Ringing in the winter sunshine...

Hello

A busy day for county ringers today. Chris Payne and Mike Tubb were at Bradden in South Northants and caught nearly 60 birds which included Reed Bunting, Goldcrest and Chaffinch. They heard Ravens in the near vicinity too.

Dave Francis and Lynne Barnett were ringing at Pitsford Reservoir this morning and caught 69 birds which included a Fieldfare, a Pied Wagtail, a Goldcrest, four Starlings, a dozen Yellowhammers and a couple of Moorhens.

Also today there was an event at Stanwick Lakes which included a bird ringing demonstration and about two hundred birds were caught in just a couple of mist net rides. Many of the birds were Blue Tits and Great Tits, but there was a variety of common birds which included Reed Bunting, Chaffinch, Bullfinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker and a couple of flocks of Long-tailed Tits. The stunning winter sunshine brought many people out today and at Stanwick it was great to see so many children clearly wowed by their proximity to wild birds in the hand!

Birds noted on site included a male Sparrowhawk sun-bathing for a remarkably long period, a dozing Barn Owl half-hidden in some ivy and a couple of Smew on one of the pits. As many as 400 Golden Plovers were commuting between nearby fields and the main pit and Red Kites regularly patrolled overhead and with many big gulls constantly on the move too.

A quick visit to Billing GP this afternoon (about 3.30pm) confirmed the presence of the female Ring-necked Duck still, albeit that the views were brief due to the very obscured viewing conditions from the road.

Regards

Neil M

Images from the Bird
Ringing Demonstration
at Stanwick Lakes today.
Courtesy of Nick Wood.

Cold today, but colder tomorrow...

Hello

A bright and cold but lovely winter day out there today. Eleanor took a wander around the Harlestone Heath area where many of the woodland birds were in song. Up to fifty Siskins were present as were half a dozen 'redpolls'.

A Peregrine was in the air between Brixworth and Hanging Houghton this afternoon and two Barn Owls and a pair of Stonechat were on view at Blueberry Farm.

More nest-box checking on the Kelmarsh Estate this afternoon provided an opportunity of walking through Rabbit Hill Spinney and flushing a Woodcock. Two Ravens were seen in flight over nearby fields.

Regards

Neil M

Bird Ringing Demonstration and Bird Walks at Stanwick Lakes tomorrow

Members of the Mid-Nene RSPB Group, Northants Ringing Group and Northants Bird Club will be providing assistance at the above event which will be at Stanwick Lakes, part of the Stanwick Gravel Pits complex off the A45 between Higham Ferrers and Raunds. A similar event this time last year at Barnwell Country Park proved to be very successful. I look forward to seeing you there!

Neil M

Grey Squirrel 16 - Tawny Owl 0

Hello

Eleanor spent some time in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton this morning, the cooler weather seemingly causing some regional bird movement. An adult male Peregrine was present and very much interested in the flock of about two hundred Golden Plovers on the fields. The high water level of the brook had attracted a Little Egret and a Little Grebe and two Ravens were still present.

Neil H and I spent the day clearing out big nest-boxes on the reserve at Pitsford Reservoir.  Most of these boxes have been erected to support the local Tawny Owl population but most years a few other bird species use them too. With just two exceptions though the boxes today were full of Grey Squirrel drey material and often Grey Squirrels too! Tawny Owls tend to begin their nesting efforts early in the year and I would like to think that our efforts at evicting the grey-furred rodents today will at least give the Tawnies a chance to take back the boxes before the squirrels trash them again!

A Great White Egret was in the Walgrave Bay this morning and single Chiffchaffs were present in the Holcot and Scaldwell Bays. This afternoon there was a movement of big gulls evident, an example being a mixed flock resting on the water in front of the Maytrees Hide which included 94 Herring Gulls and 33 Great Black-backed Gulls. The Cormorant roost at The Point reached at least 95 birds.

Regards

Neil M

Pitsford WeBS count

Hello

Yesterday (Tuesday), Eleanor noted a Short-eared Owl by the third bunker at Harrington Airfield and later saw a single Barn Owl at Blueberry Farm.

Today was the WeBS count at Pitsford Reservoir. A Great White Egret was mobile around the reserve and a second year Yellow-legged Gull was present first thing. The Slavonian Grebe was about half way between the causeway and the dam in the vicinity of The Holly Tree but towards the Brixworth bank. The three White-fronted Geese were with four Greylags in fields near to the Pintail Bay, often obscured by the trees. Waders included two Green Sandpipers, 100 Snipe, a Jack Snipe and 25 Golden Plovers flying over. Five species of raptor included an adult male Peregrine and the only Smew was a 'redhead' at the very back of the Holcot Bay. Other birds included three Kingfishers and a female Stonechat.

