Late December birding

Hello

Some ringing at Linford Lakes today was responsible for ninety captures, fifty-two of which were new birds. Blue Tits and Great Tits made up the bulk of the catch but also a Chiffchaff was newly-ringed and other birds included a Coal Tit, four Goldcrests, seven Robins, five Dunnocks and four Blackbirds.

Another session with the minimum of nets at Harrington Airfield was targeted towards the residual thrushes left on-site and five Fieldfares, twenty Redwings and three Blackbirds were quickly processed. Birds seen there included twenty-five Golden Plovers, a Barn Owl and four Ravens.

The flock of Redpolls remain at Rothersthorpe village, numbering over a hundred birds and I spent some time working through over two hundred finches and buntings in the Brampton Valley near Hanging Houghton which included one hundred and fifty Linnets with smaller numbers of Goldfinches, Chaffinches, Reed Buntings and Yellowhammers. The two pairs of Stonechats were present too.

The Great Northern Diver remains at Pitsford Reservoir and today it seemed to linger in the vicinity of the Gorse Bushes (half way between the causeway and the dam). Other birds included a Great White Egret, a Stonechat and thirty Snipe north of the causeway and an adult Yellow-legged Gull off the dam. Nearby and there were two Water Rails, eight Snipe and two Grey Wagtails at Brixworth Treatment Works.

Three Crossbills were located on the south side of Badby Wood today by Mike and Mark, and John Friendship-Taylor located a Barnacle Goose on the county border just east of Clifton and later a first year Mediterranean Gull in the Boddington Reservoir gull roost. A small passage of Common Gulls this afternoon were presumably a cold weather movement linked to snow elsewhere.

The Nene Valley continued to host the flock of twenty-six White-fronted Geese and at least three Great White Egrets at Earls Barton Pits with Stanwick Pits continuing to attract eight White-fronted Geese, five Cattle Egrets and five Great White Egrets.

A Great White Egret was seen at Stanford Reservoir and three Caspian Gulls were reported at Rushton Landfill site.

Regards

Neil M

Redpoll.

Linnet.

Blackbird. A male caught
and ringed at Harrington
Airfield today boasted a
wing length of 140mm,
normally a feature associated
with birds from the far north
of Europe.