Isles of Scilly 8th - 10th Oct

Hello

On Saturday 8th Oct we finally bit the bullet and took a boat to the island of Tresco, and it wasn't too long before we were watching the juvenile Sora Rail that has been present for perhaps a couple of weeks now. Like all such birds it was skulking but on occasions did exit the reeds of the Great Pool albeit at some distance.

On another warm and sunny day we took a wander around the island and saw an Osprey, a Woodcock, a female Peregrine, a flock of six Pale-bellied Brent Geese, a Back Redstart and half a dozen Yellow-browed Warblers. Insects were out in force with particularly large numbers of Red Admiral butterflies and several Hummingbird Hawk-moths amongst others.

On our return to St Mary's at about 5pm we bumped in to a late Turtle Dove, a couple of Wrynecks, a Black Redstart, a male Lapland Bunting, another Yellow-browed Warbler, the long-staying Black-necked Grebe and five Jack Snipe. Whinchats and Stonechats were everywhere.

Yesterday (Sunday), an early wander around St Mary's successfully located three Ring Ouzels, plenty of Redwings and a Red-throated Diver. By way of a change we then took a four and half hour boat trip around the islands birding the shoreline and islets. Five adult Peregrines were atop their respective rocks in very calm conditions and we encountered an adult Great Northern Diver, a Common Scoter, several Mediterranean Gulls, lots of waders including three Purple Sandpipers, a couple of Puffins, the Brent Geese again and pods of Harbour Porpoises and both Common and Grey Seals.

Today (Monday) and after some early morning Firecrests and a brief view of a Subalpine Warbler, we took a boat to St Martins, possibly our favourite island. Here we found another Firecrest, a Ring Ouzel, a Merlin, a Mediterranean Gull, a Yellow-browed Warbler and a Garden Warbler in slightly cooler but still sunny conditions. The male Subalpine Warbler was still showing on our return to St Mary's, pretty good for a species known to be a major skulker!

Regards

Neil M

Jack Snipe

Redshank

Yellow-browed Warbler



Pale-bellied Brent Geese

Stonechat

Sora Rail



Peregrine

Common Seal

Grey Seal

Grey Plover

Purple Sandpiper

Colour Ringed Little Egret

On Wednesday last week whilst surveying the large number of wildfowl congregated in the Scaldwell Bay at Pitsford Res, my attention was captured by a little Egret fishing in the shallows away towards the bund. It appeared to have been colour Ringed. Further studying through my scope eventually revealed that the bird was Ringed above the knee on both legs. The left leg had an orange (it looked red to me) ring with the black letter N and the right a green ring with the number 6.
After reporting the siting via the BTO the following information was provided about the bird: It was ringed by North Thames Gull group on the 5th May 2012 as a nestling, making the bird 4yrs 154 days old. The bird was Ringed at Netherhall in Essex, 89km from Pitsford.
      Regards,
               Neil H.

The Scilly Isles 6th and 7th Oct

Hello

Like much of the country, the Isles of Scilly have been hit with continual blustery easterly winds which has produced large numbers of migrants. In particular the Robin is particularly numerous and there must be hundreds of of them on the islands. A little ringing next to our chalet during the last three days has produced 29 different individuals.

Yesterday (6th) was very enjoyable, the high-point being just past noon when we discovered a Caspian Tern in flight over the Porthcressa Bay on St Mary's. This bird quickly moved to the east of the island and settled at Porthellick where most locally-based birders managed to catch up with it.

Other interesting birds included the two Cattle Egrets again, a confiding Black-necked Grebe, a Wryneck, the Red-backed Shrike on the Garrison, several Firecrests and Yellow-browed Warblers, a Curlew Sandpiper, a Merlin, a couple of Black Redstarts and plenty of insects including Hummingbird Hawk-moths and Painted Lady butterflies in good numbers.

Today (7th) and much the same weather conditions but with a much-reduced wind provided good ringing conditions and individuals trapped and ringed included Redstart, Pied Flycatcher, Firecrest and Grey Wagtail. Eleanor saw up to four different Wrynecks on St Mary's today, including two or three together. Yellow-browed Warblers were everywhere and both Porthellick and Lower Moors hosted ridiculous numbers of Jack Snipe. The Cattle Egrets remained mobile and most of the birds from the day before were seen again. A pulse of fresh-in warblers included a new wave of Blackcaps.

And tomorrow's forecast is looking good too...!

