Movement at last!!

 At long last there has been a noticeable movement of new birds, hooray !!. Not that I have seen any of them.  All I could muster was a Northern Wheatear at Harrington Airfield and 3 different Barn Owls in my area.  The garden continues to be very busy and today when I looked out of the window I  saw 3 beautiful boys, a Brambling,  Reed Bunting and a Blackcap, bizarrely all sitting in the same bush. The Blackcap was enjoying an apple with the Brambling and Reed Bunting perched nearby.  I  know that  many folk have been lucky to have Blackcap wintering in their gardens but despite us feeding the birds with a  huge variety of feeds we struggle to attract these lovely Warblers, so I was delighted to see him.

I think that yesterday was a taster for things to come. At Hollowell Reservoir there were a couple of Common Terns which I think are the first ones to be recorded this spring and a Dunlin. A flock of 7 Barnacle Geese were seen flying west from Summer Leys.                     However today simply got better,  a Water Pipit was found at Ravensthorpe Reservoir and hung around until mid afternoon when it was seen to fly off.  The female Ring Necked Duck was still showing well there today.  An Osprey was seen at Pitsford Reservoir, a singing Sedge Warbler at Stanwick GP and a House Martin at Daventry CP.  But all was not over as 2 stunning drake Red Breasted Mergansers were found close to the dam at Daventry CP.   We don't get many of these birds turning up in the county and I understand that they were showing well, so it will be well worth the journey over to Daventry if they hang around.                                                                                                               Finally at least 250 Sand Martins moved through Hollowell Reservoir. 

I wonder what the next few days will bring, fingers crossed that we have some exciting sightings ahead. Just keep your ears and eyes open!!

Regards Eleanor 

A Full Stop!!

 It certainly feels as if everything has come to a full stop !!! Although I have been out and about everywhere seems to be extremely quiet with very few new birds being reported.  I did spend a rather pleasant few hours out ambling around fields below Hanging Houghton/Blueberry/Cottesbrooke with my 4 legged companions. Plenty of Common Buzzards and Red Kites enjoying the sunshine and light wind. I bumped into a pair of Stonechat and Barn Owl near Blueberry and a Yellow Wagtail and Northern Wheatear on the old nectar strip near "shrike hedge " below Hanging Houghton.  Surprisingly no butterflies today despite the warm sunshine.    Back home with a  cup of tea and time to watch the birds in our garden.  We continue to attract several Yellowhammers,  Reed Buntings and Pied Wagtails plus the odd Nuthatch,  Siskin and Brambling.  Our garden is quite busy at the moment,  plenty of frog spawn,  acrobatic squirrels and the hedgehogs have woken up !!

It would appear that everyone else is struggling to find birds at the moment too. The only birds of note reported today being  Willow Warbler at Brackley,  Lesser Spotted Woodpecker at Salcey Forest and a pair of Shelduck at Lilbourne Meadows.   The weekend produced an Osprey over Welford, Ring Necked Duck and Mandarin at Ravensthorpe Reservoir and 2 Whooper Swans heading NW at Stanford Reservoir. 

Regards Eleanor 

Ringing at Stortons Pits

Hello

A team of ringers completed some assessment work at Stortons Pits today which resulted in the temporary capture and processing of forty-eight birds of eleven species. The star bird was a Reed Bunting first ringed in 2015 and not heard of again until this morning making it at least eight years old, very good going for this species and as a small bird in general. Six other Reed Buntings were caught and two Jays provided the glamour with other interesting species including two Cetti's Warblers, five Chiffchaffs, another local high catch of eight Dunnocks and a Song Thrush.

Regards

Neil M

The rather ancient Reed Bunting
courtesy of Tony Stanford.

Cetti's Warbler courtesy
of Chris Payne.

Jay courtesy of
Chris Payne.

Goldcrest portrait

Hello

Seemingly a relatively quiet day in the county today with few sightings reported.

A Grey Wagtail and a Siskin plus the usual buntings and Pied Wagtails were the best on offer in our windswept garden today. The aurora borealis was seen fairly well locally last night but not from where I was standing! A Hedgehog in our rear garden last night was the first I have noticed this spring.

