Another Barn Owl casualty...

Hello

Sad news this morning with one of the Barn Owls being found injured in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton. It exhibited several injuries and died before medical aid was possible. Like the bird found dead recently, this bird was also ringed and we await to find out more of it's life history.

Robin and Wendy Gossage took a stroll around Sywell Country Park today with the lens clicking away as usual...!

Regards

Neil M

Coot

Nuthatch

Green Woodpecker

Cormorant.

All images courtesy
of Robin Gossage.

Cool but sunny Sunday!

Hello

A couple of Barn Owls were in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton this morning with another at nearby Blueberry Farm, Maidwell.

A ringing session at Stortons GP this morning yielded 53 birds before the wind stopped play, 30 new birds and 23 re-traps. The total included ten Reed Buntings, six Lesser Redpolls and a Siskin.

Two nets at Sunderland Wood (Kelmarsh Estate) this morning were sufficient to catch 59 birds, 33 of which were new. This was made up of eleven Great Tits, twenty-eight Blue Tits, five Coal Tits, a Great Spotted Woodpecker, three Nuthatches, a Dunnock, four Robins and six Chaffinches.

Birds at Pitsford Reservoir this afternoon included a Ruddy Shelduck between the causeway and the Old Scaldwell Road, and the gull roost off the Sailing Club hosted an adult Caspian Gull and a first year Mediterranean Gull.

Regards

Neil M

Lesser Redpolls

Courtesy of John Boland.

Common Buzzard

Mute Swan

Yellowhammer

Three images above
courtesy of Jacob Spinks

'Tis the season of the Raven!

Hello

Eric Graham and friends were birding at Thrapston Gravel Pits today and saw interesting birds in the shape of two Great White Egrets, four Little Egrets, nine Goosanders, a male Peregrine plus five Lesser Redpolls and a male Stonechat.

Birds in the garden here at Hanging Houghton included a Marsh Tit, a male Siskin, a male Brambling, with a pair of Raven nearby.

Eleanor was at Staverton again this morning and watched the regular pair of Raven building their nest! However Eleanor had her head turned when two Waxwings flew over calling, and watched them flying off in the direction of Badby.

In the afternoon Eleanor walked around Daventry Country Park and saw the drake Green-winged Teal, six Goosanders and 20+ Siskins.

Jacob Spinks saw a male Blackcap in his garden at Scaldwell village yesterday and witnessed two Ravens and a flock of 46 Golden Plovers over-flying the village today.

I flushed a Woodcock in Scotland Wood (Kelmarsh Estate) this morning and a perusal of the gull roost at Pitsford Reservoir provided views of the adult Caspian Gull.

Regards

Neil M

The magnificent Raven!

Ringing activity

Hello

The wet and windy weather conditions of the winter has conspired to keep many of the county bird ringers inactive. Most birds are caught using nine foot high mist nets which are fine in dull, still weather or in areas of shelter, but are inappropriate for wild and windy conditions. The relative calm of the last few days has thus caused a flurry of ringing activity!

John Woollett and Garry Marsh were ringing at Water Stratford near Buckingham yesterday and caught and ringed over a hundred birds in an agricultural setting. In excess of fifty percent of the birds were Yellowhammers and Linnets.

This morning Chris Payne conducted some ringing in his Greens Norton garden in South Northants and he caught a selection of birds including a male Reed Bunting and ten Lesser Redpolls (six new ones and four re-traps from November/December).

Dave Francis was ringing at the Old Scaldwell Road Feeding Station at Pitsford Reservoir today and using just two nets succeeded in catching 83 birds, the majority of which were new. Again Yellowhammers were the most common species caught with 36 new birds and 7 re-traps, plus 11 Reed Buntings, 7 Tree Sparrows and more regular fare. This helps confirm that at least a hundred Yellowhammers are visiting the feed station regularly this winter.

Neil Hasdell was at the Summer Leys reserve today and saw a Great White Egret, three Little Egrets, a Stonechat, a Cetti's Warbler, a Grey Wagtail, two Peregrines and a hybrid Wigeon.

Eleanor was in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton this morning and saw the pair of Stonechat, two Lesser Redpolls, two Grey Wagtails and a Barn Owl. A small flock of 16 Golden Plovers were at Harrington Airfield this afternoon and another flock of just 10 were near Walgrave.

Eleanor enjoyed the best bird of the day when an adult female Goshawk flew over her, heading towards Pitsford Reservoir from the direction of Walgrave village. This was at about 4pm and caused a major disturbance with the pre-roost gathering of corvids and Woodpigeons.

Regards

Neil M

Pied Wagtail

Long-tailed Tit

Courtesy of Cathy Ryden.

Male Reed Bunting

Lesser Redpolls

Courtesy of Chris Payne.

Little Egret

Grey Wagtail

Courtesy of Neil Hasdell

Ringing at Brixworth

Hello

A ringing session took place at Brixworth STW today, providing over 60 captures of 14 species.

Highlights included three Great Spotted Woodpeckers, four Grey Wagtails, three Pied Wagtails, a Goldcrest and a male Sparrowhawk.

Other birds noted included the Firecrest still (showing well for much of the afternoon in the boundary hedge), four Chiffchaffs, several Siskins and a couple of Snipe.

Regards

Neil M

Record shot of the Firecrest

Chiffchaff

A two year old Male Sparrowhawk

Local Bird Ringing

Hello

A ringing session took place today at Kelmarsh Hall, a small team capturing just over a hundred birds. Twenty-three Goldfinches was a good total, supported with smaller numbers of Greenfinches and Chaffinches and a re-trap Lesser Redpoll (from Scotland Wood in December 2015).

