Fieldfares and friends

Hello

The Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton produced birds again today in very hostile conditions, the best being a pair of Grey Partridge, a male Stonechat, six Snipe, a Woodcock and a Barn Owl. A Woodcock was flushed at Harrington Airfield and Brixworth Water Treatment Works attracted a Snipe and a Grey Wagtail plus a flock of Meadow Pipits working the filter beds. The resident pair of Raven were at Kelmarsh and a Little Owl was seen at Old.

It seems that Fieldfares were the stars of the show today with good numbers being reported in gardens all over the county. With little available food and having been pushed out of even more inhospitable places, these exhausted and hungry birds are roaming around for any remaining berries and apples. Fieldfares don't usually eat much in the way of mixed seed and standard bird food but these desperate birds are consuming such fare. We had over 25 in our garden today plus several Redwings, a Mistle Thrush etc and their favourite food is apples and dried mealworms. They are also eating grated cheese, fat pellets, mixed seed and soaked dried fruit is another option. Chris Payne had forty Fieldfares in his garden and Jim Dunkley (at Sywell), Nick Wood (Olney), Jacob Spinks (Scaldwell) and Helen Franklin (Priors Marston) all report Fieldfare antics in their gardens.

Jacob's garden also attracted a Moorhen, a probing Woodcock, nine Redpolls, Redwings, Mistle Thrush and a male Blackcap...not bad for garden birding!

The only birds of note at Pitsford Reservoir today were a second year Caspian Gull and a solitary, hungry and displaced Dunlin.

Regards

Neil M

This aggressive Fieldfare kept all other
birds at bay from the apples on offer, including
a visiting Blackcap.
Courtesy of Jim Dunkley from
his Sywell garden.

Fieldfares at Greens Norton today,
courtesy of Chris Payne.

Dunlin at Pitsford Reservoir
today, courtesy of Bethan Clyne.

Fieldfare at Scaldwell today,
courtesy of Jacob Spinks.

Caspian Gull at Pitsford Reservoir today,
courtesy of Bethan Clyne/Jacob Spinks.

Woodcock at Scaldwell today,
courtesy of Jacob Spinks.

Hard weather birds

Hello

Hard weather movement was evident today, Jacob counting 269 Lapwings and 72 Golden Plovers moving south west over Moulton College. Flurries of winter thrushes and Lapwings were encountered in a variety of places today, seeking refuge and food from the ruthless weather.

Our garden served as a feeding site for about fifteen Reed Buntings, two Fieldfares and a Redwing plus an influx of Starlings, and a couple of crab-apple trees near the village of Old provided a feeding frenzy for seventy Fieldfares as witnessed by Diane Freeman. No doubt gardens are providing important feeding and resting areas for countless birds in the county.

Eleanor ran around Sywell Country Park twice today with Tor the hound. Birds were in short supply but the vocal Cetti's Warbler was still alive and kicking! Just two drake Goosanders were seen by Eleanor at Pitsford Reservoir today, no other noteworthy birds being located.

Regards

Neil M

Lapwings.

Fieldfare.

Male Reed Bunting,
courtesy of John Tilly.

Brampton Valley birds and scenes

Hello

A couple of visits today to the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton and extending up to Blueberry Farm produced views of two hunting Barn Owls, an adult Peregrine, three Woodcock, a dozen Snipe in the ditches and a pair of Stonechat. Yesterday a pair of Raven visited Hanging Houghton and today a pair were in Kelmarsh village.

Walking the rounds at Harrington Airfield today to feed the hungry birds at four sites also provided views of seventeen Golden Plovers and a Woodcock.

Eric Graham's visit to the Titchmarsh Reserve today confirmed the continuing presence of a Great White Egret and two Little Egrets.

Regards

Neil M

Brampton Valley
seasonal scenery!

Northants BTO Quarterly Newsletter

Northants BTO Quarterly Newsletter - Winter 2017 / 2018 View this email in your browser

From Barrie Galpin and Ben Reeve, Regional Representative and Regional Ambassador for the BTO in Northants Hi all, We're proud to announce the second of our quarterly newsletters for the BTO in the Northants region. The winter edition includes a brief overview of the regional team, some really interesting information on some of the BTO surveys undertaken in the county (including bird ringing - a glaring omission from last quarter's newsletter, sorry all!), and other interesting information including BTO Training Courses and the brilliant BTO Bird ID videos. The newsletter can be viewed by clicking on the following link - Northants BTO Winter 2017 - 2018 Newsletter Or by typing the following web address in your browser - http://bit.do/northantsbtowinter2017-18 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

Copyright © 2018 BTO, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: BTO 7 Rectory Close Crick, Northamptonshire NN6 7SY United Kingdom Stock Doves.

Ahead of the 'Beast from the East'!

Long-tailed Tits, courtesy
of Jim Dunkley.

