Pitsford Day Tour

Hello

The reserve section of Pitsford Reservoir was the venue for another Naturetrek Day Tour which we started with a flurry of birds around the Fishing Lodge and Mischa's moth trap provided six species - Powdered Quaker, Hebrew Character, Pale Pinion, Clouded Drab, Swallow Prominent and Early Thorn.

Singing Reed Warblers remained hidden in the phragmites but Blackcaps were a little more showy and the few Garden Warblers present declined to show themselves. Goldcrests and a singing Marsh Tit were happy to strut their stuff but two calling Kingfishers remained hidden in the depths of tangled Crack Willows. A Tawny Mining Bee didn't seem to like the cool temperatures as we progressed around the Holcot Bay and tried to decipher the calls of common tits and listened to the variations of Blackcap song. A couple of migrant 'buzzy' Sedge Warblers were sub-songing and we glimpsed the first of several Muntjacs.

The Walgrave Bay provided three Great White Egrets, a Little Egret and views of the Grey Heron and Cormorant colonies. Swallows, Sand Martins and House Martins were joined by nomadic flocks of cything Swifts. A spell of warm sunshine procured activity from Ashy Mining Bees and a Speckled Wood and two/three Orange-Tip butterflies with brief views of a Bank Vole and soaring Common Buzzards.

Waders on-site included two Oystercatchers, two Snipe, a Lapwing and a Common Sandpiper plus six Yellow Wagtails and small numbers of Yellowhammers, Reed Buntings and Tree Sparrows coming to the main feeding station. Common Terns and Black-headed Gulls hawking low over the water attracted a first summer Little Gull.

A Wheatear was on top of Blueberry Hill this morning with about fifty Fieldfares around the paddocks at Blueberry Farm and this afternoon there were still three Bramblings at Harrington Airfield plus a Hobby and a couple of Swifts.

An Arctic Tern passage through Stanwick Pits this morning saw four flocks moving in a north-easterly direction totaling seventy-four birds. A Pink-footed Goose was grazing in a field next to the pits.

Birds at Summer Leys LNR included a drake Garganey, three Ruff, a Spotted Redshank, a Greenshank, a Ringed Plover, four Common Sandpipers and an Arctic Tern.

The Titchmarsh LNR also saw fourteen Arctic Terns flying through and other birds included a Cuckoo, a Greenshank, three Redshanks, two Common Sandpipers and three Kingfishers with three Hobbies over Town Lake.

There were two Black Swans at Clifford Hill Pits plus a Wheatear and a Lesser Whitethroat and the Oystercatchers at Irthlingborough Lakes and Meadows have hatched young which is great news.

Regards

Neil M

A monitored Blue Tit
nest with the female now
brooding, image courtesy
of Lynne Barnett.

Ivy-leaved Toadflax
courtesy of Lynne Barnett.

A showy Grasshopper Warbler
courtesy of David Smith.