Rock Pipits, a Spoonbill and plenty more

Hello

Out towards the west and a Spoonbill was a good fly-over record for Boddington Reservoir and there was also a Rock Pipit in the north-east corner. It would appear that the Spoonbill later dropped into Crospton Reservoir in Leicestershire & Rutland.

A Rock Pipit was on the dam at Stanford Reservoir where also a Marsh Harrier, two Great White Egrets, twenty-six Little Egrets, two Water Rails, a Kingfisher, three Ravens, two Cetti's Warblers and eight Siskins.

A Ruff and two Curlews were at Lilbourne Water Meadows reserve.

At Pitsford Reservoir today the Slavonian Grebe was back in the Holcot Bay and other birds north of the causeway were one hundred and eighty-five Cormorants, seventeen Pintail and a Green Sandpiper.

The female Merlin was again in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton as were four Stonechats and fly-overs at Harrington Airfield were a Short-eared Owl and two Swallows. A vocal Brambling was in Hanging Houghton village this afternoon.

A Glossy Ibis was at Earls Barton New Workings this afternoon, a Whimbrel was heard flying over and other birds were four Pintail and three Green Sandpipers. A Bittern and a Marsh Harrier at Summer Leys were interacting with each other today.

Another Rock Pipit was at Clifford Hill Pits, the Little Gull was there early this morning but not seen later and other birds were a Dunlin, a Common Sandpiper and three Ringed Plovers.

Two Marsh Harriers, one a wing-tagged bird, were on the Titchmarsh reserve at Thrapston Pits this morning.

Regards

Neil M

Rock Pipit.

First year Little Gull.

All images from Clifford Hill Pits
courtesy of Tyler Atkinson.

October's birds of passage.

Hello

Pitsford Reservoir was the venue for the Slavonian Grebe again north of the causeway and other birds there included eighteen or so Pintail, at least ten Great White Egrets, four Shelduck, two Dunlin, a Ringed Plover, a Green Sandpiper, a Redshank, at least two Yellow-legged Gulls, at least six Stonechats and a Peregrine. With something like three thousand all-sorted birds north of the causeway it's anyone's guess whether the American Wigeon is still there! A modest ringing session there provided three Reed Buntings, nine Meadow Pipits, a Redwing, a Blackcap and two Stonechats. A Clouded Yellow was in Scaldwell Meadow.

Stanford Reservoir was also busy with a Marsh Harrier, a Bittern, an adult Caspian Gull, two hundred and sixty-five Lesser Black-backed Gulls at roost, twenty-eight Little Egrets, a Great White Egret, a Common Snipe, two Water Rails, two Kingfishers, two Cetti's Warblers and a passage of sixty Greenfinches, two Siskins and three Bramblings moving through.

A Caspian Gull was at Daventry Country Park.

Clifford Hill Pits provided a Rock Pipit, a Little Gull and three Ringed Plovers plus a Yellow-legged Gull.

A Great White Egret was at Castle Ashby Lakes today and a female Merlin (presumably the regular bird of the last two winters) was in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton where it caught a Skylark. Four Stonechats were also there.

A ringing session at Linford Lakes today yielded about fifty-four birds with eighteen Reed Buntings, five Cetti's Warblers, three Redwings, six Chiffchaffs and a Blackcap.

Regards

Neil M

Redwing.

Reed Bunting with an aberrant
amount of white in the tail.

Above images courtesy of
Kenny Cramer.

Apparent mature and flowering
Niger plant.

Stonechats at Pitsford Reservoir
today, the upper two courtesy of
Jane Neill.

American Wigeon, and the egret party continues

Hello

Breezy but mild today and sunny after some initial rain.

A drake American Wigeon was a great long-distance spot by Bob at Pitsford Reservoir today, the bird spending the early afternoon around The Point (between the Walgrave and Scaldwell Bays). The Slavonian Grebe was again in the Holcot Bay and there were easily twelve Great White Egrets, twelve Pintail and large numbers of Cormorants and a real mix of wildfowl.

