Thursday's birds

Hello

The last few days has seen quite an influx of Lapwings and Golden Plovers in to the county, presumably due to cold weather somewhere to the north and/or east of us. 

Birds in and around the garden this morning included a Grey Wagtail and a Brambling.

Pitsford Reservoir continues to host scarce birds, Nick Parker successfully connecting with the Ring-necked Duck (albeit briefly), an adult Bewick's Swan, eleven Whooper Swans, the Ruddy Shelduck, fourteen Red-crested Pochard, two Great White Egrets and a Green Sandpiper all north of the causeway.

At the other end of the reservoir one of the Great Northern Divers was fishing in the small section of water between the dam and the pontoon directly in front of the Sailing Club clubhouse. The gull roost was remarkably small with just a few hundred birds but it still contained an adult Yellow-legged Gull.

Regards

Neil M

Bullfinches.

Greenfinch.

Red-crested Pochard.

Goldcrest.

All images courtesy of
Robin Gossage.

Great birds in the gloom!

Hello

A dull, dank day that then became very wet too, in fact I'm not sure it ever managed to progress to proper daylight. These short days make it challenging to find wildlife but there are plenty of good birds out there!

An adult Bewick's Swan was found in the Scaldwell Bay at Pitsford Reservoir by Bethan and Jacob today and other birds present included at least seven Whooper Swans (it has been a very long time since we had all three white swan species at Pitsford on the same day), an impressive count of thirty-eight Pintail and a Stonechat. Neil Hasdell saw a Great Northern Diver near the pontoons close to Yacht Bay and two Yellow-legged Gulls were again in the gull roost near there.

A Brambling was again attracted to our garden today and a Peregrine was flying at quite a pace between Brixworth and Hanging Houghton. This evening a Barn Owl was atop a telegraph pole between Scaldwell and Hanging Houghton. A wet walk at Harrington Airfield this afternoon provided a flock of ninety-seven Golden Plovers and still about three hundred Fieldfare.

Steve Fisher's patch commitment at Stanwick Pits continues to pay off and today his goose sightings included singles of a Barnacle and a Pink-foot and a small group of five White-fronts.

Regards

Neil M

Barn Owl courtesy
of Dave Jackson.

Bewick's Swan.

Common Gull
courtesy of  Dave Jackson.

Great Northern Diver.

Ringing at Brixworth

Hello

Eric and Ken's birding at Thrapston Pits today provided plenty of birds in the shape of a juvenile Whooper Swan, two Great White Egrets, a pair of Egyptian Geese, a Kingfisher, a Raven and twelve Siskins. Birds noted at Pitsford Reservoir today by a variety of observers included the drake Ring-necked Duck in the Scaldwell Bay and a Great Northern Diver and Ruddy Shelduck between the dam and the causeway.

Some bird ringing at Brixworth Water Treatment Works today provided 87 captures of 17 species, undoubtedly one of the best being the very last bird when an adult male Sparrowhawk careered into a mist net! Other interesting birds included two Grey Wagtails, a Chiffchaff, three Magpies, two Great Spotted Woodpeckers, a Treecreeper, eight Reed Buntings and eleven Goldfinches.

Other birds noted on-site included a Snipe, a couple of Water Rails and a Cetti's Warbler.

A Barn Owl was hunting in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton this afternoon.

Regards

Neil M

Grey Wagtail.

Treecreeper.

Sparrowhawk.

All images courtesy of
John Tilly.

Birds of early winter...

Hello

A quick look at Pitsford Reservoir from the Old Scaldwell Road Feeding station this morning provided views of a Ferruginous Duck x Pochard hybrid, eleven Whooper Swans, a couple of Great White Egrets, a dozen each of Pintail and Red-crested Pochard, a Grey Wagtail and a calling but unseen Firecrest in the bushes of the lower feeding station.

Four cracking male Bramblings were on the seed with a large flock of Chaffinches by the barn in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton and nearby Brixworth Water Treatment works attracted a Cetti's Warbler, a Chiffchaff, one or two Water Rail(s) and a couple of Grey Wagtails.

Hundreds of winter thrushes were again busy stripping the berries off the hawthorns at Harrington Airfield this afternoon. A Short-eared Owl and two Woodcock flushed between Bunkers 1 and 2 and a Peregrine was in full hunting mode.