The Peregrine pair at Higham Ferrers church now have three eggs so it's assumed the female will begin brooding soon.

A Raven and a Grey Wagtail were in the Brampton Valley below Brixworth this morning and there were six Sand Martins off the Sailing Club at Pitsford Reservoir. A Raven was the only bird of note at Harrington Airfield.

In the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton this afternoon a male Peregrine was chasing a flock of about eighty Golden Plovers and there was a Wheatear and approximately five hundred Fieldfares on the wet fields.

A Goosander was noted at Boddington Reservoir and a Swallow was seen at Titchmarsh Reserve at Thrapston Pits, a Little Owl was near Ecton and a pair of Grey Wagtails were in Abington Park, Northampton.

Regards

Neil M

Goldcrest courtesy of
Robin Gossage.

Spring sunshine, wind and rain

Hello

The morning sunshine today stimulated plenty of butterfly activity around the county which included Commas. With the wind strength increasing and rain setting in during the afternoon it was definitely a day of two halves!

Full marks to Adrian for finding a female Ring-necked Duck at Ringstead Pits today on Kinewell Lake, possibly a returning bird from last year. The female Ring-necked Duck further west was still present but had again abandoned Ravensthorpe for Hollowell Reservoir where it was positioned off the dam this morning.

A singing Willow Warbler was at Stanwick Pits first thing near Kingfisher Bridge and at Earls Barton Pits there were single Green Sandpipers at the quarry and briefly on the Summer Leys LNR where there were still Redshanks and a female Garganey was reported. The female Red-crested Pochard was still present. There is a Birdguides report of a Ruddy Shelduck being present this afternoon too. Three Ringed Plovers were also at Earls Barton quarry.

A Kingfisher and a pair of Oystercatchers were on the Titchmarsh reserve at Thrapston Pits today and there was a Grey Wagtail and a Barn Owl at Stortons Pits with a Blackcap yesterday.

Our garden is home to feeding Yellowhammers and Reed Buntings and a singing Siskin this afternoon. A Grey Wagtail regularly loops over the garden a couple of times each day.

A Swallow was seen at Ravensthorpe Reservoir this afternoon.

Regards

Neil M

Chiffchaffs courtesy of
Tony Stanford.

Female Muntjac.

Windy but sunny out there!

Hello

Good news from the Higham Ferrers church Peregrine nest yesterday was that the female has now laid her second egg! Yesterday evening two of my ringing colleagues went out to try and catch and ring Tawny Owls at a site in Milton Keynes and ended up catching a Woodcock instead!

At Summer Leys LNR there were still some Black-tailed Godwits on-site at dawn this morning but then seemed to leave the reserve with numbers dropping from fifty to thirty-five and it appears they had all left by 7.30am. However seventeen Black-tailed Godwits arrived on the reserve at about 9.20am and a couple of minutes later there were thirty birds. Two Oystercatchers were also present and the sunshine produced twelve Brimstones, a Peacock and a Red Admiral butterfly, a Bee Fly and a basking Grass Snake. Brimstones, Small Tortoiseshells and Peacocks were on the wing in a variety of locations in the county today.

At least one Curlew and displaying Lapwings were present on the Lilbourne Meadows reserve this morning with a pair of Ringed Plovers on the muddy pools nearby off the A5 near the Pro Logis and Royal Mail warehouses.

A male Peregrine and about two hundred and fifty Fieldfares were the highlights to a visit to a very windy Honey Hill near Cold Ashby. The female Ring-necked Duck was back off the causeway at Ravensthorpe Reservoir today. A Brambling was in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton this morning and a Water Rail was heard squealing at Spring Marsh in the Brampton Valley below Brixworth. A Barn Owl was the only noteworthy bird at Harrington Airfield this afternoon.

Birds at Stanford Reservoir today included three Goosanders, a Shelduck, a Kingfisher, an Oystercatcher plus ten Sand Martins and more than a dozen Chiffchaffs.