Frank Quinn noted two Stonechats at Bluebery Farm today, in Big Lichfields.

Regards

Neil M

Cormorant

Robin

Female Stonechat

What weather!

Hello

Strong winds again and increasingly heavy rain didn't make it a great day outside, but there are things to do out there!

Neil H saw a pair of Smew and a Goosander in the Holcot Bay at Pitsford Res, the only birds I saw of any note there was a single Little Egret and a Grey Wagtail.

Constructing some seed feeders at Scotland Wood (probably in a failed effort at outwitting the local Grey Squirrels) and finishing off checking the nest-boxes was sufficient to see two Woodcock.

Below are some images of British butterflies kindly supplied by Simon Hales, just to remind us that sunnier and warmer days are ahead of us (honest)!

Regards

Neil M

Gatekeeper

Swallowtail

Marbled White

Purple Emperor

All courtesy of
Simon Hales

Birds of the Bramble and the Sky

Hello

A visitation to Harrington Airfield this morning proved mostly quiet for birds, but a Short-eared Owl was flushed from the third bunker and the covey of 7 Grey Partridge remained.

A wander around the Irthlingborough Lakes and Meadows reserve was breezy but pleasant in some weak winter sunshine, the best birds being a couple of Red Kites and a Little Egret.

Later, two Ravens and a Barn Owl were at Blueberry Farm and some nest-box maintenance and clearing out at Scotland Wood (Kelmarsh Estate) caused four Woodcock to flush up as we ploughed through the brambles.

Yesterday afternoon (Saturday) and a roadside Barn Owl was showing well between the villages of Mears Ashby and Wilby.

Regards

Neil M

Red Kite

Common Gull

Ditchford WeBS count

Hello

In somewhat blustery (and muddy) conditions today, a WeBS count was completed at Ditchford Gravel Pits. A Great White Egret was west of Ditchford Lane as were 17 Egyptian Geese (15 on the Watersport Pit), a juvenile Pink-footed Goose, an adult Peregrine and a first winter Mediterranean Gull.

A Bittern was discovered on the old Skew Bridge Pit and another Great White Egret graced the Wilsons Pits section. As a whole the complex also hosted 6 Little Egrets, 5 Goosanders, 2 Water Rails, 12 Kingfishers, 2 Cetti's Warblers, 10 Chiffchaffs and a Stonechat.

Regards

Neil M

Birds of a breezy county!

Hello

Birds seen locally today included a pair of Raven here at Hanging Houghton, a Barn Owl at Blueberry Farm and a Great White Egret north of the causeway at Pitsford Res. Eleanor walked around Sywell CP and noted two Water Rails, a Kingfisher, c6 'redpolls' and about twenty Siskins. The feeders are well-maintained there and it is possible to obtain excellent views of confiding Jays, Marsh Tits and Nuthatches and well as more common species.

Neil H went looking for the Great Grey Shrike at Deenethorpe today but couldn't find it. A number of other birders were also present but the bird couldn't be found.

Doug Goddard was in Abington Park this morning and saw three Ring-necked Parakeets inspecting tree holes (please see the below images) plus just a single Goosander on the lakes there...

Regards

Neil M

Ring-necked Parakeets in
Abington Park, Northampton
courtesy of Doug Goddard.

Fineshade Wood - the latest...

Hello again

Firstly a very Happy New Year, and thank you once again for all the support you  provided during 2014.  It was a pretty difficult year but, with your help, we achieved far more than we ever dared hope: 

• the Glamping Pods application was rejected by East Northants Council (ENC), 
• Forest Holidays withdrew from the Ancient Woodland area (where the bluebells are),
• the revised Forest Holidays proposal came within a whisker of being rejected too.

At the ENC committee meeting on 28 November, councillors voted to defer a decision in order to "allow officers to seek additional highways advice from NCC and to arrange a further site visit."  We understand there is to be a site visit by Councillors and representatives of Northants Highways possibly on January 15th.

We understand that the application will come back to the committee at their meeting on 28th January at 7pm. That may be when a decision to reject or accept the planning application will be made. If you live locally please try to come to that meeting in Thrapston.

Residents' legal challenge of ENC’s decision not to require an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is still pending. The National Planning Casework Unit (NPCU) should be making a decision sometime in the next few weeks. Forest Holidays' lawyers have submitted a response to our claims. If Councillors were to grant approval for the application on 28th Jan and if NPCU find in our favour then an EIA would need to be carried out before development could go ahead.

