Pitsford gulls

Hello

Yesterday afternoon I took some images of the gulls coming to roost at Pitsford Reservoir, unfortunately in very poor light! Interestingly, looking through the photos, it looks as if there was a Kittiwake amongst the flock (obscured) and we overlooked an adult Yellow-legged Gull too!

Regards

Neil M

Black-headed Gulls.

Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Common Gulls.

Common Gull.

Herring Gull.

Yellow-legged Gull.

Flying away shot
of the second winter
Caspian Gull.

Back to winter again!

Hello

With snow on the ground right now and apparently plenty more overnight, tomorrow might be interesting!

With strong winds all day, flurries of snow and a real drop in temperature during this afternoon, it really was a blast of winter again today. However the morning and early afternoon provided plenty of sunshine and spells of quite reasonable weather.

Two Stoats chasing each other around in the Brampton Valley were the best wildlife on offer for Eleanor today, although the Barn Owl was hunting there again this afternoon. A Fieldfare came into the garden this morning and enjoyed an apple lunch, feeding up before the snow hit.

We finally had a dump of frog spawn in our little garden pond a couple of nights back, I just hope it survives this cold snap!

Birds for me today were minimal but a couple of Siskins were attracted to the feeders at Scotland Wood on the Kelmarsh Estate and the gull roost at Pitsford Reservoir attracted a second winter Caspian Gull briefly.

Regards

Neil M

The Kelmarsh Estate
British White Cattle.

Red Kite,
courtesy of Bethan Clyne.

Monochrome Mute Swan,
courtesy of Bethan Clyne.

The calm before the storm?

Hello

Eric was again on the Titchmarsh Reserve at Thrapston today and saw two Goosanders, two Egyptian Geese, three Chiffchaffs, two Siskins and a Redpoll. A Great White Egret was reported and Eric saw a Brimstone butterfly in the spring-like weather. Nearby and John Hunt was able to report that a pair of Egyptian Geese were chaperoning three goslings at Oundle Marina.

A Barn Owl was hunting the roadside between Spratton and Brixworth this morning and the usual one was again in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton. Both Brimstone and Comma butterflies were on the wing between Cottesbrooke and Hanging Houghton.

Eleanor noted two pairs of Grey Partridge at Harrington Airfield today and birds at Brixworth Water Treatment Works included a Water Rail, six Snipe and a Grey Wagtail.

The gull roost at Pitsford Reservoir this afternoon attracted a flock of twelve Kittiwakes, the majority if not all disappeared before dark and were only picked up because they were heard calling amongst the throng!

A ringing session at Kelmarsh Hall today provided 106 captures of 14 species of small birds made up of a Blackbird, two Great Spotted Woodpeckers, 26 Great Tits, 21 Blue Tits, three Coal Tits, a Marsh Tit, five Long-tailed Tits, seven Dunnocks, three Robins, four Nuthatches, 21 Goldfinches, two Siskins, nine Chaffinches and a Bullfinch.

A Raven was also active there and other birds noted included a Redpoll and a couple more Siskins.

Regards

Neil M

This is the third time that
we have encountered this
Great Tit whilst ringing at
Kelmarsh Hall. It was first
caught on 6th Feb 2017 and
assessed as being an adult male.
It was caught again on 6th March
2017, on both occasions the
bird was unremarkable. However
today it is now sporting this quite
incredible bill! The lower mandible
was 21mm in length and the upper
18mm. What caused this abnormal
bill growth is not known...

Second year male
Goldfinch.

Adult male Siskin.

A quiet day at Pitsford...

Hello

Eleanor's forays in to the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton today provided views of a Barn Owl and a pair of Grey Partridge.

Jacob was at Pitsford Reservoir all day today in an effort to further enhance his patchwork challenge year list. He reports that it was a generally quiet day with few new birds but his endeavours produced sightings of the Slavonian Grebe, a Raven, a second year Caspian Gull, a second year Yellow-legged Gull, a rather brown-looking Barn Owl, two Chiffchaffs, a Grey Wagtail and a Siskin...

It will be interesting to see what is produced by the wintry blast of easterlies this coming week-end!

Regards

Neil M

Barn Owl.
Courtesy of Robin Gossage.

Raven.
With females on eggs, this is
the time when it is frequent to
see single Ravens out foraging...