Geoff Douglas espied four Ravens cavorting with a Red Kite between Summer Leys and Great Doddington this morning and Nick Parker's venture at Thrapston Pits provided two Great White Egrets (North Lake and Aldwincle), the juvenile Whooper Swan now on Elinor Lake and the long-staying Scaup still on Town Lake.

Regards

Neil M

Peregrine courtesy
of Cathy Ryden.

Brambling courtesy
of John Tilly.

Fieldfare courtesy
of Dave Jackson.

Northants BTO newsletter

Northants BTO Quarterly Newsletter - Autumn 2018 View this email in your browser

To all BTO contacts in Northants From Barrie Galpin and Ben Reeve, Regional Representative and Regional Ambassador for the BTO in Northants Hi all, We're really proud to release the fifth of our quarterly newsletters, gosh it's been a whole year since Barrie and I decided to start releasing newsletters! The Autumn edition has some information on the next phase of Project Owl, an interesting edition to the BBS family called EWBS - a colder yet more civilised winter BBS and a really interesting article on Titchmarsh Nature Reserve written by Nick Parker. The newsletter can be viewed by clicking on the following link - Northants BTO Autumn 2018 Newsletter Or by typing the following web address in your browser - bit.do/northantsbtoautumn2018 We do hope you enjoy the newsletter and if you have any feedback including suggestions for things you'd like to see in the the next newsletter we'd love to hear from you! All the best, Barrie and Ben. Barrie Galpin BTO Regional Representative for Northants 15 Top Lodge, Fineshade, Corby. NN17 3BB Email: barrie.galpin@zen.co.uk 01780 444351 07717 446417 Ben Reeve BTO Regional Ambassador for Northants 7 Rectory Close, Crick, Northants, NN6 7SY Email: benreeve@outlook.com Twitter: @NorthantsBTO Personal Twitter: @BeardWarbler 01788 824413 07961 038455

Another Pitsford day!

Hello

Pitsford Reservoir provided a surprise today with the discovery of two Great Northern Divers frequenting the south end of the reservoir, a rare multiple sighting for the county! For many observers it was possible to see both individuals at the same time and at one point they were close to each other in the vicinity of Pintail Bay.

The drake Ring-necked Duck was again in the Scaldwell Bay and further repeats today included the Ruddy Shelduck, eleven Whooper Swans, three Great White Egrets, plenty of Pintail and at least eight Red-crested Pochard and two Yellow-legged Gulls.

Our small garden attracted a male Brambling and a female Blackcap today and the Brambling flock in the Brampton Valley below the village reached eight birds.

Regards

Neil M

First year Yellow-legged
Gull at Pitsford today.

Bird Club Indoor Meeting 5th Dec

Hello

'A journey through the birth and evolution of Britain's first Bird Observatory with the current wardens of Skokholm Island' is the subject of Wednesday's evening presentation at the Northants Bird Club.

Giselle Eagle and Richard Brown will be the presenters at the Fishing Lodge, Pitsford Reservoir, Brixworth Road, Holcot. The meeting begins at 7.30pm and of course hot drinks and biscuits will be available.

The tiny island of Skokholm off the Pembrokeshire coast supports thousands of breeding sea-birds, most notably Manx Shearwater, Puffin and Storm Petrel and for about nine months of the year is managed as a Bird Observatory. Giselle and Richard will provide a taster of what life as an islander is all about and of course the wildlife that inhabits this very special place.

All welcome!

Neil M

Puffin.

Manx Shearwater.

Quality wildlife

Hello

An eventful day today, particularly if you were at Pitsford Reservoir!

My day started slowly with a flushed Woodcock the only bird of note at Scotland Wood, but in the meantime Adrian Borley was systematically checking out Pitsford Reservoir and finding most of the birds that have been there a little while now...and yes he re-located the fine drake Ring-necked Duck in the Scaldwell Bay - and even better he found it just as we reached him! Thanks Adrian!

This duck remained on view in the Scaldwell Bay for the remainder of the day and other birds seen subsequently by several observers included two Whooper Swans, three Great White Egrets, 12 Red-crested Pochard, 19 Pintail, a Black-tailed Godwit, a Ruff, at least 2 Green Sandpipers and a pair of Stonechat.