Regards

Neil M

Fieldfare courtesy of
Robin Gossage.

Mistle Thrush caught and
ringed recently.

Woodcock caught and ringed last
night, courtesy of Kenny Cramer.

Garden Stock Dove courtesy
of Jim Dunkley.

Black-tailed Godwits.

Hello

Black-tailed Godwits were the birds of the moment today when a fabulous flock of about one hundred and sixty-three turned up at Summer Leys LNR this morning and stayed all day, moving around the reserve. Likely to be Iceland-bound these birds appeared on a strong southerly wind today and may have roosted overnight.

Other birds at Summer Leys today included the long-staying female Red-crested Pochard, two Great White Egrets, six Common Snipe, six Redshank, two Oystercatchers, a Little Ringed Plover and a Chiffchaff. An adult male Sparrowhawk had a go at catching Snipe and Redshank but failed - perhaps the same bird photographed so well last year carrying a Common Snipe?

A Common Bird Census was completed around the reserve section of Pitsford Reservoir today, the early surveys are always valuable in assessing the strength in numbers of resident birds before they are swallowed up in the foliage later in the spring. With seventy-four singing Wrens and fifty-two singing Robins I think we can assume that these two species wintered successfully. Over thirty Chiffchaffs were noted on the reserve - they have really moved in during the last few days - and sixteen pairs of Long-tailed Tits were probably a significant underestimate. Fifteen Goldcrests (twelve singing) and eighteen Treecreepers (seven singing) suggest that most small birds on-site suffered minimal mortality during the cold months.

Three Kingfishers were seen, a Raven was noisy in the Walgrave Bay, there were a couple of small groups of Siskins probably numbering no more than half a dozen individuals and waders included an Oystercatcher, a Common Snipe and three Black-tailed Godwits. I saw at least thirteen Muntjac on my walk around the reserve and there were plenty of Redwings foraging in the leaf litter or sub-singing in trees.

A Yellow Wagtail and a hundred Fieldfares were in a field near Lamport Hall late this morning. Another flock of over a hundred Fieldfares were in fields between Showsley and Stoke Bruerne. A Wheatear and a Green Sandpiper were in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton early this afternoon. Blackcaps were in gardens at Overstone Park and Scaldwell yesterday.

Ospreys were noted at three locations in the county today.

Jacob did well to photograph a ringed female Chaffinch in a Scaldwell garden back on 10th February 2023 and this has been confirmed as a Belgium-ringed individual first ringed as a first year bird on 10th November 2020 at Berendrecht, Antwerpen, Belgium.

Regards

Neil M

Map depicting locations of
Chaffinch first ringed in Belgium
and subsequently photographed in
Scaldwell. Map courtesy of Nick Wood.

Chaffinch courtesy of
John Tilly.

Male Sparrowhawk at Summer Leys
LNR today courtesy of Tony Stanford.

Black-tailed Godwits at Summer Leys
LNR today courtesy of Tony Stanford.

Black-tailed Godwits at Summer Leys LNR
today courtesy of Jim Dunkley.

Barn Owls, and an early Yellow Wagtail.

Hello

Unseen but tracked by satellite, a White-tailed Eagle from the re-introduction scheme flew south through the county yesterday afternoon, flying over Hollowell and Ravensthorpe Reservoirs at about 3pm. 

A Barn Owl was at Blueberry Farm, Maidwell yesterday afternoon and this evening there was another in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton. The bird found dead at Blueberry Farm a few days ago had been ringed locally so hadn't wandered far from it's natal area during it's life of nine and half years. Two Wheatears were in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton this morning, a Brambling and a Grey Wagtail were in our garden briefly and four Ravens were at Blueberry Farm.

Another Barn Owl was at Harrington Airfield this afternoon plus a pair of Grey Partridges and seventy Fieldfares flew north-east.

A Yellow Wagtail with a flock of 'alba' wagtails next to Elinor Lake at Thrapston Pits was a very good early season find by Nick today.

