March movements

Hello

March can feel like a period of limbo between seasons with everything waiting for warmer temperatures and longer days. In the bird world there is still migration going on but it is subtle and often relatively short hops, seeking out food and shelter before settling down at a suitable place to breed.

A couple of ringing sessions were undertaken by Northants Ringing Group members in the county today and the birds processed very much illustrate this with resident birds mingling with winterers and others which will soon be moving to other parts of the UK or the continent.

Chris was ringing in his garden at Greens Norton and processed some forty-one birds which included twenty-four Goldfinches and four Greenfinches (plus two Siskins visiting but not caught) and it is likely that many of these finches are from elsewhere in the UK and even from the close continent. In Northants we quite regularly catch Goldfinches originally ringed in Scotland during the breeding season and ringers based in North England and Scotland process birds we have ringed during the winter. Ringing tells us that the Siskins that occur in the county are generally from Scotland and Scandanavia. Chris caught four Starlings and they could be either local birds or possibly from as far away as Moscow!

At Brixworth Water Treatment Works today the catch included four Lesser Redpolls. These birds no longer breed in the county and it is likely that they have originated from the northern half of the UK or near continent. Three Pied Wagtails caught and ringed could be local birds but the bulk of the Scottish breeding population winter in England. Three Grey Wagtails processed again could be locally breeding birds or from further north/east - interestingly one of these birds was originally ringed at Pitsford Reservoir in October 2022 suggesting it has remained local all winter. A Chiffchaff caught and ringed is part of an ever-increasing wintering population and who knows where it is bound! A Water Rail was caught and ringed there today and this species does not breed on-site so how far has he come?

The female Ring-necked Duck remained at Ravensthorpe Reservoir today and the first year drake Scaup was again at Billing Pits and behind Billing Garden Village this morning. A drake Goosander was at Abington Park, Northampton this morning and three Stonechats and three Green Sandpipers were good local records from Kingsthorpe Meadows in the Brampton Valley.

A pair of Grey Partridge were the only noteworthy birds at Harrington Airfield and the Brampton Valley below Brixworth provided two Egyptian Geese flying north and one or two Barn Owl(s). Another Barn Owl was at Lamport Hall and the pair of Stonechat remain in fields between Walgrave and Pitsford Reservoir.

At Earls Barton Pits there was a female Red-crested Pochard and four Great White Egrets on the Summer Leys LNR with a Raven at Stanwick Pits and a Grey Wagtail near Ecton. Birds at Stanford Reservoir today included a fly-through Curlew, a Stonechat, a Shelduck, three Oystercatchers, twelve Goosanders, a Raven, a Grey Wagtail and a Cetti's Warbler.

Regards

Neil M

North American Mink
at Stortons Pits today
courtesy of Tony Stanford.

Water Rail courtesy
of Steve Wilson.

Lesser Redpoll courtesy
of Jane Neil.

Grey Wagtail courtesy 
of Steve Wilson.

Starlings courtesy of
Chris Payne.

The upper bird is a female with a pink-
based bill and pale ocular, the lower
bird is a male bird with a blue-based bill
  and all-dark eye.