Just before Christmas, Forest Holidays lost a long-running battle to develop a similar site at Delamere Forest in Cheshire. A public enquiry ruled that it would contravene Green Belt regulations.

Also just before Christmas a new nearby planning application appeared on the ENC website. This is for a similar-sized holiday village on grazing land called Jack’s Green, between Kings Cliffe and Nassington.  The land was part of a WW II airfield and there would seem to be few environmental or access problems with this site. (See 14/02225/FUL on the ENC website). The application comes from a company called Rockingham Forest Park Ltd with an address in nearby Wansford.

Paul Hackett’s petition has now reached over 1000 signatures https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/forest-privatisation-by-the-back-door 

So that’s a summary of the position as it appears on 1st January. If you feel you have time to help now there is a suggestion below:-

Pressure on Northants Highways

After the ENC meeting on 26th November and during December we residents and our local Parish Council renewed the pressure on Northants Highways and Northamptonshire County Council, sending detailed objections direct to key people. What we (and the ENC councillors) want is a new statement from Northants Highways OBJECTING to application number 14/01704/FUL, rather than the wishy-washy comment they provided previously. 

Now that the holiday season is over we feel that it would be politic to renew the pressure on Northants Highways … and this is where we are asking for your help once again. The message has to be “the road is already at carrying capacity: there should be no extra development that will significantly increase traffic”.

Key people: We believe these are:

Employed people: (i.e civil servants)

TChapman@kierwsp.co.uk  Terry Chapman, Development Management Engineer, the writer of the previous consultation comment

CBond@mgwsp.co.uk Chris Bond, Team leader, Development Management, Northants Highways

dfarquhar@northamptonshire.gov.uk David Farquar, Assistant Director at NCC: responsible for Northamptonshire Highways

Elected NCC councillors

hsmith@northamptonshire.gov.uk  Heather Smith, our Ward Councillor, and deputy leader of council.

MClarke@northamptonshire.gov.uk Michael Clark, NCC “cabinet member” with oversight of Transport

What could you do?

1) If you have already sent an objection concerning access issues to ENC, please could you now resend it directly to one of the key people listed above, perhaps with an appropriate covering note.  

2) And/or, if you feel particularly strongly about the danger of the A43 junction, please could you send them a personal email describing why you feel it is dangerous. Perhaps you have had a near miss there? Perhaps you feel threatened when you take a turn into or out of Fineshade? Could you make a personal appeal saying that: there should be no extra traffic until the junction is sorted out.

3) Have you had difficulties in the single track lane because of pressure of traffic during the past week? or perhaps when the Forestry Commission had badly organised events? Could you email saying that the lane is already at carrying capacity at peak times and simply cannot carry the extra traffic caused by a 350-bed development in the wood.

4) If you feel that neither Forest Holidays (FH) nor Northants Highways have taken into account the seasonal nature of the road use, please could you point out that the brief FH traffic survey was carried out last March, before the caravan site was operating and outside the main holiday season.  Remind them that there have been occasions in 2014 (caused by the popularity of the Gruffalo trail etc.) when the whole access route was gridlocked.

5) If you feel that a 70-unit, 350-bed development in woodland should have an effective alternative emergency access route, please ask Highways to look particularly at the proposed alternative, which is currently a bridleway that is scarcely passable on foot, let alone by emergency vehicles in the event of, say, a forest fire.

If you should get any meaningful responses, please do forward it to us at fineshade.wood@zen.co.uk

Thank you once again - and here’s to a much more peaceful 2015!

Best wishes

Barrie Galpin

Muddy places of Northamptonshire!

Hello

Muddy in the Kelmarsh Woods again this morning but all feeders successfully filled with tit-bits for the local Nuthatches, tits, woodpeckers and others.

A late morning circuit of the Irthlingborough Lakes and Meadows reserve (part of the Ditchford GP complex) provided views of about 500 Lapwings on the new scrape, a Little Egret and a flying Water Rail.

In the afternoon a wander of the pits west of Ditchford Lane yielded a Great White Egret, three Little Egrets and five Egyptian Geese.

The gull roost at Pitsford Res again failed to produce a gull of any note...

Regards

Neil M

A jog around Pitsford Res!

This morning I decided to run around the big side of Pitsford Reservoir, the first time this year !  

