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