Pitsford WeBS Count.

Hello

A grey day with some rain and even an attempt at some milky sunshine this afternoon! Out of the cold easterly breeze it was actually not too bad (honest)!

Perhaps not surprisingly the drake Ring-necked Duck turned back up on the Heronry Lake on the Titchmarsh reserve at Thrapston Pits as found by the original finder Nick Parker. Wildfowl look at their best at this time of the year just ahead of the breeding season.

The drake Smew clearly finds Clifford Hill Pits to it's liking and was still present on the main barrage lake today. At least two other Smew and the drake Scaup were also still at Eyebrook Reservoir and the handsome drake Red-breasted Merganser was seen again at Blatherwycke Lake.

At least seven Great White Egrets and over two hundred Golden Plovers were noted at Summer Leys LNR today, three Woodcock were at Scotland Wood on the Kelmarsh estate, a Short-eared Owl was again on private land near Maidwell and a Barn Owl and two Green Sandpipers were in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton. Four Ravens were seen yesterday in Scaldwell village.

The Pitsford Reservoir WeBS count was completed today with the Great Northern Diver, a Redshank and four Egyptian Geese between the causeway and the dam. North of the causeway there were seven active Grey Heron nests on the reserve section, ahead of the Cormorants it seems this year. Four Great White Egrets were also present, the pair of breeding Ravens were noisy and other birds were an adult Yellow-legged Gull, a Peregrine, two or three Jack Snipe and a minimum of seventy Common Snipe. Three Tree Sparrows were at the Old Scaldwell Road Feeding Station and a pair of Sparrowhawks were displaying over the reserve.

Back in November 2024 a colour-ringed adult Black-headed Gull was found dead at Pitsford Reservoir and it transpires that this bird was first ringed in Poland in June 2015 with 3439 days having passed between the two records with the sites being 1213km apart. This is part of an established pattern of breeding Black-headed Gulls from Poland wintering in the UK and locally to us.

Regards

Neil M

Drake Ring-necked Duck
today at Titchmarsh Reserve
courtesy of Nick Parker.

Cormorant in breeding plumage
courtesy of Tony Stanford.

Goosander courtesy
of Tony Stanford.