Here come the migrants!

Hello

A cracking day's weather and lots of migrants on the move throughout the county made it all the more enjoyable.

Borough Hill Country Park at Daventry was an interesting place to be with a Ring Ouzel, a male Common Redstart, three Wheatears, two Peregrines, two Ospreys (over Daventry town), seven Fieldfares, two Siskins, two Redpolls and a Raven all on show this morning. Nearby at Braunston village there were two more Peregrines and a Swallow on territory. Just over the county border at Willoughby there was a male Common Redstart and a Yellow Wagtail.

A Nightingale was an early bird at Twyford Hills and Dales, a Wheatear was near Cold Ashby and another was on a hill between Titchmarsh and Clopton.

Hollowell Reservoir continued to host the Red-throated Diver and a Wheatear was on the dam with a Common Sandpiper on the dam at Ravensthorpe Reservoir.

At least two Ospreys, a Mediterranean Gull and a Yellow Wagtail were seen at Pitsford Reservoir today.

Another Wheatear was at Stanford Reservoir where also a Common Sandpiper, a Kingfisher and a passage of Common Gulls noted moving west.

Clifford Hill Pits attracted five Little Ringed Plovers, three Ringed Plovers, two Common Sandpipers, two Oystercatchers and a Wheatear. A Cattle Egret was on the Titchmarsh reserve at Thrapston Pits this afternoon and other sightings were a Common Sandpiper and three Sedge Warblers. Summer Leys LNR provided for a Caspian Gull, a Little Ringed Plover and a Yellow Wagtail.

Two or three singing Corn Buntings and a Wheatear were at Chelveston Airfield this morning and an Osprey was seen flying over Finedon. Bitterns were heard 'booming' at two sites today.

This afternoon there was a male Common Redstart at Blueberry Farm, Maidwell plus a Wheatear and a Yellow Wagtail with two Ring-necked Parakeets flying over. Two Wheatears and a collection of Red Kites and Common Buzzards were in a recently-worked field in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton.

A ringing session at Linford Lakes, Miltom Keynes provided sixty-seven captures of nineteen species, thirty-eight of which were newly-ringed. This total included nine Blackcaps, two Cetti's Warblers, three Chiffchaffs and a Willow Warbler. The finches were represented by eight Greenfinches and five Goldfinches and other birds of interest and variety were four Reed Buntings, a Treecreeper, a Great Spotted Woodpecker, a Sand Martin and a Canada Goose. Birds on-site were six Fieldfares, a Siskin, a Great White Egret and three Ring-necked Parakeets.

Regards

Neil M

Sunrise at Linford Lakes.

Sand Martin.

Willow Warbler.

Images courtesy of
Kenny Cramer.