Another Bank Holiday

 Well that's the second of the Bank Holidays over and apart from a flurry of excitement yesterday with the arrival of 4 Black Winged Stilts it has been rather quiet.    News broke early yesterday morning of the Stilts at Irthlingborough Lakes and Meadows.  Amazingly they stayed all day giving plenty of people the opportunity to catch up with them.  They are a scarce visitor and I couldn't get over until late afternoon but it was well worth the wait as they were showing well,  moving about and finding plenty of food to eat.  Today they had moved on.    There was also another wader present which proved challenging to identify.  Was it  a Greenshank,  Wood Sandpiper,  Marsh Sandpiper or Ruff ???? Who knows?  When I was there I saw the wader but I was looking directly into the light, it was a long way off and quite often obscured by vegetation,  so I can fully understand why identification was problematic.                  

Yesterday was the busiest day for bird sightings and also for the most interesting birds.  An extremely rare bird for Northamptonshire was reported,  a Black Kite flying north over Bearshank Wood. I  don't know any more details.    Other birds seen over the weekend include Grey Plover, Marsh Harrier,  Osprey,  Garganey,  Egyptian Geese and Nightingale at Summer Leys.  Three Avocet turned up at Clifford Hill GP.   There was a drake Garganey at Lilbourne Meadows and at DIRFT3 two Caspian Gulls,  Ringed and Little Ringed Plovers. 

I have seen absolutely nothing of note at Harrington Airfield despite daily visits and likewise daily visits to the scrapes along the BVW have only produced 2 Little Ringed Plovers.                                                                                                                                                       Fingers crossed for another movement of birds and some warmer weather. 

Regards Eleanor