Old haunts

Hello

A dull cold day in the county with more or less constant sleet, rain and light snow for much of it.

It was a day of revisiting old birding haunts for me today so the first couple of hours were spent around the Polebrook Airfield complex looking at the scrubby reserve and large, flat fields more reminiscent of neighbouring Cambridgeshire. Good to see some purposeful habitat management and new hedging and this area is now looking more promising again. A Little Owl and a flock of fifty Golden Plovers plus several Brown Hares were the highlights.

Checking a couple of sites near Hemington and Barnwell failed to locate anything unusual so on to Thrapston Gravel Pits where I took a slow walk around the Titchmarsh Reserve and some of the other pits. It seemed quiet here too, the best being a Great White Egret on Heronry Lake, a Little Egret, two Kingfishers, a Water Rail, three Cetti's Warblers, a Lesser Redpoll (Debbie and Eric Graham saw six) and fifteen Siskins.

The Blatherwycke Lake area supported three Kingfishers, a Little Egret, a Brambling and two Siskins and the gulls congregating in the fields next to Rushton Landfill site all looked very ordinary. A roadside Barn Owl near Scaldwell was in hunting mode and caught something on the grass verge right next to my car late this afternoon.

Eleanor checked the valley below Hanging Houghton this morning and re-located a pair of Stonechat and saw a Barn Owl. She went on to see at least four Ravens at Staverton and on her way back notched up a pair of Goosander and a Water Rail at Daventry Country Park. Eleanor and Cathy Ryden walked around Ravensthorpe Reservoir this afternoon, noting two Great White Egrets, a drake Smew and two very playful Otters! Cathy had earlier seen a pair of Siskin and a Bullfinch on her garden feeders.

Sarah and Kenny Cramer tried some ringing at Milton Keynes Community Orchard today and caught and processed forty birds, thirty-one of which were new. Again Blackbirds dominated with twenty-one caught (seven re-traps), a fair proportion of which are likely to have originated from the continent. Other birds included a single Song Thrush, four Redwings, a Woodpigeon and a pair of Bullfinch.

Regards

Neil M

Snowdrops Blatherwycke
churchyard.

Male Reed Bunting.

Cock Pheasant.

Cormorant.

Grey Heron. An adult bird
hunting rodents.

Fieldfare and apples!

Snow flurries

Hello

Phil Horsnail again saw the 'ringtail' Hen Harrier quartering fields that used to form part of Polebrook Airfield this morning. 

On a day of visiting the majority of the winter feed stations in cold conditions, I didn't come across much that was different. However the birds are wolfing down the food in this wintery weather, particularly as the daylight hours have increased giving them more time to feed. A Grey Wagtail was noticed at Kelmarsh Hall and Brixworth Water Treatment Works hosted eighty Pied Wagtails, three Grey Wagtails and three Chiffchaffs. 

At Pitsford Reservoir the Slavonian Grebe was fishing in Yacht Bay (next to the Sailing Club) at 11.55am and Eleanor flushed two Woodcock near Walgrave this afternoon.

Cathy Ryden watched both a Bullfinch and a Siskin on her garden feeders near Guilsborough this morning. Up to 22 Waxwings remain in the Sywell village area by the airport entrance, now tucking in to the last Rowan tree that still has good numbers of berries.

Regards

Neil M

Jim Dunkley photographed
this Green Woodpecker in
his neighbour's garden at
Sywell today, and he was able
to add 22 Waxwings on to
his ' 2017 seen from the garden list'!

Drake Pochard. A much
scarcer bird these days with
relatively few wintering on our
gravel pits and reservoirs.

Drake Pintail. A few are lingering
at Pitsford Reservoir and at Summer
Leys currently, but this scarce duck
locally is much more common in the
autumn and becomes progressively
harder to find as the winter progresses.

Garden ringing...

Hello

The advantage of being a qualified bird ringer and having a garden is that you can sometimes ring wild birds from the comfort of your own house or abode! Chris Payne has been doing exactly that today and among the more common birds caught, he particularly enjoyed a male Starling and a male Siskin, both in their respective stunning plumage.

Helen Franklin also completed some ringing in her Priors Marston garden and was treated to a Goldcrest (the third individual in so many days) and a fine Nuthatch.

News has come through of another ringing recovery, this time a female Reed Bunting that was first caught and ringed at Stortons Gravel Pits on the outskirts of Northampton on 22nd February 2015. This bird was again caught four days ago by ringers operating at the Kings Dyke Nature Reserve in Cambridgeshire, a distance of 64km in a ENE direction with 714 days elapsing between the two captures.

