Northamptonshire Birding: Pitsford WeBS count.

Hello

It was time for the Pitsford Reservoir WeBS count today in pleasant conditions. The morning sunshine incited lots of the Goldcrests to sing and a Cormorant was even sitting on a nest!

However it was a cool start with a ground frost and there were plenty of common wildfowl on-site. Three or four Great White Egrets moved around the reserve north of the causeway and there were two Little Egrets, the leucistic drake Red-crested Pochard, two drake Pintail, a Woodcock, forty-five Snipe, six Kingfishers, a Cetti's Warbler, five Chiffchaffs, a pair of Stonechat, a Grey Wagtail, a Redpoll and a handful of Siskins. A Peacock butterfly was flying in the sunshine!

At Harlestone Heath today there were six Crossbills by the A428 entrance with a further twenty or so near the sawmills - other birds included three Bramblings, two Redpoll and fifty plus Siskins.

Lingering birds at Hollowell Reservoir included the Great Northern Diver, eleven Pink-footed Geese and eleven Crossbills, the seven White-fronted Geese were still at the NE section of Stanwick Pits and three Black-necked Grebes were again seen at Stanford Reservoir. A Great White Egret was reported from the fishing lakes at Ecton today and two Firecrests were reported from Stortons Pits this morning - seemingly showing in the tree line by the viewing area at the north end of the reedbed.

Regards

Neil M