A female Red-crested Pochard was at Summer Leys LNR today and the adult Mediterranean Gull was seen as were eight Redshanks, four Common Snipe, a Cetti's Warbler and Chiffchaff. There was a liberal sprinkling of Chiffchaffs in the county today as they continue to arrive in numbers.

In the Brampton Valley below Brixworth birds noted included three Water Rails, three Grey Wagtails and several Chiffchaffs and the female Ruddy Shelduck was still at Winwick Pools today.

A ringing recovery was received today of a Redwing initially ringed at Harrington Airfield on 11th December 2021 which was subsequently recovered in Portugal at Mata de Lobos, Guarda on 11th February 2023 after being shot, sadly a common outcome for thrushes wintering in Iberia.

Regards

Neil M

Map depicting locations of
ringing and recovery of the
Redwing ringed at Harrington
Airfield and shot the following
winter in Portugal, courtesy
 of Nick Wood.

Barn Owl courtesy
of Kenny Cramer.

Yellow Wagtail courtesy
of Nathan Jones.

White-tailed Eagle.

Ringing Scotland Wood.

Hello

Another ringing session at Scotland Wood on the Kelmarsh Estate took place this morning in further efforts to assess numbers of small birds using this woodland and assessing species longevity. Most of the hundred or so birds were members of the tit family which generally are short-lived birds with many lucky to achieve survival beyond the first year. Over fifty Blue Tits were processed in all probability the oldest bird being little more than four years. Of twenty-four Great Tits two were five years old. Of four Coal Tits assessed one was a remarkable individual in being at least seven years old and possibly older. Three re-trap Marsh Tits were of an unremarkable age and Scotland Wood is clearly their territory. Ten Dunnocks seems to be a continuing theme of good numbers being processed in the county this winter/spring.

Other wildlife noted in this mixed woodland alongside the A508 and A14 included a couple of Woodcock, a Brambling, at least half a dozen Siskins, two pairs of Sparrowhawks, bickering Nuthatches, a singing Chiffchaff and a couple of smart Roe Deer.

Birds at Summer Leys LNR included two Great White Egrets, an adult Mediterranean Gull, a Dunlin and a Pintail with a Green Sandpiper on the Earls Barton New Workings North complex. Three Dunlin were briefly at Stanwick Pits this morning. A Chiffchaff and a Blackcap were at Woodford Halse today and three Wheatears were noted at Polebrook Airfield in a field at the end of the main track.

Three Grey Wagtails, a Barn Owl and two Chiffchaffs were in the Stortons Pits/Duston Mill area this morning.

Two Ospreys turned up at Eyebrook Reservoir today and a third bird returned to Rutland Water. Other good news from the Peregrine pair at Higham Ferrers church is that the first egg was laid at 11.40am this morning!

Regards

Neil M

Cormorant courtesy
of Tony Stanford.

Grey Wagtail at Duston
Mill today courtesy of
Tony Stanford.

Coal Tit courtesy of
John Tilly.

Peregrine.

Sparrowhawk.

Birding highlights of Saturday

Hello

In my part of the world the threat of rain didn't come to anything until this afternoon with some very heavy deluges, otherwise it was mild and pleasant conditions with plenty of bumblebees bimbling about and I know others have seen butterflies today too.

A pair of Garganey were bang on time at Summer Leys LNR this morning and there was a Little Ringed Plover there too. The Titchmarsh reserve at Thrapston Pits attracted three Great White Egrets, a Kingfisher and seven singing Chiffchaffs and a Barn Owl was seen at Stanwick Pits.

A Water Rail was seen and photographed at Spring Marsh in the Brampton Valley below Brixworth with a Barn Owl hunting the Hanging Houghton section of the valley this morning.

Two Caspian Gulls presented themselves at Daventry Country Park this morning, a Wheatear was at the west end of Hinton Airfield and two Blackcaps were around a Wellingborough garden. A Blackcap and a Siskin were in a Scaldwell village garden and a Blackcap was caught and ringed at Greens Norton today.

Regards

Neil M

Male Blackcap.

Treecreeper.

Long-tailed Tit.