Twenty-four Waxwings were at Sywell village today, commuting between the trees near to the Sywell Airport entrance...

Regards

Neil M

Male Starling. The blue
base to the lower mandible,
relatively dark eye without
a pale iris and range of broad
'droplet' markings all assist
in establishing the gender...

Another Siskin!

All images courtesy of Chris Payne.

County bird ringing today

Hello

Chris Payne and John Woollett committed to some bird ringing at Bradden today, netting 51 individuals made up of 27 Blue Tits, 14 Great Tits, a Marsh Tit, 3 Goldfinches, a Siskin, a Greenfinch, a Chaffinch, a Dunnock, a Robin and a Treecreeper.

A small team worked the nets at Kelmarsh Hall today providing 131 captures made up of 59 Blue Tits, 17 Great Tits, a Coal Tit, a Marsh Tit, 3 Greenfinches, 16 Chaffinches, 16 Goldfinches, a Bullfinch, 2 Siskins, 2 Blackbirds, 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers, 3 Nuthatches, 3 Robins and 5 Dunnocks. Up to half a dozen Siskins were present, a pair of Raven were vocal and a Grey Wagtail was also present.

Eleanor watched 19 Waxwings outside Premium Wharehousing at Sywell again this afternoon.

Regards

Neil M

Adult male Siskin at
Kelmarsh Hall courtesy
of Neil Hasdell.

More Blackcaps...

Hello

Chris Payne spent just two hours ringing in his garden at Greens Norton today and in that short time caught and quickly processed 30 birds made up of a Green Woodpecker, 2 Siskins, 19 Goldfinches, 2 Chaffinches, 2 Greenfinches, 2 House Sparrows, a Blue Tit and a Robin.

Just over the county border in Priors Marston, Helen Franklin also spent a period of time ringing in her garden, the first bird caught being a Blackcap! Andrew Tyrrell saw a female Blackcap in his Wootton garden today coming to bird feeders, it's third consecutive day of visiting.

Twenty Waxwings were at Sywell village this afternoon including what appeared to be the same colour-ringed individual from a couple of days ago. The birds were flighty with constantly moving traffic displacing them as they were trying to feed off the trees outside the entrance to Premium Wharehousing.

Two Ravens were at Harrington Airfield and later what were probably the same birds were at Kelmarsh Hall.

Regards

Neil M

Female Green Woodpecker

Male Siskin.

Images courtesy of
Chris Payne.

Recent ringing recoveries

Hello

Drake Mallard GR73925 was caught and ringed at Pitsford Reservoir on 1st April 2016, one of a small number we catch every year. This bird was shot at Rushton on or about 24th January this year, one of a run of birds reported by wildfowlers during the last few months with other birds shot locally at Lamport and Maidwell. It seems that many of our local Mallard simply spend their lives locally moving between waters big and small, with an unknown proportion falling to the guns.

A Fieldfare was caught at Pitsford Reservoir on 6th January last year and was caught again by another ringer at Clew Bridge in Lancashire on 22nd October 2016. A duration of 290 days and 185km distance between the two sites tells us that this bird successfully wintered in the UK during the 2015/2016 season and decided to come back to try again! What it doesn't tell us is where this bird originated, but arriving in Northern England in October might suggest that this bird is probably of Scandinavian stock.

Regards

Neil M

Wing-stretching
Pied Wagtail.

Grey Heron.

Sunday's birds...

Hello

Some bird ringing at Stortons Gravel Pits today provided 38 captures which included a Goldcrest and five new Reed Buntings. Another session at Linford Lakes (Milton Keynes) produced 48 captures of 10 species which included a Treecreeper, a Bullfinch and a Great Spotted Woodpecker.

Eric Graham and Nick Parker were at Thrapston Gravel Pits today and between them saw a Great White Egret, a pair of Egyptian Geese and a Lesser Redpoll, and two Bitterns were reported.

Jacob again committed all his efforts at Pitsford Reservoir today and located a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker in the Holcot Bay, a Great White Egret, eight Little Egrets, two Redshanks, a Green Sandpiper, a Siskin and a Grey Wagtail.

Eleanor located an adult female Peregrine and four Woodcock at Blueberry Farm (Maidwell) this morning.