The Hen Harrier was again at Blueberry Farm, Maidwell before heading off towards Cottesbrooke and the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton was busy with corvids, gulls, Skylarks, Meadow Pipits and Common Buzzards and Red Kites as the fields were being worked by agricultural machines. A female Merlin was near 'shrike hedge' plus two Fieldfares and four Stonechats.

Two Marsh Harriers were at Stanford Reservoir where also a Great White Egret and twenty-six Little Egrets.

A single Little Gull was again at Clifford Hill Pits today and what was thought to be a Rock Pipit flew south over the Titchmarsh reserve at Thrapston Pits where also a Bittern was seen in flight.

A Bittern and a Marsh Harrier were on show at Summer Leys LNR, a Ruff and a Marsh Harrier were at Stanwick Pits and a Peregrine at All Hallows church, Wellingborough.

Regards

Neil M

Great White Egrets...this very graceful
species is currently in very high numbers
in the county with perhaps the most at
Ravensthorpe and Pitsford Reservoirs
where they wade through the shallows
picking off small fish.

The Pitsford Slavonian Grebe.

All images courtesy of Dave Jackson.

Back in the county.

Hello

Back on line now after just over two weeks! In that time we have visited the ever fabulous Isles of Scilly and enjoyed the birds and other wildlife on offer down there.

Birding in the county today was varied with a Pink-footed Goose with a small flock of Canada Geese in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton this morning plus four Golden Plovers and a pair of Stonechats. Small numbers of Redwings are now widespread in the county. This afternoon a female Hen Harrier was hunting around Blueberry Farm, Maidwell and then headed into the Brampton Valley.

At Hollowell Reservoir there was a Caspian Gull and four Stonechats and Ravensthorpe Reservoir hosted fourteen Great White Egrets, four Green Sandpipers, a Common Snipe and a female Red-crested Pochard.

Stanford Reservoir hosted a Marsh Harrier, a Great White Egret, twenty-eight Little Egrets, a Cackling Goose of unknown origin, a Kingfisher, one hundred and fifty Cormorants, a Siskin, two colour-ringed Black-headed Gulls (one a Dutch bird), and four Cetti's Warblers.

An adult Caspian Gull was at Daventry Country Park today.

Pitsford Reservoir was the venue for a Slavonian Grebe in the Holcot Bay, a juvenile Black Tern, a juvenile Arctic Tern, a juvenile Common Tern, at least five Yellow-legged Gulls, one hundred and forty-two Cormorants, at least twelve Great White Egrets, a Common Redshank, five Egyptian Geese, a Kingfisher and at least six Pintail.

A drake Ring-necked Duck was a great find at Thrapston Pits and perhaps the returning bird on the Titchmarsh reserve (Heronry Pit), and other sightings were a Bittern, a Marsh Harrier and three Stonechats.

A Glossy Ibis was seen at Summer Leys where also two Marsh Harriers and two Stonechats.

Morning birds at Clifford Hill Pits were a Whinchat, a pair of Stonechats, a Great White Egret, three Ringed Plovers and eight Grey Partridges, with two Little Gulls there late this afternoon.

Some recent ringing sessions at Linford Lakes have provided plenty of birds and the Reed Bunting numbers suggest a good breeding year perhaps. Six Redwings have already been processed and both Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs continue to move through plus a few Meadow Pipits with scarcer captures being a rather late Yellow Wagtail, a couple of Cetti's Warblers and a Common Snipe.

Regards

Neil M

Reed Bunting.

Common Snipe.

Yellow Wagtail.

Meadow Pipit.

Redwing.

All images courtesy of Kenny Cramer.

Here come the Stonechats!

Hello

My apologies but we will be off-line for a couple of weeks so this will be the last blog for a while.