Hello

Eleanor's daily morning foray in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton provided a pair of Stonechat and a Barn Owl.

A WeBS count at Pitsford Reservoir today in cold conditions provided only low numbers of wildfowl. Highlights were an Oystercatcher, two Redshank, four Snipe, a pair of Raven and sixty Siskins (fifty in the Pintail Bay). The Slavonian Grebe wasn't located but it does sometimes move around the reservoir.

The gull roost in the afternoon saw good numbers of gulls with an estimated total number of just under 10,000 birds. Mostly they kept their distance but we were able to confirm two first year Yellow-legged Gulls.

The feed station at the Old Scaldwell Road was very busy, particularly with high numbers of Yellowhammers and Reed Buntings plus good numbers of Chaffinches and Tree Sparrows too.

Our garden at Hanging Houghton is bringing in plenty of Reed Buntings and several Yellowhammers in addition to more common fare and Jacob's feeders at Scaldwell attracted at least eight Redpolls today.

Jim Dunkley has been enjoying the birds in his Sywell garden with visits from an apple-loving Blackcap, Goldfinches feeding on the seeds of his Verbena butterfly plant, Long-tailed Tits and Reed Buntings.

An afternoon revisit to the Brampton Valley and a hike around the public sections of Blueberry Farm provided views of fifty Golden Plovers, two Woodcock and four Snipe.

Regards

Neil M

Female Eurasian Wigeon,
courtesy of John Tilly.

Snipe, courtesy
of John Tilly.

Reed Buntings, courtesy
of Jim Dunkley.

Goldfinches on Verbena,
courtesy of Jim Dunkley.

Male Blackcap feeding
on apple, courtesy of
Jim Dunkley.

Sunny Sunday's wildlife

Hello

Eric Graham's efforts on the Titchmarsh Reserve at Thrapston today provided views of a Great White Egret, six Little Egrets and two Oystercatchers.

Neil Hasdell and John Tilly visited the Summer Leys reserve today and between them espied two Great White Egrets, an Oystercatcher and a female Brambling showing well at the feeding station.

Brixworth Water Treatment Works this morning attracted a Snipe, two Grey Wagtails and two Chiffchaffs and my walk at Harrington Airfield was quiet for birds with just a pair of Grey Partridge being of any note.

Eleanor's observations today included the resident pair of Raven at Staverton with Ravensthorpe Reservoir hosting a Great White Egret, the juvenile Whooper Swan, two drake Mandarin Ducks and two Otters again.

Jacob and Bethan made the long journey down to the Dorset coast today to see the stunning adult Ross's Gull which is currently showing there...

Regards

Neil M

Adult Ross's Gull
courtesy of Jacob Spinks.

Redwing courtesy
of John Tilly.

Female Brambling
courtesy of John Tilly.

Raven courtesy
of Jacob Spinks.

The Forest of Dean.

Hello

Eleanor's visit to Staverton this morning provided views of a pair of Raven and a subsequent visit to Ravensthorpe Reservoir yielded sightings of a Great White Egret and the juvenile Whooper Swan.

A merry band of us headed down to the Forest of Dean area in Gloucestershire today, the latter half of the day endorsed by blue skies and sunshine! An initial visit to Parkend was good for a flock of Hawfinches numbering at least twelve birds. With the sun poking through the clouds and a breeze becoming more consistent we headed for New Fancy View watchpoint in the middle of the forest where we saw two displaying Goshawks, a Peregrine, a Merlin plus the usual Common Buzzards, Ravens, and Siskins plus a few Crossbills.

We then drove the 12 or so miles to Symonds Yat Rock and at the watchpoint there another Goshawk was on show on our arrival and  showed well. At least four Peregrines were in dispute with each other and birds on the river below us included several Goosanders. Ravens showed well and were in some numbers...

Our next venue was Crabtree Hill ridge back in the forest where we caught up with the wintering Great Grey Shrike, another Hawfinch and a small flock of Crossbills, a Stonechat and more Goosanders plus three Bramblings and plenty of Siskins. A quick visit to Cannop Ponds and we counted 23 Mandarin Ducks, adding a bit more colour to the day!

Our final venue was a return to Parkend and we found a Dipper on a small stream running through the village; another Merlin overflying the M5 motorway on our way back was our last good bird of the day.

Regards

Neil M

Adult Peregrine carrying
what appears to be a Great Tit!

Displaying Raven.

Drake Mandarin Duck.

Friday's musings!

Hello

This afternoon two Woodcock were seen in Sunderland Wood on the Kelmarsh Estate and a walk at Harrington Airfield provided another Woodcock and two Grey Partridges.

Some quick analysis of some of the captures at Pitsford Reservoir yesterday suggests that we caught several quite old birds but perhaps the most spectacular individual was a Great Tit which if it survives through to the summer will be nine years old!