Regards

Neil M

Fieldfare.
Courtesy of Cathy Ryden.

Starling.
Courtesy of Cathy Ryden.

Red Kite.
Courtesy of Robin Gossage.

Kestrel.
Courtesy of Robin Gossage.

Drake Shoveler.
Courtesy of Robin Gossage.

What a beautiful day!

Hello

Eric Graham's regular week-end jaunt around the Titchmarsh Reserve at Thrapston provided birds today in the shape of a Great White Egret, a redpoll sp and six drake Goosanders. The continuation of the spring-like weather there today was sufficient to stimulate a Blackbird to commence building a nest!

Amanda Fraser located two Blackcaps along the Brampton Valley Way at Kingsthorpe today and Jacob's efforts at Pitsford Reservoir yielded a Great White Egret and four Little Egrets north of the causeway plus two Redshanks, a Green Sandpiper, three Willow Tits, two Marsh Tits and a Weasel. He watched a Common Buzzard attempting to catch Teal between the Bird Club and New James Fisher Hides.

Neil Hasdell visited Sywell village today and saw at least ten of the Waxwings which were coming down to the Rowans in twos and threes, and Cathy Ryden was in Kettering this afternoon and located a flock of 30+ Waxwings in St Mary's Road at the junction with Linden Avenue (a consistently reliable site).

Brixworth Water Treatment Works hosted a Grey Wagtail, a Snipe, several Siskins and at least two Chiffchaffs, one of which was singing well in the sunshine.

A visit to Ravensthorpe Reservoir early this afternoon was good for two Great White Egrets, a fine drake Smew, several Siskins, displaying Common Buzzards and Sparrowhawk, a Chiffchaff and two Otters showing briefly on the island nearest to the causeway.

Regards

Neil M

Blue Tit

Common Buzzard

Great White Egret

Lapwings

Pheasant

All images taken by Jacob Spinks
at Pitsford Reservoir today...

Colour-ringed Waxwing

Hello

Committed digital photographers (Doug Goddard, Jim Dunkley and John Gamble) at Sywell yesterday collectively managed to record the colour ring sequence of a marked Waxwing within the flock.

This young female has a metal ring (NW82868) on its right leg with a white colour ring above. The left leg has blue, red, green in ascending order down the leg (the blue is difficult to see).

This bird was caught and ringed at Rosemount Viaduct in Aberdeen on 29th December 2016, resighted in Harworth, Notts on 27th January 2017 and has probably been with us for a few days now.

Well done to our patient photographers in providing us with this information!

Regards

Neil M

Images courtesy of
John Gamble.

Almost spring-like!

Otter at Ravensthorpe
Reservoir this morning
courtesy of Phillip Davies.

Hello

Birds north of the causeway at Pitsford Reservoir this morning included two Great White Egrets, a couple of Redshanks and a Grey Wagtail. 

Up to 14 Waxwings were again present at Sywell in trees outside the entrance to the airport. One of them is colour-ringed (as photographed by Jim Dunkley).

A Raven was seen over Wellingborough and a pair were vocal at Hanging Houghton this afternoon. A single Brambling was noted at Hanging Houghton and a Woodcock was flushed in the Brampton Valley below the village this afternoon.

Four Otters were visible from the causeway at Ravensthorpe Reservoir this morning.

The spring-like weather of this morning sparked plenty of bird-song including Skylarks, thrushes and others all contributing but I think we have some winter weather to contend with yet!

Regards

Neil M

Weasel at Frampton Marsh
courtesy of John Gamble.

Waxwings at Sywell
courtesy of Jim Dunkley

Sywell Waxwings

Hello

Robin Gossage has updated the Northants Bird Club blog with regard to the context of  the members' photographic competition last night and the images will follow on that blog in due course...

Eleanor located a flock of 14 Waxwings at Sywell this afternoon, no doubt Jim Dunkley's birds from the day before. They were attracted to four Rowan trees alongside the main road that runs past the entrance to the airport, in particular two trees opposite the junction to Townsend Farm and Premium Wharehousing. I arrived at about 3pm in appalling light and the flock had increased to 15. They were trying to feed on the Rowan berries which were being defended by aggressive Mistle Thrushes and as such they only had time to quickly gobble a couple of berries before being chased off.

Please be aware this is a busy road and with HGVs coming in and out of commercial premises nearby.

Regards

Neil M

Waxwings at Sywell.

More Waxwings...