More ringing activity locally has included a number of wildfowl sessions with quite a number of Mute Swans, Canada Geese, Greylag Geese and Mallard ringed. Eight more Barn Owls were located and ringed in what is proving to be an exceptionally good year for the species. Kenny at Linford Lakes has been working hard with another roost catch of fifty-nine Swallows and a Yellow Wagtail. Today a general ringing session there yielded another hundred birds, most of which were newly-ringed. Fifty-seven Blackcaps was an impressive total plus fifteen Reed Buntings, five Chiffchaffs, two Sedge Warblers, a late Willow Warbler and two Meadow Pipits. Bigger birds were a Blackbird, a Green Woodpecker and a Jay but the seemingly star bird was a Stonechat, only the second one to have been ringed at Linford.

Two hundred and eighteen new birds were ringed at Stanford Reservoir today which included a Grasshopper Warbler, a Garden Warbler, a Willow Warbler and two Common Redstarts.

General birding in the county provided the Osprey again at the New Workings section at Earls Barton Pits where also a Hobby and a Marsh Harrier,

A Cattle Egret was photographed at Titchmarsh reserve, Thrapston Pits today and a Bittern was at Higham Ferrers Lakes, Ditchford Pits with a Kingfisher and a Shelduck on the Irthlingborough Lakes and Meadows reserve.

Birds at Hollowell Reservoir today included eleven Ringed Plovers, five Dunlin and a pair of Stonechat. Stanford Reservoir general birding also located two aythya hybrids which appear to be of Pochard x Tufted Duck parentage, fifteen Little Egrets, a Caspian Gull briefly and two Cetti's Warblers

Birds north of the causeway at Pitsford Reservoir were a first year Caspian Gull, two adult Yellow-legged Gulls, a Dunlin, five Ringed Plovers, a Common Snipe, two Pintail, three Shelduck, twelve Great White Egrets and a pair of Stonechat.

Single Stonechats were at Upton Country Park and between Kelmarsh and Arthingworth.

The Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton was good for a female Merlin, six Golden Plovers, a Wheatear, two Stonechats and a Whinchat.

Regards

Neil M

Barn Owls!

Chicken of the Woods fungi.

Robin courtesy of Tony Stanford.

Green Woodpecker.

Blackbird.

Jay.

Stonechat.

Above four images courtesy
of Kenny Cramer.

Northants Ringing Group in action

Hello

A very busy twenty-four hours for the Northants Ringing Group with several locations and techniques employed to process both resident and migrant birds.

Kenny and his team have continued with efforts at catching birds coming to roost at Linford Lakes the last two evenings, successfully ringing seventy-five Swallows, a Sand Martin and two Yellow Wagtails.

Ringers operating at Stortons Pits today managed one hundred and ten birds of fifteen species which included fourteen Chiffchaffs, thirty-four Blackcaps, five new Robins, five Cetti's Warblers, a Reed Warbler, two Song Thrushes, three Goldfinches and singles of Goldcrest and Treecreeper.

A ringing demonstration took place at Pitsford Reservoir as arranged with the Peterborough Bird Club and yielded forty-nine captures with the star birds being eighteen Meadow Pipits, seven Reed Buntings and a male Stonechat. In addition we enjoyed the presence of six year old Hannah who subsequently went home and drew a Blue Tit (please see below)!

In addition some late season next box visits provided four Barn Owls and a Stock Dove.

General birding today provided a Barn Owl between East Haddon and Holdenby, a Wheatear and two Whinchats at Harrington Airfield, a Grey Wagtail in Hanging Houghton village and two more in the Brampton Valley below the village.

Birds north of the causeway at Pitsford Reservoir included a Ruff, six Ringed Plovers, a Little Ringed Plover and at least two Yellow-legged Gulls and three Grey Wagtails passed over.

A Bittern was seen at Stanford Reservoir where also twelve Little Egrets and eighteen Pochard and Hollowell Reservoir's sightings were eight Ringed Plovers and three Dunlin.

