Naturetrek Tours and Linford Lakes ringing

Hello

I have recently arrived home following an eight day Naturetrek tour in Provence, South France where we were treated to 280 species of plants and flowers, a selection of interesting insects, amphibians, reptiles, mammals and of course over 140 species of bird. I have created an additional Tab or Page on the blog entitled 'Provence in Spring' with an initial selection of images from the trip.

Yesterday (Friday) and it was a Naturetrek day trip to Rectory Farm, Great Easton and the neighbouring Eyebrook Reservoir courtesy of the Johnson family at Eyebrook Wild Bird Foods. In just a few hours we recorded over sixty species of bird, watched several cavorting Brown Hares and listened intently to the principles of successful hand in hand farming and conservation. Lots of raptors included a fishing Osprey and we also encountered Whimbrel, Common Sandpiper, the long-staying summer plumage Slavonian Grebe and a cracking male Whinchat.

Today (Saturday) and Kenny Cramer and team completed some ringing at Linford Lakes, Milton Keynes experiencing a hard frost first thing and lovely sunshine later! Fifty-nine birds of eighteen species were processed, twenty-eight of which were newly-ringed. However it was the re-trapped birds that provided the most interest amongst the captures.

Warblers made up the bulk of the birds with three Willows Warblers, three Reed Warblers, seven Sedge Warblers, three Garden Warblers, fifteen Blackcaps, three Cetti's Warblers, a Lesser Whitethroat and a Common Whitethroat. Other birds included a Green Woodpecker, three Greenfinches and five Reed Buntings. One of the Blackcaps was a returning bird first ringed in 2019 and captured every year since, a Cetti's Warbler that was first ringed there in 2020 and a control Sedge Warbler first ringed somewhere in the UK as a juvenile in 2016 making it an impressive six years old! One of the Reed Buntings was first ringed there in 2018 and the male Green Woodpecker was a ringed adult bird from way back in 2015 (and hadn't been encountered since) making it at least eight years old.

Other birds noted on-site included three Common Terns and singles of Hobby, Raven, Cuckoo and Barnacle Goose with other wildlife disciplines joining in with three Grass Snakes, two Great Crested Newts, a Common Toad and a probable Hairy Hawker dragonfly.

My brief wanderings today in the county yielded an Arctic Tern off the dam at Pitsford Reservoir this morning and a Wheatear in a small grassy field next to the Brampton Brook below Hanging Houghton this afternoon. The Stanwick Pits Glossy Ibis remains and an Osprey was seen flying high north over Duston, Northampton at lunchtime today. A pair of Ruff were at Summer Leys LNR today, the male displaying to the female, surely a rare sight in the county? A Cuckoo was at nearby Mary's Lake.

Birds at Stanford Reservoir today included a Cuckoo, a White Wagtail, two Curlews over east and a Cetti's Warbler.

Regards

Neil M

Sedge Warbler.

Male Green Woodpecker
depicting unusual and individually
different eye colouration (should
normally be a pale iris).

Lesser Whitethroat.

Common Whitethroat.

All images courtesy of
Kenny Cramer.