Regards 

Neil M

Firecrest

Common Redstart

Black Redstart

Red-breasted Flycatcher

Little Bunting

Rock Pipit

Red-backed Shrike

Black-necked Grebe

The Isles of Scilly

Hello

On Monday Eleanor and I sailed from Penzance in Cornwall to the Isles of Scilly, a favourite location of ours.

A rough crossing provided views of several Great Skuas and a Grey Phalarope plus more common sea-birds and brief views of Harbour Porpoise and Common Dolphin.

With strong easterly/south-easterly winds the islands held plenty of migrants and our first afternoon wander ensured we saw a Red-breasted Flycatcher, a Red-backed Shrike and the first of many Yellow-browed Warblers.

Yesterday (Tuesday) and the wind strengthened even more. A wander up to the airfield on St Mary's was productive with side by side views of Buff-breasted Sandpiper, American Golden Plover and a cracking male Lapland Bunting. More Yellow-browed Warblers and two Cattle Egrets in the afternoon were the pick of the later in the day birds.

Today (Wednesday) and the quality birds kept coming with a confiding Little Bunting, another Red-breasted Flycatcher, the Cattle Egrets, AGP and Buff-breast again plus Lapland Bunting, Wryneck, Redstart and Black Redstart, Hobby, Jack Snipe and plenty of Firecrests and Yellow-browed Warblers...

And the weather forecast suggest more avian influences from the east during the next several days...

Regards

Neil M

Song Thrush. Still a common
bird on the Isles of Scilly.

Large Red Underwing moth.

Grey Wagtail.

NBC Indoor Meeting 5th Oct

Hello

The next indoor meeting of the Northants Bird Club will be on Wednesday 5th October 2016, the venue again being the Fishing Lodge at Pitsford Reservoir. The speaker will be the Midlands RSPB Reserves Officer Mike Pollard who will illustrate a personal and corporate view of the work of the RSPB in the Midlands and provide an update on some of the flagship reserves such as Otmoor and Middleton Lakes.

The meeting will commence at 7.30pm with our Chairman Bob Gill presiding and members and non-members are invited to attend. Free hot drinks and biscuits will be available during the evening.

Please make every effort to attend!

Regards

Neil McMahon

Bittern and Turtle Dove.
Both these rare species
breed on RSPB Midlands
reserves...

Sunday birding and ringing...

Hello

Some ringing in the county this morning included a session in the Scaldwell Bay at Pitsford Reservoir where Dave Francis caught three Mallard, three Long-tailed Tits (including one bird five and a half years old), two Dunnocks, two Robins (one four and a half years old), two Chiffchaffs, two Goldcrests, a Blackbird, a Song Thrush, a Blackcap, a Blue Tit, a Great Tit and a Chaffinch.

At Stortons Gravel Pits John Woollett caught three Long-tailed Tits, six Chiffchaffs, two Reed Buntings, three Reed Warblers, two Robins, three Cetti's Warblers, a Great Tit, two Blue Tits, a Blackcap, a Blackbird and a Wren.

An early visit to Harrington Airfield this morning paid off with migration evidence in the form of a Short-eared Owl, a Peregrine, ca15 Golden Plovers, two Redwings, two redpoll sp, a Reed Warbler and plenty of Linnets, Meadow Pipits and Skylarks.

Several observers at Pitsford Reservoir today were responsible for sightings of up to three Great White Egrets, two Yellow-legged Gulls, two adult Caspian Gulls, the Ruddy Shelduck, two Grey Wagtails and a juvenile Whinchat.

At Staverton today there were four Ravens, two Whinchats and up to ten Siskins.

Grey Wagtails were further in evidence at Hanging Houghton and Brixworth Water Treatment Works

Regards

Neil McMahon

Grey Wagtail

Whinchat

Skokholm

Female Stonechat

Hello

The main contingent of the Northants Ringing Group arrived back from the Pembrokeshire island of Skokholm this evening, the weather conditions ensuring we had an extended stay beyond our planned seven days!

During our stay we managed to ring 300 birds and processed another 116 previously-ringed individuals. Manx Shearwaters breed on this very small island in their thousands and the majority of the adults have now left. They leave behind the very vulnerable youngsters that have to crawl out of their tunnel nests and strengthen their wings over several nights and then return to their tunnels prior to dawn before they are caught, killed and eaten by Great Black-backed Gulls.