All images courtesy
of Robin Gossage.

Here they come!

Hello

Mild conditions, some minor showers and gently breezes was conducive for more in-coming migrants today and the day felt exciting with lots of birds on the move!

An Osprey made it to Northamptonshire today and was spotted on a regular nest, so only a day or two behind the Rutland birds and with birds also arriving in Scotland today.

In the Nene Valley there were thirteen Redshanks and a Ringed Plover at Stanwick Pits first thing with Summer Leys LNR hosting a Wheatear, a Pintail, a Dunlin and a Little Ringed Plover. Birds on the Irthlingborough Lakes and Meadows reserve included two Black-tailed Godwits and a drake Pintail.

In the Brampton Valley there was a Merlin and two Siskins near to Boughton Crossing, a Water Rail at Spring Marsh (below Brixworth), a Wheatear, an Oystercatcher and a Grey Wagtail associated with the new wetlands below Brixworth, a Woodcock and a pair of Stonechats along the stretch between Spratton Crossing and Merry Tom Lane, a Barn Owl below Hanging Houghton and at least four singing Chiffchaffs along the stretch between HH and Brampton Halt.

Reservoir birding provided four Shelduck, a Water Rail and a singing Chiffchaff at Pitsford Reservoir, the female Scaup was still at Ravensthorpe Reservoir with the female Ring-necked Duck now moving to Hollowell Reservoir where seen just off the dam. A Swallow was seen at Eyebrook Reservoir and a Caspian Gull was noted at Daventry Country Park.

Two Wheatears graced Bunker Two at Harrington Airfield today, a Blackcap was seen in an Arbours (Northampton) garden and birds in Hanging Houghton village included a Grey Wagtail and a Brambling. A drake Mandarin Duck was at Barnwell Country Park.

Regards

Neil M

Osprey courtesy of
Robin Gossage.

Little Ringed Plover courtesy
of Dave Jackson.

Great Spotted Woodpecker
courtesy of Robin Gossage.

Grey Wagtail courtesy
of Robin Gossage.

Mid March sightings

Hello

A mild but rather gloomy day with gusts and showers didn't stop more migrants arriving today.

A second Osprey, this time a male is back at Rutland Water so hopefully so we'll have a couple lingering in the county soon (the likelihood is that both Rutland Ospreys flew over Northamptonshire to get there)!

At Pitsford Reservoir the adult Yellow-legged Gull was present off the Sailing Club this morning, paired with a Lesser Black-backed Gull. This afternoon a flock of Sand Martins were present which at one stage formed into one flock of forty - a few birds flying through later may have been different birds. Also a Barn Owl was hunting rough pasture by the Gorse Bushes on the Brixworth bank.

A dead unmarked Barn Owl was located at Blueberry Farm, Maidwell this afternoon, it's prominent breast bone suggesting it may have starved to death. The bird was ringed and preliminary information indicates that it was ringed as a nestling on 12th August 2013, location as yet unknown. Ten years is a good age for a Barn Owl.

Two Siskins and plenty of Brown Hares was the only noteworthy sightings at Harrington Airfield this afternoon and birds in the Brampton Valley below Brixworth included a Grey Wagtail, a Chiffchaff and a Common Snipe.

Ten Little Egrets were in a field off Mill Lane, Greens Norton this morning, a Wheatear was at Eyebrook Reservoir and birds at Clifford Hill Pits amounted to a Great White Egret, a Redshank, two Oystercatchers and two Stonechats. A male Blackcap was in a Scaldwell garden and a Raven was at Great Oxendon.

A Sand Martin was seen at Summer Leys LNR this morning and at Lilbourne there were two Black-tailed Godwits, two Curlews, two Oystercatchers, a Redshank and a Sand Martin on the Wildlife Trust Meadows reserve with three Little Ringed Plovers and two Ringed Plovers on pools behind the nearby Post Office Distribution Centre.

Regards

Neil M

Great Crested Grebe.

Water Pipit.

Common Frog - a lot of them
are busy spawning right now!

Images courtesy of Robin Gossage.