Breeding at apace!

Hello

A walk at Harrington Airfield this evening in cooler, breezier conditions was altogether more comfortable than the stifling heat of the last few days. Two Turtle Doves remain and three Grey Partridges showed too and a calling Cuckoo must have been a passing bird, but much of it was pretty much no change on the bird front. Earlier today Eleanor visited Brixworth Country Park and witnessed a good hatch of about ten freshly-emerged Marbled White butterflies; traditionally this species was very localised in the county but is now producing small, new colonies every year.

Regards

Neil M

Hornet Clearwing moth
at Wicksteed Park, Kettering
courtesy of Sarah Gibbs.

A Robin nest in Chris
Payne's garden (using a
wooden open-fronted nest
box). The natural transition within
six days from four eggs to nestlings
 with feather sheaths is one of
those remarkable things of nature!

Images courtesy of Chris Payne.

The enigmatic little Wren!
Noisy second broods of tiny
chestnut fledgling Wrens are out
 and about now, these birds always
seem to do much better than the first
broods...

Images courtesy of Robin Gossage.

First year male Blackbird. Already some
Blackbirds will be attempting their third broods,
but most will still be contending with the needs
of the second broods!

Image courtesy of Cathy Ryden.

Hot June birding

Hello

Yesterday (Saturday) and Eleanor's wanderings provided records of 'reeling' Grasshopper Warblers at Blueberry Farm (bottom of The Hill) and in the regular weedy field between Lamport and the farm.

A brief foray to Harrington Airfield also yesterday confirmed the continuing presence of a pair of Sedge Warblers at the north-west end of the concrete track, at least three Grey Partridges and a couple of Turtle Doves. Small butterflies included a fresh Grizzled Skipper and the first emergence of the day-flying Burnett moths.

This morning and a small band of ringers were operating mist nets at Linford Lakes providing 90 captures, a very good total mostly of new birds (76) and a small number of re-traps (14) which included a Reed Warbler and Blackbird which have been ringed elsewhere (known as 'controls').

This relatively new ringing site just outside Northamptonshire is proving a profitable location for some long term studying. Highlights included 7 Whitethroats, 13 Reed Warblers, 8 Blackcaps, 10 Chiffchaffs, 3 Cetti's Warblers, 2 Garden Warblers, 2 Sedge Warblers, a juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker, a juvenile Treecreeper and a Kingfisher.

Also today a small number of Northants birders drove south in the sweltering heat to Pagham Harbour in Sussex. A coastal tern colony has recently attracted an Elegant Tern to linger and after a bit of a wait we finally obtained good views of this pristine-looking bird. A little larger than a Sandwich Tern and armed with a long orangey-yellow bill, this bird will have originated on the Pacific coast of the USA. However the colour-ring sequence on it's legs indicate that this is a male bird that has previously tried breeding with Sandwich Terns in France, it's identity apparently having been confirmed by DNA (there are many large yellow/orange billed terns in the world)!

Other birds included a fine adult Roseate Tern sporting impossibly long tail streamers, lots of Sandwich, Common and Little Terns, good numbers of Mediterranean Gulls, a couple of Avocets and a Peregrine.

Eleanor noticed a flock of at least thirty Lapwings in a scuffled field at Blueberry Farm this afternoon, the first flock of these mostly failed breeding birds.

Regards

Neil M

Common Whitethroat.

Mediterranean Gull.

Distant images of
the Elegant Tern.

All images courtesy of
Jacob Spinks.

Warm Northamptonshire...

Hello

Birding opportunities today have been minimal - although at Pitsford Reservoir there was at least one Spotted Flycatcher still in the belt of trees next to the Sailing Club early this afternoon. Eleanor walked around Sywell Country Park this afternoon but didn't see anything of note and she covered her usual patch in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton this morning and couldn't see much there either...

Neil Hasdell visited the Summer Leys reserve near Earls Barton this morning and saw a Green Sandpiper, a Red-crested Pochard and his first Marbled White butterfly of the year.

The Mute Swans at Pitsford Res are renown for their poor production rates so it was gratifying to see that one of the two pairs using the Sailing Club as their nesting site has produced a brood of seven cygnets...

Regards

Neil M

Aaahhh...!  :>)

Cormorant.
Abington Park Lake.

Camargue images

Hello

A few more images last month of birds (mostly) from the Camargue area of France...

Regards

Neil M

Corn Bunting.

Slow Worm.

Short-toed Eagle with snake...

Slender-billed Gull.

Curlew Sandpipers and
Little Stint.

Curlew Sandpipers
and Dunlin.

