Monday's migrants

Hello

Perhaps a little quieter on the migration front today but still plenty to look for!

Harrington Airfield yesterday held fifteen Golden Plovers and a Wheatear and this morning the best we could come up with was two singing Bramblings, a Raven, a pair of Grey Partridges and a singing Lesser Whitethroat.

Birds in the Scaldwell Bay at Pitsford Reservoir incuded short stay migrants in the form of a Sandwich Tern, two Arctic Terns and two Bar-tailed Godwits; more sedentary birds included a Great White Egret and two Common Sandpipers on the causeway with at least ten Yellow Wagtails up by the dam.

The three passage Whimbrel remained at Hollowell Reservoir today but the Bar-tailed Godwit had moved on and was replaced for a time with a Curlew feeding alongside it's smaller cousins. The Great White Egret was there too.

Early morning migration at Stanwick Pits provided brief views of a Whimbrel, five Arctic Terns and eight Siskins - all moving through. A Greenshank lingered and two more flew through and other birds included a drake Pintail and a Lesser Whitethroat.

Summer Leys LNR was the focal point again this morning with a string of quality birds such as Spotted Redshank, six Greenshanks, a Wood Sandpiper, two Common Sandpipers, a Green Sandpiper, four Little Gulls, an Arctic Tern, a Hobby and a Marsh Harrier. Ten species of warbler could be found at Earls Barton Pits today incuding a couple of Grasshopper Warblers.

It's proving a remarkable spring for many migrants and the Greenshank is no exception with the single still at Lower Barnwell and two at Thrapston Pits on the Titchmarsh Reserve with the Grey Plover still present too. A drake Goosander was at Islip Mill and two Grasshopper Warblers and Cuckoo were also noted on the Thrapston Pits complex.

A Wheatear was at Muscott Mill today and a Wheatear was at Dale Farm, Maidwell together with ten Fieldfares and a Grey Wagtail. Twenty-four lingering Fieldfares were at Brockhall plus a Grey Wagtail and Yellow Wagtails and two Shelducks and nine Common Terns were at Irthlingborough Lakes and Meadows LNR.

Four Wheatears and a Kingfisher were in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton this evening.

Regards

Neil M

Pied Wagtail courtesy
of Robin Gossage.

Yellow Wagtail courtesy
of Nathan Jones.

Linnet courtesy of 
Nathan Jones.

Barn Owl courtesy
of Nathan Jones.