This is a regular ringing site but we still caught new Blue Tits and Great Tits and a couple of new Coal Tits too. Two re-trap Great Spotted Woodpeckers were several years old and have been captured a number of times over the years. Other birds noted on site included a singing Grey Wagtail.

Notification came through today of a Goldfinch recovery from the autumn. A juvenile Goldfinch was caught and ringed at Harrington Airfield on 20th September 2015 and re-captured by a ringer operating in Chilworth, Surrey on 5th January 2016. By that time the plumage characteristics had changed and it was possible to identify the gender as female. This recovery was 132km due south from the ringing site, and 107 days later...

Regards

Neil M

Juvenile Goldfinch

Goldfinch in adult plumage

Images from Guilsborough

Hello

Neil Hasdell visited the Summer Leys Local Nature Reserve today and enjoyed watching a Cetti's Warbler which had thrown of it's yoke and was actually out in the open showing itself... wonders will never cease!

Other birds included the long-staying Stonechat and a pair of Egyptian Geese and the Great White Egret was reported.

Eleanor saw the pair of Stonechat in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton again . This pair frequently go a wandering along the valley but they were back below the village today.

Regards

Neil M

Jackdaw

Cock Pheasant

Who are ewe looking at?

Country images from the Guilsborough
area courtesy of Cathy Ryden.

Yet another blustery day!

Hello

A little wild out there today, and I became rather soggy in the Kelmarsh Estate woodlands this morning. Nothing much different seen but a Peregrine over Sunderland Wood wasn't struggling with the wind, unlike many of the potential prey items around it...

Jacob Spinks was busy photographing some of the wildlife in his garden yesterday...

Regards

Neil M

Love them or hate them,
Grey Squirrels are unequivocally
clever, agile and bright-eyed...
and maybe cute as well!!

Goldfinch

Blue Tit

Coal Tit

All images courtesy of
Jacob Spinks

Yet more rain and gale force winds!

Hello

Eric Graham enjoyed himself at Thrapston GP this morning seeing two Great White Egrets, a hunting Peregrine, five Goosanders and a couple of Lesser Redpolls.

Ian Dobson also did well with a visit to Ravensthorpe Reservoir this morning, seeing 3-4 Otters before 9.30am...

Two Ravens were vocal this morning as they flew over Hanging Houghton, upsetting the local Carrion Crows. I visited Market Harborough this morning but didn't see any Otters on the swollen River Welland. A few Siskins and a Grey Wagtail were about but perhaps the more interesting nature observations were of a Moorhen gobbling up a huge lob-worm (I didn't know they did that!) and a pair of Blackbirds feeding their nestlings in a nest in some ivy! A particularly photogenic Robin kept me entertained for quite a while...

Colin Hewitt witnessed a Common Buzzard flushing up about a dozen Snipe from one of the top fields at Harrington Airfield this afternoon.

Regards

Neil M

Female Sparrowhawk
Market Harborough

Robin at Welland Park
Market Harborough

Apparently it is possible
to eat too much cake...!

Woodpigeon at Welland Park,
Market Harborough.

Northants Bird Club Photographic Competition.

Hello

The annual Northants Bird Club Photographic Competition took place on Wednesday and as always the quality of the submitted images was extremely high.

The overall winning image was of a Western Red Colobus monkey as taken by Dave Jackson. Dave is the first ever recipient of the Graham Soden Shield. However it was a close-run thing with many members struggling to identify a clear winner, such was the quality of the top photographs.

The images below are some of the winners which have kindly been forwarded to me by committee member John Showers...

I think I might have to sell my camera, or at least receive some lessons!

Neil M

Western Red Colobus monkey
Courtesy of  Dave Jackson.

American Kestrel with prey
Courtesy of Clive Bowley.

Eurasian Kestrel

Iberian Magpie

Rock Martin

Chameleon sp.

Images courtesy of  Dave Thomas

Good weather for Otters!

Hello

Sadly the forecast was accurate for today with very strong winds and plenty of rain, but perhaps not the deluge we were expecting!

Birding opportunities were minimal today but both an adult Mediterranean Gull and the regular adult Caspian Gull were in the roost at Pitsford Reservoir this afternoon.

Eleanor saw the Great White Egret and about a dozen Siskins at Ravensthorpe Reservoir this afternoon, and three Otters were visible on the 'small side' at about 12.45pm.

Rather belated news suggests that the Otters are still present on the River Welland at Market Harborough, the latest report and photographs available on the Internet are dated 26th January 2016.

Regards

Neil M

A well-marked female Blackbird.
The females can show quite a variation
in plumage colouration and markings,
particularly in their first year.

Images courtesy of Cathy Ryden.

And this is winter?

Hello

With heavy rain forecast for tomorrow all day, I decided to visit most of my wild bird feeding stations today but I encountered few birds on my travels - a single Raven at Kelmarsh, a pair of Grey Partridge at Harrington Airfield and a Green Sandpiper on the pools below the dam at Pitsford Reservoir.

I forgot to mention that yesterday evening I saw a Pipistrelle Bat of some kind flying after insects just outside the village at Hanging Houghton. Not normally a common sight in February!

Robin Gossage spent some time at Pitsford Reservoir today with his camera and nice lens (please see his images below)...

Regards

Neil M

Displaying Common Buzzard

Drake Goldeneye (displaying)
...well it is nearly Spring!

All images courtesy of Robin Gossage.