Curlew Sandpiper.

Eurasian Bee-eater.

Squacco Heron.

Middle of June already!

Hello

A pair of scruffy Ravens was about all Eleanor could find at Blueberry Farm today and an evening stroll at Harrington Airfield was good enough to see a pair or two of Grey Partridge and hearing a 'purring' Turtle Dove...

A couple of days ago Dave Francis checked the tern rafts at Pitsford Reservoir and the Common Tern nest count has now increased to 51 which is a very good effort. Last year was very productive after a couple of very lean years so we are hoping for more breeding success in 2017.

Regards

Neil M

Beautiful Hooktip moth.

Figure of Eighty moth

Privet Hawk-moth.
All moth images courtesy of Jacob,
the subjects coming to his moth trap
at Scaldwell.

Yes it really is a Blue Tit, well what's left of it!
Adult female Blue Tits have a very hard time
during the breeding season with an astonishing
work rate...

The beginning of the day...

Female Great Spotted Woodpecker
and her fledged young...

Juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker.

Above five images all courtesy of
Cathy Ryden.

Chequered Skipper butterfly
courtesy of Martin Randall.

Monitoring our local birds

Hello

A great deal of activity amongst the Northants Ringing Group team members during the last couple of days as we try to map the fortunes of breeding birds at our local sites. The high winds of recent days have prevented the use of mist nets in the main but both yesterday and today (Wednesday) has provided a period of stability and low wind speeds.

Chris Payne has been concentrating his efforts at monitoring how Swallows are getting on in South Northants, keeping counts of nests, numbers of eggs and hatched young. An established pair of Swallows will often hatch five youngsters in the first brood if the conditions are favourable, and with a protein-rich diet of insects these nestling are capable of growing up fast indeed! Which is just as well as the parents will often then try for a second brood and will do this even when the flying young from the first brood stay close! In the best conditions possible, some birds will even try a third brood before they and their offspring flee south for the winter.

Two ringing sessions at Harrington Airfield (Tuesday and Wednesday) provided a nice catch of birds with plenty of evidence of just-fledged youngsters which included Willow Warbler, Whitethroat, Reed Bunting and Yellowhammer. Uncommon captures included a Green Woodpecker, a Jay, a Nuthatch and four Linnets. Birds noted on-site yesterday included an Osprey flying south towards the Brampton Valley at 10.30am and a Siskin. A Grasshopper Warbler was heard singing both days and 2-3 Turtle Doves remain as do a few pairs of Grey Partridges. Butterflies included Orange-tip, Small Heath, Common Blue, Ringlet and Painted Lady.

Yesterday (Tuesday) evening saw a short ringing session at Lamport which resulted in seven Swifts being caught (three of which were initially ringed last year), a couple of Swallows and thirteen House Martins (one initially ringed at the same place last year). Other birds noted here included Hobby and Spotted Flycatcher.

This morning (Wednesday) saw another CES ringing effort at Pitsford Reservoir so you can see that the ringers were thinly spread! This resulted in 50 captures, the highlights being ten Blackcaps, six Garden Warblers, four Treecreepers, two Marsh Tits, a Kingfisher and a Jay.

Regards

Neil M

Male Linnet.

Male Yellowhammer.

Female Orange-tip butterfly.

Male Green Woodpecker. This bird was
first ringed as a juvenile in 2015 but is
now very much an adult male and is no doubt
supporting it's own nestlings which will probably
 fly the nest any day now.

Jacob Spinks proving that is is possible
to obtain good flight shots of Common Swifts!

Common Swift at Lamport.

You know I can't resist taking images
of Red Kites even if I  probably
have hundreds of similar photos!

Bees and Bee Orchids

Hello

Interesting birds at Harrington Airfield seemed to be restricted to just a few Grey Partridges today, although Roger Eads found a swarm of bees in a hawthorn bush (picture below)! The orchids are looking very good there at the moment, Common Spotted dominating but also small pockets of Bee Orchids too. Please note that there will be bird ringing in operation there tomorrow (Tuesday) and Wednesday morning and the old airstrip and bunkers will be out of bounds. The concrete track and footpaths remain unaffected.

Regards

Neil M

Bee swarm by Roger Eads.

Birds in the hand by Jacob Spinks.
The very pale eye and solid shawl of
grey on the Jackdaw is typical of a mature
 bird, the males being marginally larger.
The ruby red eye of the Collared Dove
also indicates maturity, but these doves
can breed all year round and ageing can be
difficult!

As highlighted by Chris Payne, quite
poignant for the time of the year with
lots of young birds about!