Migrant day again

Hello 

The weather conditions promised much for migration enthusiasts and in general the county did well today with another arrival of migrants from the south. On the south coast of the UK there were very large numbers of migrants reported and these birds will probably permeate through the county during the next couple of days.

Probably the best birds were two summer plumage Black-necked Grebes found at the south end of Daventry Country Park this morning and they were reported during the day. At Hollowell Reservoir there was a fishing Osprey, a first year Caspian Gull and a Common Snipe and at Pitsford Reservoir an Osprey flew south at 2.30pm and a Marsh Harrier flew east at 2.40pm. Two or three Common Terns were there too. A Peregrine was hunting between Scaldwell and Brixworth villages this afternoon.

Harrington Airfield today hosted a male Common Redstart by the shooting wall off the concrete track, three Wheatears, a Raven, a Redpoll and a pair of Grey Partridge. At Lamport Hall there was a male Common Redstart in the traditional stop-over hedge paralleling the footpath off the A508 plus a Barn Owl this evening. In the Brampton Valley below Brixworth a productive forty minutes yielded two Green Sandpipers, a Ringed Plover, a Raven, a Water Rail, a Wheatear, three Yellow Wagtails and two Grey Wagtails. There were two Wheatears in the same valley below Hanging Houghton and the Blueberry Farm area near Maidwell could only provide twenty-five Fieldfares and two Redwings.

In the Nene Valley there were three Yellow Wagtails at Broadholme Treatment Works, an excellent four adult Mediterranean Gulls at Stanwick Pits plus an early morning Marsh Harrier, a Pink-footed Goose  and two Pintail. The Titchmarsh reserve at Thrapston provided for two Common Sandpipers, eight species of warbler including Common Whitethroat and Garden Warbler, three pairs of Oystercatchers and a very lively Sand Martin colony! Birds at Clifford Hill Pits included seven Common Terns, a Whimbrel through, fifteen Yellow Wagtails, a Cuckoo and three Ring-necked Parakeets. A Wheatear was in a field between Wappenham and Syresham.

An afternoon/evening passage of Arctic Terns included five at Stanford Reservoir, two at Clifford Hill Pits and eight at Summer Leys LNR.

A Garganey and a Kittiwake were at Eyebrook Reservoir today.

Regards

Neil M

Arctic Tern.

Northern Wheatear courtesy
of Dave Jackson.

Mediterranean Gull.

Fieldfare courtesy of
Robin Gossage.