The Spoonbills again and a Ring Ouzel at last!

Hello

Ditchford Pits was in vogue today with local birders expertly tracking down the two Spoonbills in trees on Delta Pit where the drake Smew was still swimming around - and earlier a Sandwich Tern was on the Watersport Pit just west of Ditchford Lane, with a Peregrine later. The Spoonbills flew off in due course but are likely to still be in the Nene Valley somewhere - and at times perhaps visiting the heron/egret/Cormorant breeding colonies at Ditchford, Earls Barton and Ringstead.

Pitsford Reservoir again attracted a fishing Osprey this morning where there was also a Great White Egret and two Yellow-legged Gulls.

At Summer Leys LNR the pair of Garganey shared the reserve with another pair of Garganey! It's tempting to think that these are the four birds that first appeared at Clifford Hill Pits some days ago but these nomadic ducks roam great distances so they might be different birds altogether! Other birds seen within the Earls Barton Pits complex included a Great White Egret, a Greenshank, a Common Sandpiper, a Green Sandpiper, seven Little Ringed Plovers, a Ringed Plover, a White Wagtail and a Grey Wagtail. Yellow Wagtails have arrived in small numbers at many localities now.

Stanwick Pits has been good recently and this morning birds noted included the Glossy Ibis, a Pink-footed Goose, two Mediterranean Gulls and a Pintail.

Quality stretches right along the Nene Valley with the drake Ring-necked Duck again on the main barrage lake at Clifford Hill Pits plus twenty-nine Golden Plovers, five Ringed Plovers, a Little Ringed Plover and a Common Sandpiper.

Further single Common Sandpipers were at Ravensthorpe Reservoir and in a flooded field off the A605 at Barnwell. An Osprey visited Ravensthorpe Reservoir in the afternoon and a Hobby was seen at Stanford Reservoir this morning.

At last a Ring Ouzel has been found, a smart male was in a grass paddock close to Blueberry Farm (near Maidwell) this afternoon in company with about a hundred Fieldfares but it wasn't seen later in the afternoon (but very likely is still present as this is a regular spot). Also this afternoon some diurnal movement saw eight Wheatears drop in to fields in the Brampton Valley and on Blueberry Hill between Hanging Houghton and Haselbech and where only an hour or two earlier there had been none!

Possibly still up to twenty Bramblings were still present at Harrington Airfield this afternoon, but they were mostly audible rather than visual with wonderful wheezy song notes permeating from the leaf-bursting hawthorns. A pair of Grey Partridges and fourteen Golden Plovers and a mobile Siskin were  the only other birds of note. The areas around the bunkers and old airstrips will have restricted access tomorrow for ringing purposes but the official footpaths and access along the concrete track remain open for public use.

A Little Owl was spotted near Deenethorpe and three Siskins were at Kelmarsh Hall.

A map depicting Harlestone Heath and Harlestone Lake has been added to the Birdwatching Site Maps tab courtesy of Neil Hasdell.

Regards

Neil M

Hobby courtesy of
Robin Gossage. There
have been several records
of early birds in the county
 this spring

Marsh Tit courtesy
of Nathan Jones.

Pied Wagtail. At this time of the year
migrant White Wagtails are passing through
and sometimes take some sorting out
from pale grey mantled Pied Wagtails!