Kittiwake.
Maybe there will be
some more inland birds
this week-end?

Early spring migration

Hello

Yesterday (13th) and Dave Francis completed a little ringing in his garden on the outskirts of Northampton, successfully processing two Siskins, eleven Goldfinches, a Bullfinch, four House Sparrows and an unexpected male Sparrowhawk among more common fare!

Today (14th) and Eleanor watched two Barn Owls hunting this morning in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton and later there were two Ravens in the village and a male Brambling graced our garden. Chris Payne hosted two female Bramblings in his Greens Norton garden and small numbers of Siskins were seemingly wherever I went today with birds in the Kelmarsh Estate woods, Hanging Houghton and Pitsford Res. A Siskin singing at Scotland Wood included Chiffchaff and Redpoll song phrases in it's repertoire!

The most notable north-bound migrants today were Starlings, Fieldfares, Redwings and Meadow Pipits with a constant light movement all day. Harrington Airfield seemed quiet although a flock of 16 Golden Plovers did drop in.

Pitsford Reservoir was well-watched today by a number of observers which resulted in sightings of a male Peregrine, a drake Mandarin Duck, the Slavonian Grebe still, two Oystercatchers, a Woodcock, two Snipe, a Jack Snipe, three Sand Martins, a Chiffchaff, a Redpoll and a first winter Yellow-legged Gull in the gull roost.

Regards

Neil M

Drake Mandarin Duck at
Pitsford Reservoir, sticking
remarkably close to three
Greylag Geese!

Male Muntjac.

Female Muntjac.
All images from
Pitsford Res today...

Iceland Gull and friends

Hello

Eric Graham has been busy the last two days at Titchmarsh Reserve, Thrapston. Yesterday (12th) provided views of a Great White Egret, a pair of Egyptian Geese, a female Goosander, 150 Pochard, two Oystercatchers and three calling Cetti's Warblers. Today (13th) and there were two Great White Egrets, an increase of three pairs of Egyptian Geese plus a Water Rail and a Cetti's Warbler.

Eleanor today flushed two Woodcock from hedging at Blueberry Farm, Maidwell.

The gull roost at Pitsford Reservoir was productive this afternoon with a couple of cracking gulls in the shape of an adult summer plumage Mediterranean Gull and a stunning juvenile Iceland Gull, just rewards for the amount of 'blank' gull roosts at Pitsford this winter. Other birds there included the Slavonian Grebe, fifty Golden Plovers in flight and a Grey Wagtail.

Regards

Neil M

The Mediterranean Gull
at Pitsford Reservoir today,
courtesy of Jacob.

The Snowy Owl seen
recently on the Norfolk
coast courtesy of observer Jacob!

A petition to ban driven grouse shooting

A message from Dr Mark Avery...

This is a note to many of the groups to which I have spoken in the last few years about the problems associated with driven grouse shooting - environmental damage and wildlife crime.

To cut to the chase - there is another e-petition putting pressure on this government to act on this matter, and I am trying to give that e-petition some help in reaching a good target.  It's already at over 36,000 signatures, and although 100,000 looks impossible, a good showing somewhere between 40,000 and 50,000 is possible.  It closes on 2 April.

This is the link to the e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/201443

Thank you.

Dr Mark Avery

Red Grouse.

Merlin,
courtesy of
John Gamble.

Dull and wet but still some birds!

Hello

A dull, dank day with yet more rain today! Despite the rain and relatively high temperatures of the last week we still have lying snow in NN6, an indication of how big the drifts were two week-ends ago!

Our garden hosted twenty Reed Buntings today plus small numbers of Yellowhammers and common finches and we still seem to be feeding plenty of migrant Blackbirds as they tuck in to the food in order to gain more weight prior to their departure north and east of here.

A walk at Harrington Airfield this afternoon during a spell of no rain was productive with sightings of a hunting Barn Owl, a fly-over Raven, two pairs of Grey Partridge and a migrant Chiffchaff.

The gull roost at Pitsford Reservoir later this afternoon contained a first winter Mediterranean Gull.

