Stortons Ringing and Pitsford CBC

Hello

John Woollett and team completed some ringing at Stortons Pits yesterday (Sunday) before it became too hot and windy, catching some 43 birds (10 re-traps). Reflecting the habitat, 18 Reed Warblers and three male Cetti's Warblers were among the birds processed.

Today (Monday) and a Common Bird Census was completed at Pitsford Reservoir, possibly one of the warmest ever! Neil Hasdell had a 'cream crown' Marsh Harrier over the Scaldwell Bay and two drake Red-crested Pochard were lurking at the back of the Scaldwell Bay. Autumnal hints could not be ignored with seven post-breeding Lapwings along the causeway and a build up of post-breeding ducks which included over two hundred Tufted Ducks, thirty Pochard, over two hundred Gadwall, four Teal and a Shoveler.

Two pairs of Great Crested Grebes were nurturing young in the Walgrave Bay and quite a number of Nuthatches and Marsh Tits scattered around the woodland blocks suggested they have enjoyed a good breeding season. Sadly the only successful breeding Reed Warblers seem to be in the phragmites beds along the water's edge below the Fishing Lodge but intentionally planted phragmites in front of the Lagoon Hide hopefully will one day support more breeding pairs.

Fourteen species of butterfly were noted on-site today including a good hatch of Marbled Whites in the Scaldwell Meadow just north of the causeway and at least ten species of odonata were on the wing too.

Regards

Neil M

Reed Bunting nest.

Reed Bunting nestlings

Reed Warbler nest.

Reed Warbler nestlings.

All above images taken by Chris Payne
at Stortons Pits just over a week ago...

Roselle's Bush-cricket.

Essex Skipper.

Southern Hawker.

Ruddy Darter.

Large Red Damselfly.

Marbled White.
All insect images taken on the
reserve at Pitsford Reservoir today.

Northants Bird Club Outdoor Meeting 4th July

Hello

The Northants Bird Club annual outdoor meeting will take place at Pitsford Reservoir at the earlier time of 7pm on Wednesday 4th July. We meet at the Fishing Lodge as usual and then Nick Parker will lead us out on a guided walk of the reserve, either walking down in to the Scaldwell Bay or a shorter walk into the Holcot Bay (or both!).

We hope to witness both breeding and migrant birds utilising the reserve and there is bound to be plenty of insects on the wing too!

In addition we hope to have some mini beasts on show at the Fishing Lodge with microscopes and a computer on hand to appreciate them all the better. And of course hot drinks and biscuits will be available all evening. In the very unlikely event of rain (!!) or something else inclement, a digital presentation will be 'ready to go'!

All very informal and everyone is invited!

Regards

Neil M

Four-spotted Chaser.

Small Copper.

Coot.

Adult Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Recent images

Hello

Not much to report today although Eleanor saw a pair of Grey Partridge and a Barn Owl in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton this evening...

Regards

Neil M

Drake Garganey
Summer Leys NR
courtesy of Dave Jackson.

Guillemot.

Puffin.

Puffin.

All the auk shots are
courtesy of Chris Payne,
images taken on Pembrokeshire
 island of Skokholm during the
recent visit by members of the
Northants Ringing Group.

Juvenile Starlings courtesy
of John Tilly.

Barn Owl Brampton
Valley, courtesy of
Dave Jackson.

The warm weather continues...

Hello

As of yesterday, the monitoring of the Common Terns on the rafts at Pitsford Reservoir has confirmed that eighty chicks have been hatched, it's certainly a very good year for them! There are several family parties of Mute Swans on-site and a Common Sandpiper was also present on the reserve yesterday (together with some failed breeding Lapwings).

Today and a lunch-time visit to Harrington Airfield in warm and breezy conditions provided views of at least one pair of Grey Partridge and fledged juveniles of both Willow Warbler and Whitethroat. A constantly singing Lesser Whitethroat is a good sign of a second breeding attempt by the pair near the second bunker. Butterflies seen there today included a couple of Marbled Whites, a good hatch of Small Heaths and smaller numbers of Common Blues. Burnett and Cinnabar Moths were also on the wing.

An unexpected find in the garden here at Hanging Houghton late this afternoon was of a Purple Emperor butterfly! Initially it was on the parched back lawn and then moved to the nearby magnolia. With the nearest known population to us being Fermyn Wood and with strong northerly winds, this nomad is assumed to have come from there. It was a distinctive individual as it's right hind wing was curled back a little. This didn't seem to impede flight and might help track this butterfly if seen elsewhere.

Feeding mixed seed on the lawn also provides a regular feeding haunt for some of the bigger birds which includes local pigeons and doves...

Regards

Neil M

Small Heath.

Juvenile Willow Warbler.

Purple Emperor butterfly
at Hanging Houghton.

Woodpigeon.

The handsome Stock Dove.

The Purple Emperor!

Hello

There were plenty of observers up at Fermyn Wood today enjoying the butterflies. Eleanor together with Tor the hound and Jaeger the collie were among them! 

Despite a great deal of thinning and forestry work on the compartments since last year there were plenty of butterflies on show including White-letter Hairstreaks (in the elms), Silver-washed Fritillaries and Painted Ladies. Even a few Black Hairstreaks were on show in the hawthorn scrub within the Country Park. A big hatch of Marbled Whites also in the Country Park were a real treat, this species becoming more common in the county in recent years.

However it is the enigmatic and showy Purple Emperors that steal the show with particularly good numbers on show along the forestry track that extends into Lady's Wood from the Gliding Club airstrip...

Regards

Neil M

Purple Emperors at Fermyn
Wood today, courtesy of Eleanor.

This excellent image was taken by
John Boland yesterday at
Ravensthorpe Reservoir.
It depicts an adult Yellow-
legged Gull tackling a moribund
Rainbow Trout...

