Red-necked Grebe and friends...

Hello

Pitsford Reservoir was the place today, particularly as it was the second day with a Red-necked Grebe just off the south side of the causeway. The Slavonian Grebe was also showing in Yacht Bay and with plenty of Little Grebes and Great Crested Grebes present it was a four grebe day! 

Other birds included a Great White Egret in the Walgrave Bay, a pair of Red-crested Pochard, two Redshanks, two Little Owls, a Raven, a Marsh Tit and two Grey Wagtails.

Sywell Country Park continued to host the wintering Whooper Swan and other birds here included a Water Rail, a Cetti's Warbler, a pair of Stonechat and twenty Siskins.

A pair of Stonechat remain in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton and eight Waxwings were seen briefly at the Wyevale Garden Centre on the Newport Pagnell Road (at Northampton) at about 12.30pm.

Regards

Neil M

Red-necked Grebe with
Great Crested Grebes
courtesy of Eleanor.

Red-necked Grebe.

Red-necked Grebe
courtesy of Jacob Spinks.

Red Kite (and Jackdaw)
courtesy of Cathy Ryden.

Little Egret courtesy
of Jacob.

Carrion Crow
courtesy of Jacob.

Whooper Swan at Sywell
Country Park courtesy of
Eleanor.

Can you help survey the Nene Valley?

Hello

A message from Ted Weber...

I’m currently putting together plans for carrying out the Nene Wetlands Breeding Birds Survey for the coming season and would like to expand the team of volunteers that undertakes it. Some of you Nene Wetlands volunteers are already involved but new members might also like the opportunity to participate.

We need experienced birdwatchers with the ability to confidently identify birds in close terrain and by song; training in the survey process will be given, but a good knowledge of birds is an essential prerequisite. The Nene Wetlands has been divided up into 4 sectors, each of which must be surveyed once a month in April, May, June and July, but the transect routes involved are quite large and may require a couple of days to complete.

Please let me know as soon as possible, if you are interested.

Ted

Edward Weber
Nene Wetlands Reserves Officer

Direct line: 01604 405285
Office: 01604 405285
Mobile: 07931325888

Tweet: @wildlifebcn 
Like: /wildlifebcn
Visit: www.wildlifebcn.orgThe Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire & Northamptonshire
Lings House, off Lings Way
Billing Lings
Northampton
NN3 8BE
United Kingdom

Sedge Warbler

Cuckoo.

No birding!

Hello

Unfortunately no time for any birding today so some recently acquired portraits from Robin and Cathy to brighten the blog!

Regards

Neil M

Snowdrops by
Cathy Ryden.

Pied Wagtail by
Cathy Ryden.

Photographic study of
the wonderful Great Crested
Grebe by Robin Gossage.

Creatures of a cold Sunday!

Hello

Another day of unpleasant weather but plenty of observers out nonetheless.

A couple of observers at Pitsford Reservoir today caused a few records of long-staying birds - the Caspian Gull in the gull roost, the Slavonian Grebe in Yacht Bay, two Redshanks, two Ravens and two Marsh Tits.

Four Otters showed well at Ravensthorpe Reservoir this afternoon and two Great White Egrets remain. Nearby Andrew Tyrrell saw at least four Stonechats at Hollowell Reservoir and Eleanor saw four Ravens again at Staverton and a pair of Stonechat in the valley below Hanging Houghton. Two Brown Hares were the only creatures of note for me at Harrington Airfield.

Debbie and Eric Graham saw a pair of Mandarin Duck at Blatherwycke Lake today and Nick Parker's efforts at trudging around the Titchmarsh Reserve were rewarded with excellent views of a Bittern on Heronry Lake, a Great White Egret, a Goosander and 140 Pochard.

Chris Payne noticed a flock of thirty plus small finches at Greens Norton today, predominately redpolls and smaller numbers of Siskins, and he now has several Reed Buntings visiting his garden for food. At least one Siskin was present at Walgrave village.

Regards

Neil M

Feeding birds in your
garden is all very well, but
 sometimes other creatures
 muscle in!

Muntjac at Priors Marston
courtesy of Helen Franklin.

North Norfolk coast

Hello

Jacob enjoyed a day's birding on the north Norfolk coast today, starting at Holkham Gap where he saw a flock of 30 Shore Larks and a Merlin. Next was Titchwell and the gathering of sea-ducks off the beach included 650 Common Scoter and 80 Velvet Scoter. Other birds included singles of Black-throated and Red-throated Diver, a Woodcock on the ground, 50 Snow Buntings and a Brambling.

A Black Redstart was at Wells-next-the-sea and four Hen Harriers (one an adult male) were watched at Warham Greens.

Regards

Neil M

Male Starling in song.

Teal.

Black Redstart.

Black-tailed Godwit.

Curlew.

All images courtesy
of  Jacob Spinks.

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.