Otters, nest boxes and new maps

Hello

Late news from yesterday (Wednesday) included up to four Otters showing well south of the causeway at Pitsford Reservoir, and last night the extreme cold seemed to vocalise the local owls with three Tawnies calling around the village at Hanging Houghton and a Barn Owl shrieking and flying down the tree-lined main road!

It seems that the Nene Valley was the place for the best birds today (Thursday) with the Ring-necked Duck and at least three Smew at Ditchford Pits (two drake Smew and the Rn Duck on the Skew Bridge Lake next to Rushden Lakes Shopping complex and single mobile 'redhead(s)' on Wilsons and Large Lake and Delta Pit).

If you find the plethora of gravel pits and lakes at Ditchford Pits confusing, Neil Hasdell has kindly come to the rescue and has created some new maps of this interesting area with the names of all the pits/lakes marked - please look on the Birdwatching Site Maps tab.

Also in the Nene Valley the Bar-tailed Godwit is hanging on at Stanwick Pits (on the Main Pit) plus at least twenty-seven White-fronted Geese and two Cattle Egrets were still at the north-east end of the complex.

At Summer Leys LNR there were five Great White Egrets, a Shelduck and an Otter showing at about 5pm.

A Peregrine was still visible on St Mary's church at Higham Ferrers and there was a Raven, at least two Bramblings and four 'boxing' Brown Hares at Harrington Airfield.

A Barn Owl persists at Blueberry Farm and the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton provided records of a Jack Snipe, a Barn Owl, two Stonechats, plenty of Fieldfares, at least 116 Skylarks and three more feisty Brown Hares.

It seems that despite the harsh weather many of the Long-tailed Tit flocks have already broken up and I'm seeing them in pairs; Blackbirds and Song Thrushes are singing continually and spring is not far off now. So it's timely to mention nest boxes as we should be erecting and rectifying damaged boxes in time for the breeding season. Chris Payne constructs quality boxes for a variety of species and a two page fact sheet can be found on the Tab 'Eco (nest) Boxes'. In addition to boxes for tits, Robin, Tree Sparrow etc, Chris creates larger boxes for owls, Kestrel and others.

Regards

Neil M

Drake Smew.

Weasel.

Long-tailed Tit.

Otter.