Ditchford WeBs Count

Hello

Today was a slightly late WeBs count at Ditchford Pits which took all morning and into the early afternoon in a mixture of spring weather.

The drake Ring-necked Duck was on Big Lake and the drake Smew was on Delta Lake and there were between five and eight Great White Egrets with almost every pit at some stage adorned with a big white heron! In comparison there were only two Little Egrets plus two Egyptian Geese, a big female Peregrine, 2-4 Oystercatchers, a displaying Lapwing, fourteen Snipe, one Jack Snipe, five Water Rails, four Kingfishers, two Grey Wagtails, twelve Cetti's Warblers, eleven Chiffchaffs, eighteen Siskins and three Redpolls.

At Thrapston Pits the Glossy Ibis was again in the horse field adjacent to the A605 layby and two Cattle Egrets flew over the main lake at Stanwick Pits. A Barnacle Goose was visible distantly from the screen hide at Summer Leys LNR today with two Peregrines on the church at Higham Ferrers. A pair of Pintail and four Grey Partridges were the highlights at Ecton SF today.

Siskins visited a Barton Seagrave garden today and there were five in a garden at Scaldwell too. A Barn Owl was again near Old and a Brambling visited our Hanging Houghton garden this afternoon. At Harrington Airfield this afternoon there were five more Bramblings with a Raven flying towards Lamport. Jon picked up a dead adult Kittiwake at Hollowell Reservoir this morning. A pair of Great White Egrets were acting maternally at Pitsford Reservoir today, but they've done this before in previous springs and moved on...the two Barnacle Geese were near the Bird Club hide in the Scaldwell Bay.

A flock of forty-five Golden Plovers flew SW over Scaldwell today and last night's audible offerings included five Canada Geese, two Coots, a Black-headed Gull, a Common Gull and fifty-nine Redwings.

Regards

Neil M

Cetti's Warbler courtesy of
Robin Gossage.

Great White Egret carrying
nesting material at Pitsford
Reservoir today courtesy of
Dave Jackson.

Grey Heron courtesy of
Robin Gossage.

Peregrine at Market
Harborough courtesy
of Dave Thomas.

Frogs and some spawn in
our garden ponds!

Highland Cattle are used by the
Wildlife Trust BCN for reserve
management at Ditchford Pits.

The Thrapston Glossy Ibis
courtesy of Jim Dunkley.