A New Week

The new week appears to have started where the old one ended with plenty of waders around plus the appearance of a White Stork circling over town lake at Thrapston GP this afternoon before drifting off south west. I wonder whether it is the same bird that has been present at Rutland Water. 

As expected the Nene Valley is the stronghold for the waders with Avocet, Grey Plover,  Whimbrel,  Ringed Plovers,  Sanderling and Dunlin at Clifford Hill GP.                  The New Workings at Earls Barton GP remains attractive to good numbers of Wood Sandpipers,  Greenshanks,  Ringed Plovers and Dunlins whilst at nearby Summer Leys,  Avocets,  Bar Tailed Godwit,  Ringed Plovers, Dunlin plus Mediterranean Gulls and Glossy Ibis.                                           Other birds around include drake Ring Necked Duck,  Kittiwake,  Arctic Tern and Dunlin at Stanford Reservoir,  Arctic Terns at Stanwick GP and a Whinchat, Ringed Plovers,  Greenshank and Dunlin at Lilbourne Meadows.  Obviously there seems to have been a bit of a movement of Dunlin into the county. 

I have seen very little.  Yesterday I was competing again,  this time with more success as Jaeger picked up a 1st and 3rd place whereas Rouzel seems to think that "E" stands for excellence rather than elimination!!    Visits to Harrington Airfield,  Blueberry area and Pitsford Reservoir have produced very little in the way of birds but good numbers of Painted Lady Butterflies which are always nice to see although they can easily be overlooked as the ones I am seeing are not very bright.   

Kenny Cramer and his team undertook a ringing session at Linford Reserve (Milton Keynes). However the abrupt change in weather conditions to much lower temperatures impacted the number of birds. In total 43 birds were processed,  25 of which were newly ringed and there were 16 species present. Warblers dominated,  6 Garden Warblers,  5 Whitethroats,  3 Blackcaps, 2 Sedge Warblers,  2 Reed Warblers,  2 Chiffchaffs, 3 Lesser Whitethroats and a Cettis Warbler.    Three Great Spotted Woodpeckers hit the net, one of which was a retrap of a bird originally ringed as a juvenile in 2022.      The star of the session was a male Grey Wagtail which was only the 4th to be ringed at Linford following one in 2016 and two in 2024.

Regards Eleanor