The Titchmarsh reserve at Thrapston Pits provided two Marsh Harriers, a Ruff, a Green Sandpiper, two Common Snipe and a Common Sandpiper and Clifford Hill Pits hosted eight Barnacle Geese, two Great White Egrets, a Water Rail, two Common Snipe, a Common Sandpiper and rather late individuals of Common Whitethroat and Lesser Whitethroat.

The Osprey was again in the Nene Valley at Whiston Wetlands/Earls Barton New Workings.

Regards

Neil M

Blue Tit by Hannah Reith 6 years.

Ringing station at Pitsford Reservoir.

First year male Stonechat
courtesy of Sean Gower.

Nestling Stock Dove.

Meadow Pipit courtesy
of Jane Neill.

Barn Owl.

Warm and sunny autumn day

Hello

A sunny and calm day after the recent windy weather.

Birds in the village at Hanging Houghton included Little Owl, Raven and Grey Wagtail and the Brampton Valley below the village and towards the Blueberry Farm area provided a Short-eared Owl, a Wheatear, a Common Redstart, two Stonechats, one Whinchat, twelve Ravens and four Golden Plovers.

The Titchmarsh Reserve at Thrapston Pits provided a Ruff, a Green Sandpiper, a Common Sandpiper and a Greenshank.

The long-staying Osprey was again at Whiston Wetlands/Earls Barton New Workings. An adult Caspian Gull was briefly on Mary's Lake, Earls Barton Pits.

North of the causeway at Pitsford Reservoir the massed birds in the shallow water included fifteen Great White Egrets, two Pintail, three Shelducks, three Yellow-legged Gulls, a Ruff, a Greenshank, five Ringed Plovers and a fly-over Golden Plover.

Hollowell Reservoir hosted the local female Ruddy Shelduck, a Black-tailed Godwit, nine Ringed Plovers and two Dunlin.

Regards

Neil M

Kingfisher.

Ruff.

Meadow Pipit.

Little Grebes.

Above images courtesy
of Tony Stanford.

Peacock.

Small Copper.

Plenty of butterflies in the
warm and sunny weather today
including plenty of Clouded Yellows.

Ringing the migrants again

Hello

It was another day suitable for ringing the migrants and Kenny and his team down at Linford Lakes were busy with a massive catch of one hundred and fifty-eight birds with thirty-six Chiffchaffs, forty Blackcaps, twenty-four Meadow Pipits and twenty Reed Buntings. Three Reed Warblers, a Cetti's Warbler and a Sedge Warbler were also caught plus a late Willow Warbler and a re-trap Sparrowhawk.

A Great White Egret and a Common Sandpiper were also present.

Another ringing session at Brixworth was much steadier with eighty birds processed which included thirty-one Chiffchaffs, a handful of Blackcaps, singles of Magpie, Sedge Warbler, Pied Wagtail and Song Thrush. Several Meadow Pipits were also processed but unfortunately the session was brought to a swift closure when Kestrels began to attack birds in the nets. A couple of Grey Wagtails were also present for much of the day and a couple of flocks of migrant Swallows lingered for a while before moving on. A Barn Owl was hunting there pre-dawn.

Presumably the same Short-eared Owl was found again in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton and there were also two Whinchats and this afternoon a Marsh Harrier too.

Pitsford Reservoir hosted a Caspian Gull and four Yellow-legged Gulls between the causeway and dam and other sightings were a Green Sandpiper, a Dunlin, a Ruff, sixteen Ringed Plovers, four Pintail, four Shelduck and a Stonechat.

Eight Ringed Plovers and a Dunlin were at Hollowell Reservoir today and one of the Bitterns showed again at Stanford Reservoir where also a Great White Egret, sixteen Little Egrets, three Cetti's Warblers, a Common Sandpiper and a Water Rail.