Terry O'Dell then made it an even better day by finding a Great Northern Diver off the dam which remained until at least early afternoon when the main basin just north of the dam became busy with watercraft - hopefully it swam a little further north and remains. Nick Parker saw the Ruddy Shelduck fly in with Canada Geese in the same area at dusk. A Grey Wagtail was also around the dam.

Away from Pitsford Eleanor saw her usual two Raven at Staverton this morning, didn't find anything of note at Daventry Country Park and then saw a Short-eared Owl at Borough Hill Country Park (there are now cattle in the park). She finished the day at Ravensthorpe Reservoir where birds included two Green Sandpipers, a Kingfisher, a Water Rail and three Grey Wagtails but undoubtedly the best creatures were two Otters playing around the floating pontoon by the dam!

Birds at Stanwick Pits today included two Cattle Egrets, two Great White Egrets and two Dunlin (Tom Green et al). My afternoon visit to Harrington Airfield produced a large flock of at least three hundred Fieldfares feeding in the bushes but little else.

Regards

Neil M

Fieldfare.

Green Sandpiper
courtesy of Jacob Spinks.

Short-eared Owl courtesy
of Robin Gossage.

Otter.

Friday sightings...

Hello

Not much opportunity for birding today but a walk at Harrington Airfield this morning yielded plenty of Fieldfares and Redwings and a calling Siskin and some Golden Plovers somewhere. The nearby Draughton Pool was teeming with wildfowl including very good numbers of Wigeon.

Eleanor's run around Pitsford Reservoir south of the causeway provided views of two Great White Egrets but not much else. This afternoon there was a Barn Owl or two hunting in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton plus a couple of Ravens.

Geoff Douglas confirmed the continuing presence of Whooper Swans in the Scaldwell Bay at Pitsford today plus the Black-tailed Godwit, a Green Sandpiper, a Ruff and a Great White Egret and Adrian Borley saw the first year Scaup on Town lake at Thrapston Pits and a juvenile Whooper Swan still on North Lake there. Kim Taylor espied another Great White Egret at Summer Leys Nature reserve this morning.

Regards

Neil M

Drake Wigeon courtesy
of John Tilly.

Barn Owl courtesy
of Robin Gossage.

Great White Egret.

Wet and windy 2!

Pintail.

Hello

A day of visiting and restocking feed stations today in breezy, sometimes wet and very mild weather conditions. The Marsh Tits were pleased to see me at Scotland Wood and escorted me down to the feeders where they received their free sunflower seeds!

Pitsford Reservoir next, but this time it was a Firecrest that shouted at me from the hedge alongside the Old Scaldwell Road Feeding Station! Initially there was no sign of any Whooper Swans but later in the morning all eleven had arrived back in the Scaldwell Bay (nine in particular were very flighty). Other birds included a single Great White Egret, at least sixteen Pintail, a Black-tailed Godwit, a Ruff and a Redshank. A Stoat was a nice sighting!

A single Grey Wagtail was at Brixworth Water Treatment Works and the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton was once again the hunting area for a male Merlin pursuing Skylarks and three Bramblings with Chaffinches on the seed there. The gull roost at Pitsford Reservoir provided views of two Yellow-legged Gulls - an adult and a first year. The adult was attacked by a Great Black-backed Gull and may have been injured as a result.

Nick Parker was at Thrapston Pits today and managed to locate a first year Scaup on Town Lake plus a couple of Egyptian Geese and a pair of Raven over. Eric tried out Stanwick Pits and again succeeded in seeing all three species of egret with a Cattle Egret on the east side of the complex and Little and Great White Egrets on the Main Lake.

Regards

Neil M

Stoat.

Ruff.

Wet and windy!

Hello

A rather wet and horrid day out there today and bird sightings were perhaps unremarkably quite limited!

Jacob ventured a little way in to the Scaldwell Bay at Pitsford Reservoir and saw a Great White Egret, five Whooper Swans, four Pintail, a hundred and forty Pochard and a Black-tailed Godwit.

Eric braved the conditions at Titchmarsh Reserve and was pleased to discover three Chiffchaffs along Harpers Brook. A few Little Egrets plus the usual raptors and wildfowl added some variety and a visit to Deene Lake provided views of six Snipe, five Green Sandpipers and eight Shelduck.

Eleanor's walk at Harrington Airfield this afternoon was enough to locate a rather soggy Short-eared Owl which flushed up from the rough triangle of vegetation just east of Bunker 1.

