Birding in all directions!

Hello

I had a full day in the west and south of the county looking at both well known sites but also many places which are rarely visited by birders. Eleanor spent much of the day in the north of the county visiting some of her favourite haunts, finishing at regular sites in the centre.

A Nightingale and two Grasshopper Warblers were singing in the Westhay section of Fineshade Wood this morning plus a couple of Siskins and Ravens were on-site with a Stoat being seen too. At nearby Wakerley Wood there were ten Crossbills in the car park and several Siskins (still coming to the feeders including some stunning males). A wander in the wood in warm sunshine provided two Ravens, two Grass Snakes and a Common Lizard. Spring flowers included Bluebells, Wood Anemones, Primroses and Wood Violets

A fine adult Little Gull was at Blatherwycke Lake together with a pair of Mandarin Ducks and four Egyptian Geese plus a Little Egret with a Cuckoo and a Common Sandpiper at Deene Lake. Fifty Fieldfares were in grass fields by Gretton Weir in the Welland Valley.

Three Avocets spent a while in the Scaldwell Bay at Pitsford Reservoir and may have been the same birds later seen at Eyebrook Reservoir just over the county border. This afternoon three Little Gulls (two adults and a first summer) arrived to the north of the causeway and these remained visible from the causeway until dusk. Other birds included a Great White Egret, a Yellow-legged Gull and a Green Sandpiper.

I arrived at Borough Hill Country Park just before dawn and it was cold! The first dog walker was alteady on site but I spent a couple of hours up there and a good number of migrants slowly shook off the morning frost and stirred. The concentration of Skylarks on this relatively small amount of unimproved pasture is excellent and a number of Meadow Pipits there looked as if they might have a go at breeding too. A Peregrine was on an early morning hunt and a Wheatear was present on the summit and Red Fox and Muntjac were noted.

Next was Daventry Country Park where the juvenile Shag was looking pretty dormant on one of the tern rafts and large numbers of Lesser Black-backed and Herring Gulls were coming in to wash and preen. A single Common Tern and a pair of Pintail were present.

The Catesby area provided a stunning male Lapwing in full breeding plumage and a couple of Ravens but the Hellidon area was disturbed and little of note was seen. Boddington Reservoir was a stop off for fifteen Arctic Terns and three Common Terns and a pair of Grey Wagtails were also present. I then toured several areas further south including Edgcote, Chacombe, Thorpe Mandeville and zig-zagged around various villages and agricultural areas. I spent some time at Hinton Airfield and drove on to check areas at Croughton, near Brackley and up aginst the North Bucks border. A late afternoon walk at Bucknell Wood provided plenty of butterflies, two Ravens and a couple of Siskins plus lots of Lady's Smock flowers. I just had time to visit the causeway at Pitsford to watch the always fabulous Little Gulls!

Elsewhere and a Greenshank and an Arctic Tern were seen early on at Stanwick Pits and Earls Barton Pits provided a super flock of eleven Bar-tailed Godwits for a time, a Spotted Redshank, two Whimbrel, a Dunlin, a Common Sandpiper, a Blue-headed Wagtail, a Grasshopper Warbler and a Cuckoo.

Clifford Hill Pits doubled it's Bar-tailed Godwit tally to six birds and there were two Wheatears present too. A Common Sandpiper was at Irthlingborough Lakes and Meadows reserve in the Nene Valley and an Osprey was reported from Hollowell Reservoir.

Regards

Neil M

The Pitsford Avocets
today courtesy of 
David Arden.

Bar-tailed Godwit
courtesy of Robin Gossage.

Siskin courtesy of
Nathan Jones.

Little Gulls.

Lady's Smock or
Cuckoo Flower.