile Black-necked Grebes were still at Summer Leys LNR today as was a single Common Sandpiper.
The southern end of Pitsford Reservoir attracted four Yellow-legged Gulls at lunchtime with a fifth north of the causeway later. There was also a Spotted Flycatcher and a Grey Wagtail next to the Sailing Club and there were four Grey Wagtails in the Brampton Valley below Brixworth.
Four Siskins flew over our Hanging Houghton garden this morning and at Stanwick Pits this afternoon there were four Mediterranean Gulls, three Common Sandpipers and thirteen Siskins.
A ringing session near Greens Norton this morning demonstrated pre-planning with an excellent catch of 112 birds of eleven species made up of 39 Great Tits, 28 Blue Tits, 7 Robins, 2 Dunnocks, 7 Wrens, 5 Treecreepers, 3 Blackbirds, 5 Great Spotted Woodpeckers, 4 Blackcaps, 10 Chiffchaffs and 2 Bullfinches. At a few sites in the county this year, nest box usage by Great Tits has been more numerous than Blue Tits. This could be simply due to the larger Great Tit out-competing the Blue Tit for a prime nesting site or in some areas the Great Tit is now the more numerous of the two. However in our garden the ratio is about ten juvenile Blue Tits to one juvenile Great Tit!
Also this year I have been noticing a lack of Dunnocks with none currently in our garden and a couple of places which normally have a concentration of pairs where there are now only a few. Sadly Bullfinches have been reducing slowly during the last ten years and the population seems to have plateaued out at a new reduced level of birds - a scenario duplicated by quite a few passerines in Northamptonshire during the last three decades. On the plus side we now have more Goldfinches, Great Spotted Woodpeckers and Cetti's Warblers and Robin and Wren populations are doing well following a recent run of mild winters.
Regards
Neil M
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| Juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker courtesy of Chris Payne. |
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| Banded General Soldierfly courtesy of Dave Jackson. |
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| Black and Yellow Longhorn Beetle courtesy of Dave Jackson. |
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| Jumping Spider Satticus scenicus. |
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| ...and with a rather large prey item! Images courtesy of Robin Gossage. |
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