So at night we ventured out along a stipulated transect and ringed 122 of these amazing sea-birds.

During the day, when the opportunities permitted, we used mist nets, heligoland traps and a variety of smaller traps to catch and ring both resident and migrant passerines. We were also lucky to catch the island apex predator, the stunning adult Great Black-backed Gull!

My thanks to Helen Franklin, Rory Akam, Chris Payne and Kenny Cramer for making our fourth expedition to the island another resounding success, and of course the wardens Giselle and Richard and the island volunteers for providing the opportunity for contributing something towards the work of the observatory.

A few images of some of the island birds...

Regards

Neil M

Goldcrest

Chiffchaff

Wheatear

Great Black-backed Gull

Raven

Pied Flycatcher

Male Stonechat

Peregrine

Rock Pipit

Meadow Pipit

Manx Shearwater

My daily visit to Harrington airfield was a little more productive today. The bushes were very quiet and the only warblers I could find were Blackcap and Willow Warbler.  The freshly harvested and ploughed fields were attractive to the birds. There was a decent mixed flock of Skylark, Meadow Pipit, Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting and Linnet and this in turn attracted a female Merlin who put on a good chase as she tried to catch her breakfast. She perched briefly on a bunker before going off in pursuit once more.   
Other raptors included double figure numbers of Red Kite, numerous Common Buzzard, several Kestrel and a Sparrowhawk enjoying the breezy sunny weather.
The 3 Stonechat remain at Blueberry as well as 2 Whinchat and a cream crown Marsh Harrier.
This afternoon found me loitering in a gateway near Sywell . It was well worth it as the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight consisting of a Hurricaine, Spitfire and Lancaster gave an amazing display, quite magnificent.

Regards Eleanor

Round Up

Although I have been out and about during the week I have failed to see very little.
I have visited Harrington Airfield every day and it has been very quiet. On Tuesday 20th there was a small flurry of birds, 2 Brambling, Redpoll, Crossbill and a few Siskin flying over plus a decent number of Meadow Pipit and Skylark feeding on the newly worked fields.  It is good to see that the Grey Partridge families are doing well.
On my daily visits to Blueberry Farm area I regularly saw 3 Stonechat and up to 6 Whinchat. A cream crown Marsh Harrier was seen on several occassions, usually late afternoon.
The valley area below Hanging Houghton has been attracting large numbers of Lesser Black Backed Gulls and Corvids including up to 4 Ravens foraging the fields.  There has also been the noticable presence of good numbers of Meadow Pipits and Skylark.  Other birds of note have been Wheatear and a male Peregrine.
Whilst out running along the Brampton Valley Way the other morning there was Brambling and Common Redstart at Merry Tom Lane.
I end on a sad note as Jo Knowles of Blueberry Farm died last week from cancer, only a few weeks following the death of Stephen. Such a lovely couple who welcomed so many of us onto their land to enjoy and share in the wildlife.  Jo was equally as welcoming and enthusiastic as Stephen and between them they have created a unique and almost "magical" place.  A place which is special to so many of us and it is fitting that it will also be their final resting place as their ashes will be scattered at the top of "Blueberry Hill" and a stone bench erected in their memory.
Thank You Stephen and Jo, rest in peace.
Our thoughts and sympathy are with their family at this sad and difficult time.

Regards Eleanor

Stortons Ringing

Hello

More bird ringing at Stortons Gravel Pits this morning provided 51 captures, 44 of which were new birds. These included 8 Reed Warblers, 6 Blackcaps, 3 Cetti's Warbler, 10 Chiffchaffs and 3 Bullfinches. John Woollett reports that they have now caught 66 new Chiffchaffs on-site this year which is up on last year and more Reed Warblers too.

Other members of the Northants Ringing Group headed west today on the first stage of travelling over to Skokholm, an island off the Pembrokeshire coast. The weather conditions suggest we will successfully land on Tuesday, the fourth year in a row when members of the NRG have contributed to the migration watch and bird ringing on the island.

A stop at Symond's Yat overlooking the River Wye was a good move, the stunning scenery looking even better in the strong and warm sunshine. Two Goshawks were the avian highlight, fairly brief views of an adult female in an autumn display flight and a juvenile female grappling with the local Common Buzzards a good few hundred feet up! A pair of adult Peregrine, a juvenile Hobby and the usual Nuthatch, Mandarin Ducks and Ravens made up for an enjoyable wildlife spectacle.

