Northamptonshire Birding: Spring migration is slowing down

Hello

A wander around Harrington Airfield this morning provided views of a silent Cuckoo, a male Wheatear and three Red Fox cubs playing!

Below Hanging Houghton, two Wheatears were in the Brampton Valley near to the straw stack this morning and our garden continues to attract up to six Yellowhammers at a time, Reed Buntings and plenty of food-collecting Starlings and Jackdaws.

The Cattle Egret remained at Pitsford Reservoir today, again in the waterside meadow between the causeway and the Maytrees Hide both this morning and this evening. Two Oystercatchers remain in situ.

A Wood Warbler was an early morning find at Stanwick Pits but wasn't seen after the initial discovery and an Osprey spent some minutes at Hollowell Reservoir before moving on.

The only birds reported at Summer Leys LNR today were a Chiloe Wigeon, a Ruff and a Common Sandpiper.

Some more local ringing recoveries/sightings are as follows:-

1. A Nuthatch ringed as a young female at Astcote (near Towcester) on 3rd August 2019 was caught again by a ringer at Grange Farm, Geddington on 7th April this year. The distance between the two sites is about 36km with a period of 613 days elapsed between the two encounters;

2. An adult Blue Tit was ringed at Astcote on 25th February this year and was unfortunately found drowned in a water container at Heyford Mills, Nether Heyford on 4th May. This bird had only travelled about 5 km with 68 days between encounters;

3. A young Reed Warbler was ringed at Cottam, Nottinghamshire on 14th August 2018 and caught again by ringers at Linford Lakes, Milton Keynes on 1st May this year. This bird will have already visited the continent of Africa on three occasions, with a total of 991 days elapsed between both records;

4. An adult Mute Swan was ringed at Pitsford Reservoir on 1st January this year and the bird was seen and the large ring read in the field at Bicester, Oxfordshire on 28th April. This swan had travelled 52km in a SSW direction;

5. A juvenile Jackdaw was ringed at Hanging Houghton on 8th July 2020 and was shot at nearby Lamport on or about 24th April this year, 290 days later;

6. A Black-headed Gull bearing a colour ring inscribed '20H3' was seen at Pitsford Reservoir on 5th May and again today and may be trying to breed on-site. This bird was initially ringed as a nestling at Cotswold Water Park on 10th June 2013 and has been sighted in 2014 and twice in 2020 at the Atlantic coastal location of La Bree-les-Bains in the Bay of Biscay, France. It was also seen at nearby Rutland Water on 16th June 2017.

Regards

Neil M