Hello
More full-on sunshine today but a keen and blustery north-east breeze created a significant cooling effect.
Pitsford Reservoir today had plenty of gulls with many Black-headeds taking advantage of more fly hatches...the waterfowl hoover these up as well many passerines feeding around the edges of the reservoir. At least two Yellow-legged Gulls were still present and three Great Black-backed Gulls were taking advantage of dead fish. A Raven was active near the dam and there were small numbers of Sand Martins both here and in the Scaldwell Bay. Two Great White Egrets were mobile north of the causeway.
A Little Gull was at Eyebrook Reservoir today, a Swallow and a Grey Wagtail were in the Brampton Valley below Brixworth and Harrington Airfield provided a flock of about fifty Golden Plovers flying around and circling about a mile off to the west, a flock of fifty Stock Doves, eighteen Fieldfares and at least one pair of Grey Partridges.
Birds for Summer Leys LNR today included four Black-tailed Godwits, five Golden Plovers, a Marsh Harrier, a House Martin and a Willow Warbler.
Some recent ringing recoveries associated with the Northants Ringing Group are as follows:-
1. A first year Blue Tit was ringed at Greens Norton on 22nd November 2019 and remarkably turned up in a ringers net at Durlston Country Park, Dorset on 19th March 2025 by which time it was assessed as an adult male (and will be six years old this summer). This wanderer was 186km from where first ringed with a SSW trajectory and the time elapsed between the two records was 1944 days;
2. A juvenile Great Tit was ringed in Howe Park Wood, Milton Keynes on 1st July 2023 and died at nearby Tattenhoe, Milton Keynes on 28th March this year following a cat intervention, some 636 days later;
3. A first year female Reed Bunting was ringed at Paley Street, Windsor and Maidenhead on 10th November 2024 and trapped again at Linford Lakes, Milton Keynes on 30th March 2025. One hundred and forty days had elapsed between records with the bunting moving 67km north during the intervening period;
4. An adult male Blue Tit was ringed in Bourne Wood, Lincolnshire on 6th February this year and turned up in a mist net at Pitsford Reservoir on 15th March (37 days later) and having travelled 57km in a SSW direction. Another Blue Tit suffering wanderlust!
5. A first year Blue Tit was ringed at Linford Lakes, Milton Keynes on 11th February 2020 and taken by a cat in Milton Keynes on 8th March 2025, 1609 days later and having travelled possibly less than 2km.
Regards
Neil M
Blue Tit courtesy of Tony Stanford. |
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Map showing the movement of the Blue Tit from Greens Norton to Durlston Country Park, Dorset. |
Map showing the movement of the Blue Tit from Bourne, Lincolnshire to Pitsford Reservoir. |
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Map depicting the movement of the Reed Bunting from Windsor and Maidenhead to Linford Lakes. |