Regards

Neil M

Chiffchaffs. One of the warblers
seemingly currently on the increase...

Ringing recoveries

Hello

A couple more recoveries have been sent through recently of birds ringed in the county...

Ring number Z604156 was placed on a juvenile Reed Warbler at Stortons Gravel Pits on 5th July 2015. It is very likely that Stortons was the location where this youngster was hatched. On 3rd July 2016 this bird was caught at Stanford Reservoir and gave the indication that it was breeding there. The distance between the two sites is about 24km but of course this bird would have wintered in Africa between these dates.

A juvenile Tree Sparrow was caught and ringed at Pitsford Reservoir on 6th October 2012 and on 1st September 2016 it was found recently dead at Walgrave. Although this bird may not have travelled far, four years is a good age for a Tree Sparrow (1426 days between ringed date and being found dead). Not all the Tree Sparrows feeding locally in the county during the winter originate from Northamptonshire. There are now at least three instances of birds initially ringed in East Yorkshire in the autumn being subsequently controlled here in the East Midlands, suggesting that some birds in north England  (predominately juveniles?) move south and winter in this region.

This afternoon (Saturday) and an adult Yellow-legged Gull was with Lesser Black-backs in fields in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton and a Kingfisher was on the Brampton Brook.

An evening visit to the Sailing Club at Pitsford Reservoir failed to locate anything much different - the Ruddy Shelduck was there as well as at least two Yellow-legged Gulls.

Regards

Neil M

Reed Warbler

Tree Sparrow

Migfest 2016

Hello

Last week-end saw the fourth annual celebration of bird migration at Spurn on the east coast of Yorkshire, known as Migfest:-

www.spurnmigfest.com/

Nine of us trundled our way north on either the Friday or Saturday and despite the continuous rain on the Saturday, thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. A visit on the way to Alkborough Flats in North Lincolnshire was called for, this comparatively new and extensive reserve hosting a rare Purple Swamphen (or Purple Gallinule if you prefer). Eventually this bird put in an appearance and the shallow wetland attracted a wealth of other birds including 550 plus Avocets, large numbers of common waders, eight Spoonbills, a couple of Marsh Harriers and Peregrine and Hobby.

At Spurn the wind was really in the wrong direction for any rare passerines, but the waders put on a tremendous show and many provided excellent views including Curlew Sandpiper, Little Stint, Wood Sandpiper and even a Kentish Plover. Passing sea-birds involved Arctic Skua, Great Skua, Manx Shearwater, Sooty Shearwater, a variety of terns and ducks and plenty of Red-throated Divers.

Visible migration was very evident on the Sunday with thousands of Meadow Pipits flitting southwards supported by smaller numbers of hirundines, wagtails, Reed Buntings, Tree Pipits and others. Quality birds in the bushes included Redstart, Pied and Spotted Flycatcher and plenty of common warblers and chats.

The event celebrated migration and there were demonstrations of bird ringing, visible migration watching, moth traps and tips on sea-watching and other field work skills including art, digi-scoping and species identification. Open access was provided to all the main birdwatching sites and there was a procession of talks and presentations to support the event as well as plentiful refreshments.

Local birder Jacob Spinks was one of four young birders nationally to be recognised for their talent in birdwatching skills and during the event was presented with a trophy and a selection of quality books. Well done Jacob!

This was a Northants Bird Club event and I would like to record my thanks to Mark Williams in organising our excellent long week-end away which will surely be repeated in future years.

Regards

Neil McMahon

Convolvulus Hawk-moth
on Migfest baseball cap!

Hobby

Mediterranean Gulls were in
good numbers around the Spurn area...

A rather soggy Wheatear on the Saturday!

Juvenile Swallow.

Saturday morning birds...

Hello

A walk at Harrington Airfield in the rain this morning didn't yield very much with just a handful of Chiffchaffs, a Grey Wagtail and a Snipe.

Eleanor fared better at Blueberry Farm with three Stonechats, two Whinchats, a Wheatear and a Redstart.

A blustery Pitsford Reservoir this morning provided a few birds for Jacob Spinks with an adult Caspian Gull, two Red-crested Pochard, two Pintail, two Ravens, three Snipe, a Green Sandpiper and a Kingfisher.

Regards

Neil M

Blue Tit

Long-tailed Tit

Willow Warbler

All images courtesy of
Cathy Ryden.