At 09.45hrs there were 3 Great White Egrets standing together near the gorse bushes. As I neared the Pintail Bay a large flock of geese came from the fields and landed on the water in front of me. I thought that three of them looked suspicious but couldn't be certain of the species.  I continued and made a slight detour from the track to check for Jack Snipe and found two birds.

The flock of geese decided to follow me and when I arrived back to the causeway they flew over and landed on the small side. My suspicious geese turned out to be the three White-fronted Geese and were viewed from the feeding station before the flock disappeared back to the big side.

A visit to Harrington Airfield late this afternoon only produced 7 Grey Partridge.

Regards Eleanor

County Ringing

Hello

Northants Ringing Group ringers have been active in the county during the last two days. Yesterday John Woollett and team set up nets in an orchard at Nether Heyford in the foggy, cold conditions and enjoyed an excellent session by catching and ringing 58 Fieldfares. Other birds included just a single Redwing and four Blackbirds plus standard fare. This number of Fieldfares ensures that 90 birds have been caught and ringed on this site so far this winter.

Today and a team effort at Brixworth Water Treatment Works provided 51 captures. The highlights were 2 Chiffchaffs (with a third being seen on-site), a Goldcrest, a Song Thrush, a Bullfinch, a Great Spotted Woodpecker, 6 Meadow Pipits, 14 Pied Wagtails and 4 Grey Wagtails.

Regards

Neil M

More images from yesterday's
visit to Badby Wood courtesy
of Helen Franklin

Chiffchaff

Bullfinch

Song Thrush

Grey Wagtail

Images courtesy of
Neil Hasdell

Northants Bird Club Indoor Meeting

Hello

This is a reminder to members and an invite to non-members to attend the next Northants Bird Club Indoor Meeting this coming Wednesday 7th January at the Fishing Lodge, Pitsford Water, Brixworth Road, Holcot, NN6 9SJ. 

Please be seated by 7.30pm and prepare to be presented to by Dr Mark Avery on his talk entitled 'Fighting for Birds: from Passenger Pigeons to Hen Harriers'.

Mark is a particularly articulate and knowledgeable presenter, someone who seems to be able to grasp the politics as well as the passion associated with our disappearing natural world. He is prepared to fight the cause for nature conservation and provide the platform for others to be so inspired. Mark is an author of several books on this and allied subjects and will be bringing a small selection for purchase on the night.

As always, hot drinks and biscuits will be available on the night and parking is available around the Lodge with an overflow facility being by the fishing boats by the shoreline or on the parking areas of the causeway. This is likely to be a popular meeting and I would advise an early arrival for the best seats!

Regards

Neil M

SP55 Short Day Count

Hello

Today it was the turn of SP55 for a Banbury Ornithological Society Short Day Count, and I was hoping for a considerably better day's weather than yesterday! At 8am Helen Franklin and I were in the starting blocks at Fawsley Park, the overnight frost and fog but very still conditions providing a classic sparkling seasonal backdrop. Here we bumped in to Ian Dobson and Martin Elliott also committing to the same task, and comparing notes later they seemed to do much better than us!

Prior to the survey roadside birds included a Barn Owl perched in a tree between Long Buckby and Buckby Wharf and a Woodcock near Hellidon.

The lakes at Fawsley ensure that this key site is a magnet to birders in this area of the county and good birds quickly notched up included Siskin, Kingfisher, Grey Wagtail, Raven and Water Rail. The cold morning air carried the sounds of calling Nuthatch, Green Woodpecker and Common Buzzard from afar but sadly not the calls of Little Owl or Lesser Spotted Woodpecker as you would have expected some years ago.

After scrutinising the lakes we elected for an uphill walk along the Jurassic Way to Badby Woods. Common Gulls fed on frozen invertebrates on the sheep-strewn slopes and a few other bird species fell in to place for the count. On reaching the wood, winter sunshine had penetrated the morning fog and the ice petals on the tree branches looked simply stunning. As is usual for this time of the year. the paths in Badby Wood were very muddy as we completed a clockwise circuit close to the perimeter adding Jay, Marsh Tit and Sparrowhawk to our tally.

Downhill then to our car and some coffee but unfortunately the fog came down again and remained thick for the remainder of the day...

We persevered in the difficult conditions and managed to find a few extra species in the Catesby and Cannons Ashby areas and finished at Byfield Pool where the best birds were repeats in the shape of Kingfisher and Marsh Tit. A couple of Ravens fed in a field near Hellidon.

Regards

Neil M

Sparkling ice petals
courtesy of Helen Franklin.

Common Gull

Grey Squirrel

Hellidon Tower in the
morning mist