The breeding season.

Hello

My ornithological calendar identifies June as the only month of summer; I class July and onwards as autumn! Aside from occasional overshooting vagrants from the south and local movements, June is all about breeding birds in Northamptonshire and a mixed bag of heat, cold temperatures and short periods of rain appears to suggest that it already looks like a decent year for many breeders.

The early indications are that the owls are faring better this year after a 'bust' year last year and there are plenty of 'branching' juvenile Tawny Owls and broods of rather early Barn Owls being reported all around.

The intense heat will have caused casualties in the nest and the sometimes cold night-time temperatures would have suppressed insect activity with a knock-on effect for the smaller birds that rely so heavily on them.

Bigger birds have perhaps shrugged off these issues and there seems to be plenty of young Starlings, Blackbirds etc out and about and raptor productivity looks good too.

For much of the spring I have been away with tours in France, Iceland and most recently a cruise around the islands of the UK. I have added a few more images to the 'Go Slow in Iceland' page but it will be a little while before I can add many images from the cruise around the UK with visits to Lundy, the Isles of Scilly, the Calf of Man, Rathlin Island, St Kilda and various islands in the Hebrides, Orkneys and Shetlands. An epic and much-awaited Naturetrek trip on board a small cruise ship and using zodiacs to make landings every day.

Regards

Neil M

Green-eyed (Norfolk) Hawker at Stortons Pits
today courtesy of Tony Stanford, and perhaps a new
site for this species which is colonising the county.

Garden Warbler at Stortons Pits today
courtesy of Tony Stanford.

Rusty Soldier Beetle courtesy of
John Tilly.

Lapwing and chick courtesy
of John Tilly.