The forecast for tomorrow doesn't look any better so some more images from the south of France...

Regards

Neil M

Common Cranes.

Firecrest.

Greater Flamingo.

Coypu.

Goldfinches

Hello

Not much opportunity for birding today but a dozen Bramblings were on seed/grain in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton this morning.

In our small garden today I estimated that a hundred Goldfinches were visiting the feeders plus decent numbers of continental Chaffinches, a male Brambling and of course large numbers of tits!

Some images from the south of France follow...

Regards

Neil M

A golden Goldfinch!
Image courtesy of
Chris Payne.

Camargue White Horse.

Western Swamphen in the rain!

Wallcreeper!

Common Cranes.

Tree Frog.

Pitsford Reservoir on Monday.

Hello

It seemed like all eyes were on Pitsford today with a steady stream of birders visiting in an effort to track down yesterday's Ring-necked Duck. There has to be a good chance it is still there somewhere but no-one managed to find it!

Birds north of the causeway included at least ten Whooper Swans, at least two Great White Egrets, an adult Yellow-legged Gull, sixteen Red-crested Pochard, at least sixteen Pintail and something of a wader fest with singles of Spotted Redshank, Ruff and Black-tailed Godwit and at least five Green Sandpipers. Other sightings included a male Brambling and three Stonechats and a ringing session around the main feeding station provided 74 captures made up of a Chiffchaff, two Goldcrests, six Long-tailed Tits, two Blackbirds, twenty Blue Tits, thirteen Great Tits, two Dunnocks, two Robins, two Goldfinches, seven Chaffinches, thirteen Tree Sparrows and four Yellowhammers.

The gull roost was checked off the Sailing Club this afternoon and provided views of an adult Mediterranean Gull, an adult Yellow-legged Gull and two Red-crested Pochard.

The Bramblings were again by the farm barn in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton today with eight birds there this morning and three there this afternoon.

Regards

Neil M

Male Yellowhammer.

First year male Goldfinch.

Tree Sparrow.

Adult male Chaffinch.

November birds

Hello

Yesterday (Saturday) Chris Payne opened a mist net in his garden at Greens Norton briefly and caught 28 Goldfinches and a young Magpie. Debbie and Eric paid Titchmarsh reserve near Thrapston a visit and noted a Raven and plenty of Goldcrests.

Today (Sunday) and Eric's visit to Blatherwycke Lake provided views of winter thrushes, two Snipe and a Green Sandpiper and nearby Deene Lake hosted 14 Snipe, 3 Green Sandpipers and 100 plus Teal.

Four Bramblings were near the barn in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton again this morning with at least two there this afternoon with two in our garden in the village.

John Friendship-Taylor located a fine adult Caspian Gull just south of the A422 roundabout between Middleton Cheney and Warkworth today, three Yellow-legged Gulls and twenty Tree Sparrows also being seen in the same area.

A ringing session at Stortons Pits today provided 54 captures of 13 species, the total being made up of 2 Chiffchaffs, a female Blackcap, 6 Long-tailed Tits, 9 Great Tits, 11 Blue Tits, 12 Goldfinches, a Wren, a Cetti's Warbler, 3 Dunnocks, a Robin, 4 Redwings, a Great Spotted Woodpecker and 2 Reed Buntings.

A parallel ringing session at Linford Lakes, Milton Keynes provided 59 birds of 9 species, the total being made up of 36 Redwings, 7 Fieldfares, a Blackbird, 6 Blue Tits, a Treecreeper, 2 Goldcrests, 2 Meadow Pipits, 2 Bullfinches and 2 Siskins.

Pitsford Reservoir came up trumps today with the discovery of a drake Ring-necked Duck in the Scaldwell Bay. A variety of observers including Adrian Borley, Bob Bullock and Tom Green came up with an excellent supporting cast of a Ruddy Shelduck, a Scaup, four Great White Egrets, eleven Whooper Swans, fifteen Pintail, at least ten Red-crested Pochard, a Black-tailed Godwit, a Redshank, a Ruff and two Stonechats.

Regards

Neil M

Drake Ring-necked Duck -
a captive bird photographed
at Slimbridge.

Red-crested Pochard.

Fieldfare.
 A notoriously difficult bird
to catch for ringing purposes,
Kenny and team managed to
catch and process seven of
them today...