A wet day in August!

Hello

As forecast quite a bit of rain today beginning in the early hours and not petering out until late afternoon. Normally such an event at this time of the year would be good for downing migrants in the county, but with a procession of windy days from the west beforehand it only had a limited effect.

Nevertheless it did provide a few wader sightings with a Dunlin and a Sanderling at Clifford Hill Pits, four Turnstones, a Greenshank, four Green Sandpipers, a Common Sandpiper, three Common Snipe, two Ringed Plovers and a Little Ringed Plover at Summer Leys LNR with two Turnstones at Stanwick Pits early on. The influence elsewhere was minimal with a Ringed Plover at Titchmarsh Reserve, Thrapston, a Common Sandpiper at Pitsford Reservoir, four Green Sandpipers at Lilbourne Meadows reserve and three Common Sandpipers at Stanford Reservoir.

Other birds noted today included a Hobby and a Kingfisher plus the Ruddy Shelduck at Stanford Reservoir, a Tree Pipit at Hollowell Reservoir, three Garganey at Summer Leys LNR and a Little Owl at Lilbourne.

The Titchmarsh reserve boasted ten Cattle Egrets today which later flew towards Thrapston plus an Osprey. Pitsford Reservoir featured an Osprey and two Great White Egrets north of the causeway late this afternoon and a male Common Redstart, six Yellow-legged Gulls and a Common Sandpiper all visible from the dam.

This afternoon saw a Wheatear, four Whinchats, a Common Redstart and a family of Spotted Flycatchers in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton and two male Common Redstarts at Blueberry Farm, Maidwell.

An afternoon sauntering around Harrington Airfield produced two fly-over Crossbills, a juvenile Marsh Harrier still, a Common Redstart, a Wheatear and three Whinchats.

Regards

Neil M

Turnstones.

Dunlin.

Gadwall.

Above images courtesy
of Robin Gossage.

The harvest is nearly over!