The butterflies are out!

Hello

Eric Graham visited the Titchmarsh reserve at Thrapston today and was able to record common warblers and plenty of common butterflies and dragonflies. He went on to Fermyn Wood for the butterflies and encountered eight Purple Emperors, two White Admirals, two Silver-washed Fritillaries, Purple Hairstreak and Painted Lady.

I'm just in from seven days in Norway, with brief explorations of the Lofoten and Vesteralen Islands. Cold, very windy and wet up there but we managed just a few brief periods of pleasant weather, a far cry from the temperatures here currently. These Norwegian Islands (north of the Arctic Circle) can probably boast some of the best scenery in the world with truly epic mountains surrounded with low cloud, still plenty of snow, huge vistas and extensive fjords. This is also home to the greatest concentration of White-tailed (Sea) Eagles in the world and I saw them consecutively for seven days (with fifteen in one day)! Hopefully I will have time to process some images later in the week...

Regards

Neil M

Purple Emperor.

Silver-washed Fritillary.

Painted Lady.

Sunday Snippets

Following our return from a cold, wet and windy Iceland it has been rather nice to feel the warmth of the sun and wear a t shirt rather than layers of thermals, mind you the birds haven't been quite as exciting.
I have visited my usual haunts of Harrington, Blueberry and the valley below Hanging Houghton and have caught up with Turtle Dove, Barn Owl, Hobby and Grey Partridge.  Pitsford seemed very quiet when I ran round the big side and checked the small side from the causeway.   There is quite a nice show of Common Spotted Orchid and a handful of Bee Orchids at Harrington.
Eric Graham has visited his regular haunt of Titchmarsh Reserve where there are plenty of singing and visible warblers including Willow, Sedge, Garden, Reed and Cettis. Also Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Whitethroat.  Other birds of note, 2 Cuckoo, 2 Little Egret and an Osprey over Aldwincle Lake.   It is not only birds which are on the wing as there were Brown Hawkers, Scarce Chasers, Emperor Dragonfly, Darters and Black Tailed Skimmers.
A visit to Fermyn Wood/Country park produced 16 White Admiral butterfly and White Letter Hairstreak but no Purple Emperor yet.

John Woollett and his team of ringers have been at Stortons Gravel Pit today :
Another grand day with 70 birds caught 40 new and 29 retraps and one control Reed warbler. Chris was eagerly spotting Reed Buntings feeding young and located the nest they were ready for ringing. Then later on did the same and found a reed Warblers nest which were duly ringed. The young Great Tits were nearly all from the same nest.
Details are as follows
Wren    4
Chiff    1
Dunno    3         (2)
Greti    1        (6)
Robin    2        (1)
Reewa    11      (11)
Sedwa    1        (4)
Goldfi       1
Bullf        1        (1)
Bluti        5        (1)
Garwa    1
Blaca        5
White        1        (1)
Leswh        1

Cetwa                    (2)

Blabi        2            (1)


Regards Eleanor

June update...

Hello

Eleanor and I have been away for the last twelve days to Iceland with our good friends Wendy and Robin. An excellent trip despite very challenging weather conditions. Anyway our apologies for the lack of blog updates..

Kenny Cramer and team enjoyed a good ringing session at Linford Lakes on Friday 15th June, capturing 87 birds of 16 species, over half of which were recently fledged birds. Highlights were three Kingfishers, a Cetti's Warbler, ten Blackcaps, sixteen Reed Warblers and a Garden Warbler.

John Woollett and team completed a ringing session on the south side of Stortons Pits on Sunday 17th June, assessing over seventy captures of 15 species. Warblers dominated with twenty-five Reed Warblers, fourteen Sedge Warblers, two Whitethroats, three Blackcaps, two Garden Warblers and a Lesser Whitethroat.

Many of the Northants Ringing Group have recently returned from a week on the tiny Pembrokeshire island of Skokholm, on what has become an annual pilgrimage to support the wardens out there on monitoring and ringing migrants and sea-birds. In only seven days and nights, they managed to catch and ring impressive numbers of Manx Shearwaters, large gulls and breeding birds such as Oystercatcher. A Cuckoo was a bonus catch!

David Arden has been out and about watching butterflies, including trips in the county and beyond...

Regards

Neil M

Puffins on Skokholm.

Cuckoo on Skokholm.

Small Copper.

Pearl bordered and Small Pearl
bordered Fritillaries.

Mother Shipton moth.

Kingfisher image courtesy of Kenny Cramer, moth and butterflies courtesy of David Arden and Skokholm images courtesy of Chris Payne.

Pitsford update

Hello

Yesterday (Wednesday) and a check of the tern rafts at Pitsford Reservoir by Dave Francis revealed that so far it's looking a good year for the Common Terns with 49 nests, 125 eggs and 8 recently hatched young all being visible. A Greylag Goose is still sitting on one of the rafts with three eggs (are they ever going to hatch?) but the Oystercatcher breeding attempt (as usual) looks a little futile. Two young and an adult appear to be missing and the surviving youngster was helped to shore with a single attendant adult meeting up with it.

John Showers watched a pair of Willow Tits in the Scaldwell Bay just beyond the Bird Club hide, and just where two of the recent spring CBC sessions plotted a pair. The good news is that they were carrying food, a sure sign that they are feeding young. It seems that these are the only Willow Tits on-site at Pitsford this year.

In the garden here at Hanging Houghton, Great Spotted Woodpeckers and at least one Nuthatch are making constant forays to the suspended feeders, the woodpeckers have a nest full of young not too far away in the grounds of Lamport Hall.

Regards

Neil M

Common Tern chick
and egg courtesy of
Lynne Barnett.

Adult Common Tern

Willow Tit