Gulls, thrushes and Ravens

Hello

A thoroughly miserable day's weather yesterday (Thursday) made for difficult birding conditions. A Great White Egret was noted at Stanford Reservoir and the juvenile Great Northern Diver and an adult Yellow-legged Gull were north of the dam at Pitsford Reservoir in the afternoon.

Today (Friday) and there were two Ravens at Hanging Houghton and still hundreds of winter thrushes at Harrington Airfield plus a Redpoll with a Siskin in Scaldwell village.

Birds at Borough Hill Country Park, Daventry this afternoon included two Ravens, two Redpoll and a pair of Stonechat and there were still four Stonechats at Upton Country Park plus the Barnacle Goose and a few Ravens.

A Little Gull at Lilbourne near to the DIRFT complex was a good winter record and the gull roost at Boddington Reservoir contained an adult Caspian Gull and an adult Yellow-legged Gull with other birds there being five Goosanders, a Kingfisher, two vocal but unseen Water Rails and a Grey Wagtail.

The Common Scoter was again near the dam at Ravensthorpe Reservoir and rather static birds at Hollowell Reservoir included the Pink-footed Goose, two adult Caspian Gulls, the pair of Mandarin Ducks and four Stonechats.

A Pintail and a pair of Stonechats were noted in the Scaldwell Bay at Pitsford Reservoir today and Stanwick Pits hosted six Cattle Egrets and five Redshanks. Another Cattle Egret was seen at Wicksteed Water Meadows Nature Reserve this morning.

At Stanford Reservoir there was a first winter Mediterranean Gull in the gull roost plus a Great White Egret and two Goosanders and the ringers processed sixty-seven Redwings, twelve Blackbirds, five Fieldfares and two Chiffchaffs during a ringing session there.

Some ringing recoveries associated with Northants Ringing Group activities are as follows:-

1. A second year Mute Swan ringed at Linford Lakes on 27th August 2022 was seen at Furzton Lake, Milton Keynes just 10km away on 23rd October 2023, 422 days elapsing between the two records;

2. A first year female Sparrowhawk was ringed at Harrington Airfield on 10th September 2023 and unfortunately then found freshly dead at Earls Barton on or about 11th November, 62 days later and 19km in a SSE direction from where originally ringed;

3. A first year male Goldfinch was ringed at Cropwell Bishop, Nottinghamshire on 19th October 2023 and caught again at Greens Norton on 11th November, 23 days later and having travelled 84km in a southerly direction;

4. A Blue Tit ringed as a nestling in a nest box at Stortons Pits, Northampton on 6th May 2022 turned up in a mist net at Stanford Reservoir on 22nd October 2023, 24km away and 534 days later;

5. A juvenile male Blackcap was ringed at Wilstone Reservoir, Tring, Hertfordshire on 3rd September 2023 and was caught again at Pitsford Reservoir on 10th October, 37 days later and having travelled 61km north;

6. A belated report of an adult Reed Warbler first ringed at Noyant, Soulaire-et-Bourg, Maine-et-Loire, France on 14th August 2017 was caught again at Stortons Pits on 14th July 2019 when judged to be an adult female and probably breeding on-site. Some 699 days had elapsed between the two records with Stortons Pits being 522km north of the original ringing site;

7. A first year Chiffchaff ringed at Big Waters, Seaton Burn, Tyne & Wear on 11th September 2023 was caught again at Linford Lakes, Milton Keynes on 7th October having travelled 335km south in 26 days;

8. An adult female Green Woodpecker was ringed at Brixworth on 19th July 2019 and found injured with collision injuries from which it did not survive at Brixworth on about 27th June this year, 1439 days after being first ringed.

Regards

Neil M

Raven.

Kestrel.

Lapwing.

Red-crested Pochards.

All images courtesy
of Tony Stanford.