Another observation at Pitsford yesterday on the reserve north of the causeway was the arrival of large flocks of Woodpigeons, in total thought to be in excess of two thousand birds. It is tempting to think that this may be a cold weather movement associated with the cold air affecting the continent currently (and looming towards us).

Despite imminent cold winter weather, this is the time to think about repairing and clearing out old nest boxes and erecting new ones. Chris Payne reports that there is already a Blue Tit sitting tight in one of the tit boxes at Stortons Pits, but this is truly exceptionally early!

Regards

Neil M

A newly-erected Kestrel
box courtesy of Chris Payne.

Great Tit.
Courtesy of John Tilly.

Male Greenfinch
with a telling peck!
Courtesy of John Tilly.

Pitsford ringing today...

Hello

Bird ringing operations took place at Pitsford Reservoir today ahead of a hard weather forecast just around the corner...

Nearly 170 birds of 16 species were captured today made up of a Mute Swan, a Mallard, a Coot, a Great Spotted Woodpecker, 3 Blackbirds, 6 Dunnocks, 5 Robins, a Marsh Tit, 6 Long-tailed Tits, 10 Coal Tits, 28 Great Tits, 56 Blue Tits, 4 Tree Sparrows, a Chaffinch, 15 Reed Buntings and 29 Yellowhammers.

The Slavonian Grebe was in the mouth of the Pintail Bay this afternoon, a Redpoll was nearby and 3 Woodcock were flushed in Christies Copse. A Barn Owl was between Holcot village and the A43 this morning.

Eric Graham visited Blatherwycke Lake this afternoon and saw four Hawfinches in the nearby churchyard. The lake attracted a pair of Black Swans and nearby Deene Lake held an impressive 25 Shelduck.

Regards

Neil M

Yellowhammer.

Marsh Tit.

Long-tailed Tit.

Coal Tit.

All taken at Pitsford Reservoir
today courtesy of John Tilly.

Ringing at Kelmarsh Hall.

Hello

With the weather rather grey and cloudy, a small band of us committed to a period of bird ringing at Kelmarsh Hall today resulting in 81 birds being captured and processed (57 new birds and 24 previously-ringed birds) of eleven species.

These birds were typical of the site and were made up of a Great Spotted Woodpecker, a Dunnock, a Robin, a Nuthatch, 2 Coal Tits, 24 Blue Tits, 14 Great Tits, 3 Siskins, 24 Goldfinches, 2 Greenfinches and 8 Chaffinches. One of the Goldfinches was a bird originally ringed at Pitsford Reservoir - it's perhaps not surprising that this bird relocated as the niger feeders at the main feed station at Pitsford were stolen recently!

Other birds noted at Kelmarsh Hall today included Raven and at least one Grey Wagtail. Some more ringing is planned for Pitsford Reservoir tomorrow...

Birds noted at Thrapston GP today by Eric Graham included seven Siskins, four Redpolls, several Cetti's Warblers, a Chiffchaff, a pair of Oystercatcher and the Great White Egret still

Regards

Neil M

Adult male Siskin.

Still the birds of winter...

Hello

Yesterday John Hunt saw a couple of Hawfinches in Oundle, in tall hornbeam trees at the junction of South Road and Riverside Close. This was a traditional site from the eighties but no birds have been recorded there in recent years. As food sources dry up it is likely that the Hawfinches locally will be visiting fresh sites in pursuit of hard tree seeds.

A ringing session today at Glyn Davies Wood in the far west of the county was productive with 97 captures made up of 45 Blue Tits, 28 Great Tits, 5 Long-tailed Tits, a Marsh Tit, 3 Coal Tits, 2 Nuthatches, a Treecreeper, 2 Goldcrests, a Wren, 2 Dunnocks, 4 Robins and 3 Great Spotted Woodpeckers. Two or three Woodcock were found sheltering in the wood.

The usual Barn Owl was seen at Hanging Houghton and two Ravens overflew the village. Two more Ravens were between Buckby Wharf and Daventry and the juvenile Whooper Swan was present at Ravensthorpe Reservoir. A Grey Wagtail was noted at Kelmarsh Hall and birds seen at Sywell Country Park included the female Scaup still, 2 Little Egrets, a Water Rail, a Cetti's Warbler and a pair of Stonechat.

Sightings at Pitsford Reservoir today included the Slavonian Grebe still, a Water Rail and the gull roost attracted a second winter Caspian Gull and two Mediterranean Gulls (adult and first winter). Ten Siskins were in the adjacent Brixworth Country Park.

On 21st December 2017 a colour-ringed Black-headed Gull was noted at Pitsford Reservoir by Jacob Spinks - it transpires this bird was ringed at Hamburg, Germany on 4th February 2012 - so it seems it has decided to winter 739km further west this time!

Regards

Neil M

Male Goldcrest.

Female Great Spotted Woodpecker.