A Blue Tit ringed at Stortons Pits on 12th January 2014 turned up in a mist net at Brigstock in the garden of ringer Colin Graham of the Rockingham Forest Ringing Group on 20th February 2018. Where it has been during the interim four years is a mystery. Colin explained that he had an influx of Blue Tits at the time ahead of the forthcoming cold weather. Many tits it seems leave the woods and open countryside during the autumn and seek out easy food placed out for them in gardens in our villages and towns. At the end of the winter and early spring these birds begin to filter back in to breeding habitat and of course some of them re-locate into pastures new...

Regards

Neil M

Blue Tit
courtesy of John Tilly.

Chiffchaff
courtesy of Cathy Ryden.

Mediterranean Gull
 (right hand bird).

More images from Uganda...

African Pied Wagtail.

Hello

Well the week has started on a wet, dull note so I thought I would add some more photos of wildlife from Uganda in January where it was much warmer, mostly dryer and brighter!

Neil M

Yellow-billed Kite.

Saddle-billed Stork.

Impala.

Lappet-faced Vulture.

Giraffe.

Topi.

Warthog.

Zebra.

Hippo.

butterfly sp.

Wattled Lapwing and
African Rock Python.

Birds of Sunday

Hello

This morning a small team of ringers were operating at Linford Lakes near Milton Keynes where they caught 44 birds of nine species. A new Great Spotted Woodpecker's behaviour was typical of the species, these individuals nearly always try and peck the fingers and hands of the ringer - and it hurts!

A Lesser Redpoll was probably the highlight of the captures and other birds seen on-site included Siskin and a Great White Egret.

Visiting feed stations on the Kelmarsh Estate today provided views of a Woodcock flying out of Sunderland Wood and at Scotland Wood a Willow Tit was the first recorded there this year and the trees attracted small numbers of Siskins.

The gull roost at Pitsford Reservoir was mostly distant this afternoon and with very few large gulls, a second winter Caspian Gull was the only bird of note that I could see...

Regards

Neil M

Male Great Spotted Woodpecker.

Lesser Redpoll
courtesy of Kenny Cramer.

Willow Tit.

Waterlogged birding!

Hello

Plenty of north-bound migration today, the most obvious being the gulls, Fieldfares and a few pipits and wagtails.

A waterlogged Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton witnessed fifteen Golden Plovers flying north and a hunting Barn Owl. A Grey Wagtail flew north over the village at Hanging Houghton and a Raven was heard calling.

The only birds of note at Harrington Airfield which was similarly waterlogged was a flock of nineteen Golden Plovers and a pair of Oystercatcher are now in residence north of the causeway at Pitsford Reservoir.

Regards

Neil M

Plenty of moisture in
the air and a low sun provides
the perfect end of the day...

Ringing at Kelmarsh Hall

Hello

Today saw some bird ringing at Kelmarsh Hall in rather cool conditions - I'm not sure my toes ever did warm up!

Just three mist nets caught 148 small birds of 13 species, the majority of them being common tits. Initially we caught plenty of birds already bearing rings from previous operations and they easily outnumbered unringed birds but as the session progressed we began to catch a larger proportion of new birds. In the end it ended up being 74 re-trapped and 74 new birds!

These totals were made up of 3 Blackbirds, a Great Spotted Woodpecker, 8 Dunnocks, 12 Robins, a Treecreeper, 2 Nuthatches, 40 Great Tits, 54 Blue Tits, a Coal Tit, 9 Long-tailed Tits, 6 Chaffinches, 8 Goldfinches and 3 Siskins.

One of the Chaffinches was first ringed there on 13th January 2013 when it was assessed as a bird hatched in 2012, so if it survives until this summer it will be six years old. Interestingly it has only ever been re-trapped once during the relevant period. One of the Blue Tits caught today was originally caught and ringed as a juvenile at Harrington Airfield in June 2017.

A flock of up to fifty Siskins were present for a short time and a Raven was seen and vocal on and off during the day.

Regards

Neil M

Male Chaffinch. Hopefully
we'll see some fresh leaves and
blossom soon!
Courtesy of Cathy Ryden.

Robin. Twelve caught
today no doubt were
assisted through the cold
weather of last week due to
the local feed station maintained
 within the grounds of Kelmarsh Hall.
Image courtesy of
Cathy Ryden.

Blue Tit, image courtesy
of John Tilly. Fifty-four
were processed at Kelmarsh
Hall today.

Great Tit, image courtesy
of John Tilly. Forty birds
processed today was a high
number with quite a number
of birds showing tick infestations
around the head.