Hello

Rather wet and dreary at Harrington Airfield this morning and the only birds of interest were two Woodcock and just four Golden Plovers.

A brief visit to Pitsford Reservoir this morning was sufficient to see a first year Caspian Gull lounging around off the Sailing Club.

Jim Dunkley espied a flock of 12-14 mobile Waxwings on the periphery of Sywell Airport today, these birds attracted to the yellow berry variety of Rowan trees. In addition some of the Waxwings were again reported at Linden Avenue, Kettering today but none were noticed in Hanging Houghton.

This evening was the photographic competition of the Northants Bird Club and for the second year in a row Dave Jackson won, this time with a stunning image of a Nuthatch. Dave Thomas was again narrowly edged to second place with a superb image of a Crab Plover and Robin Gossage grabbed third place with a picture of a feisty Wren.

Regards

Neil M

Waxwings at Sywell Airport
courtesy of Jim Dunkley.

Birds of the rain and murk!

Hello

Yesterday Neil Hasdell took a stroll around Harlestone Heath and saw three Ravens, a small flock of Siskins and a Grey Wagtail. Today he was at Pitsford Reservoir and located a female Red-crested Pochard, two Redshanks and a few Pintail north of the causeway.

Today Cathy Ryden was pleased to see her first Siskin this winter on her garden feeders near Guilsborough. A flock of ten Waxwings were in the village here at Hanging Houghton this afternoon, seen initially at 1.30pm and then again at 4.45pm.

A very murky gull roost this afternoon at Pitsford Reservoir was clear enough to reveal an/the adult Caspian Gull and two Grey Wagtails on the shoreline.

Regards

Neil M

Waxwing.
Image taken recently in
Scotland courtesy of
Helen Franklin.

Caspian Gull.
This image was taken
at Pitsford Reservoir in
March 2016.

Brixworth ringing

Hello

A modest ringing session at Brixworth Water Treatment Works today netted 54 birds, 41 of them new. Not surprisingly Pied Wagtails dominated with 17 caught and processed and other birds included a single Meadow Pipit, a Great Spotted Woodpecker, two Goldcrests and three Blackbirds.

Other birds seen on the complex included a Snipe, four Chiffchaffs, a redpoll sp, a couple of Siskins and two or three Grey Wagtails.

Two hundred Golden Plovers were again present on the top fields at Harrington Airfield today.

Regards

Neil M

Pied Wagtail.
Cracking little birds!

Sunday round-up

Hello

A mixture of weather today which I think is going to be the feature of this coming week...

Eric Graham visited Blatherwycke Lake in the north of the county today and located a pair of Egyptian Geese and at least 12 Mandarin Ducks.

A morning walk at Irthlingborough Lakes and Meadows reserve in the Nene Valley provided good numbers of common birds including a Common Buzzard feeding on what appeared to be a dead goose on one of the islands. A Kingfisher and a Water Rail and three Cetti's Warblers were all audible but sadly didn't show themselves but a mixture of common wildfowl showed well and a Siskin and a Red Fox were noted briefly.

Jacob was again at Pitsford Reservoir after completing his RSPB Big Garden Watch and located a drake Smew in the Walgrave Bay, a Great White Egret, two Green Sandpipers, two Redshanks, five Pintail, two Ravens and two Grey Wagtails. An adult Caspian Gull was chased from the afternoon gull roost by a couple of Great Black-backed Gulls. A Grey Wagtail and a Water Rail were noted at Brixworth Water Treatment Works and a male Brambling was again in the garden at Hanging Houghton.

Nick Parker found a flock of 38 Waxwings in Kettering this afternoon, at the junction of Mary's Road and Linden Avenue and Hugh Matthews located a flock of about 25 Waxwings in Northampton in the vicinity of 14 Bush Hill near Abington. Bob Bullock later relocated 21 of them at the junction of Silverdale/Ferndale Road. These birds were reportedly seen flying north at about 4.55pm.

Ringing efforts by Sarah and Kenny Cramer at Milton Keynes over the week-end at an old orchard proved very effective with 79 birds caught which included a very high number of 36 Blackbirds, 10 Redwings, 2 Fieldfares, 3 Goldcrests, 7 Long-tailed Tits and a Woodpigeon.

Regards

Neil M

Common Buzzard.

As some of the prey dwindles and the seasons
begin to tilt, Common Buzzards become more
obvious alongside our roads and wander into each
other's territories. Skirmishes and interaction
become the norm and the opportunity for close
views increase.