Displaced waterfowl, warblers and owl boxes.

Hello

Efforts were made today to visit the Pitsford Reservoir reserve owl boxes with a view to clearing them of debris and making them appropriate for breeding owl occupants. The usual detritus included squirrel drays, long dead Stock Doves and remnants of wasp and hornet nests! We visited about two thirds of them with the remainder to finish another day. Only one Tawny Owl was found in a box but as yet there is no evidence of breeding for the 2023 season. Plenty of ice on the reserve has displaced the usual wildfowl.

Birds noted around the reserve during our meanderings included a Great White Egret, a Woodcock, three Chiffchaffs, half a dozen Siskins and a Redpoll.

At Blueberry Farm, Maidwell this morning two Pink-footed Geese flew over calling and other sightings included a Barn Owl, two Woodcocks, four Golden Plovers and nine Grey Partridges.

At Hollowell Reservoir a female Scaup was still present plus a Ruddy Shelduck, a Jack Snipe, five Common Snipe and a count of 159 Gadwall - and an adult Caspian Gull was at nearby Ravensthorpe Reservoir. The WeBS count at Clifford Hill Pits included 272 Gadwall, 370 Wigeon, 504 Tufted Ducks, 86 Pochard and 1335 Mallard and also a Caspian Gull, a Yellow-legged Gull, seventeen Golden Plovers, twelve Common Snipe and a Stonechat.

A male Blackcap was in a Nether Heyford garden again today and birds at Ecton SF/Billing Pits today included at least one Siberian Chiffchaff, many Chiffchaffs, a Cetti's Warbler, several Grey Wagtails, several Green Sandpipers and a Water Rail.

Nine Smew and a drake Common Scoter were at Eyebrook Reservoir today and Stanford Reservoir hosted the Red-crested Pochard again, an adult Caspian Gull, twelve Goosanders and sixty-five Pochard.

Large numbers of birds on the fields in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton this afternoon during a temporary thaw included a hundred Lapwings, twenty-five Golden Plovers, a couple of hundred Fieldfares and eighty Skylarks.

Regards

Neil M

Views at Pitsford Reservoir
in stunning weather today courtesy
of Jane Neill.