The Turnstone was again at Daventry Country Park and the juvenile Osprey was seen again at Whiston Wetlands/Earls Barton New Workings. A Cattle Egret and a Ruff were at Summer Leys LNR this morning.

A Cetti's Warbler was a good local record at Priors Hall, Corby and two Ravens were calling over Plumpton Wood.

Regards

Neil M

Tufted Duck.

Carrion Crow 'playing'
with a plastic toy!

Pied Wagtail.

Above three images courtesy
of Tyler Atkinson.

Sedge Warbler courtesy
of Kenny Cramer.

Windy and quiet

Hello

Strong winds today seemed to fail to bring us anything unusual in sunny Northants.

A Barn Owl was in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton early this morning.

Three Great White Egrets were at Stanford Reservoir today together with a Water Rail, a Common Sandpiper and good counts of one hundred and thirty-five Cormorants and one hundred and fifty-two Shovelers. Birds at Daventry Country Park still included the lingering Turnstone, a Pintail, six Ringed Plovers and two Black-tailed Godwits.

Eight Ringed Plovers, a Dunlin and a Hobby were at Hollowell Reservoir today and Pitsford Reservoir provided sightings of thirteen Ringed Plovers, a Dunlin, a Common Snipe, a Greenshank, a Common Sandpiper, six Shelducks, a Yellow-legged Gull, a Raven and a Stonechat - all north of the causeway.

Two Great White Egrets and a Cetti's Warbler were noted at Ravensthorpe Reservoir.

A Stonechat and a Marsh Harrier were at Summer Leys LNR and Thrapston Pits produced a Yellow-legged Gull, a Greenshank, a Green Sandpiper, a Common Sandpiper and a Hobby.

A Short-eared Owl was found at Borough Hill Country Park, Daventry this afternoon plus two Whinchats. Single Grey Wagtails were at Hanging Houghton and in the Brampton Valley below Brixworth.

Regards

Neil M

Magpie courtesy of
John Tilly.

House Sparrow courtesy
of John Tilly.

Grey Heron.

New birds required

Hello

Seems rather quiet out there - September has not lived up to the excitement of August which was a busy month in the county for warblers, chats, flycatchers, waders and much more.

Nevertheless there are still plenty of migrants on the move with wagtails, pipits, finches and gulls being the obvious movers during the daytime, and who knows what goes over at night!

Late summer and autumn is also a busy time for birds as many of them complete a moulting process of one sort or another. After and towards the end of breeding, most adult passerines complete a full moult during which time for example, the Robins and Blackbirds are at their quietest. Most juvenile passerines complete a body moult but retain their flight feathers until next year. There are a number of exceptions but this is the general rule for small song/perching birds. For bigger birds it's much more complicated and in some species they are in an eternal moult process, even during the time of migration. Understanding moult or some understanding of it helps differentiate birds hatched this year from older birds and can assist in identification of species too.

Reported sightings in the county today were minimal but the long-staying Turnstone was still at Daventry Country Park, this in itself is very unusual but it has been an extraordinary autumn for this species in the Midlands.

A Bittern and three fly-over Goosanders were the best on offer at Summer Leys LNR this morning and the Earls Barton New Workings was still the venue for the juvenile Osprey this afternoon (but absent earlier in the day), plus six Hobbies, a Ringed Plover and two Green Sandpipers.

Eight Barnacle Geese and a Whinchat were at Clifford Hill Pits, seven Ringed Plovers and a Dunlin were at Hollowell Reservoir and Sywell Country Park hosted two Common Sandpipers, a Green Sandpiper, a Stonechat and two Spotted Flycatchers.

A Short-eared Owl was seen over a field adjacent to Wicksteed Park, Kettering and the regular Caspian Gull was at Naseby Reservoir today.

Regards

Neil M

Spotted Flycatchers...just a few
left now...images courtesy of
Tyler Atkinson.

Long-eared Owl courtesy
of Robin Gossage.

Migrant Hawker.