Birds of rain, wind and sunshine

Hello

Kenny and team put up with some varied weather this morning to commit to some more ringing at Linford Lakes and were rewarded with fifty captures of ten species. Blue Tits and Great Tits were the most numerous but other birds included three Redwings, a Goldfinch, a Chaffinch, another late Blackcap and a re-trap Water Rail that was first caught in December 2017. Other birds noted on-site included a Raven and a small group of Siskins.

The Scaldwell Bay at Pitsford Reservoir this morning hosted up to three Great White Egrets, the eleven Whooper Swans still, thirteen Pintail, an adult Yellow-legged Gull, a Green Sandpiper and a first year female Peregrine. The afternoon gull roost off the Sailing Club produced two different Yellow-legged Gulls (a first year and a second year).

Harrington Airfield provided sightings of a Woodcock, seventeen Golden Plovers and an adult male Peregrine this afternoon and a Barn Owl was hunting the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton at dusk.

Regards

Neil M

Water Rail
courtesy of Kenny Cramer.

Drake Shoveler.

Whistling Wigeon!

The Scaldwell Bay at Pitsford
Reservoir, a mixed group of
Mute and Whooper Swans take
centre stage.

Saturday's birds

Hello

A male Brambling was near to the feeders at Scotland Wood (Kelmarsh Estate) this morning and an early but brief visit to the Old Scaldwell Road at Pitsford Reservoir confirmed the continuing presence of the eleven Whooper Swans, two Great White Egrets and five Pintail.

Andrew Tyrrell was at Harrington Airfield this morning and enjoyed watching a Merlin whizzing around on the top fields but it quickly moved on.

Eleanor's brief visit to Ravensthorpe Reservoir was enough to spot two Great White Egrets and the gull roost count at Pitsford Reservoir this afternoon also provided views of two Yellow-legged Gulls (adult and first year) and a first year Mediterranean Gull. Two Ravens remained at Staverton.

Regards

Neil M

Marsh Tit.

Robin.

Birds coming for food
at Scotland Wood.

A flock of Black-headed Gulls
 at Pitsford Reservoir...
just add bread!

Presentation at University of Northampton

Ditchford WeBS (Central)

Hello

I completed the central section of the Ditchford Pits WeBS count today - again it was mild, mostly dry and breezy. The main pit between Higham Ferrers and Irthlingborough again held spectacular numbers of wildfowl which included over 200 Mute Swans, over 400 Wigeon and over 500 Gadwall. There was hardly any room for the swimming Otter to manoeuvre around the ducks and surprisingly there was minimal interest in this aquatic mustelid which is quite capable of taking a duck or two!

I failed to find any particular birds of interest with just singles of Kingfisher and Cetti's Warbler, up to three Chiffchaffs, a Grey Wagtail, a Siskin and two Little Egrets.

I finished the day by popping in to Stanwick Lakes via the Diamond Centre end and managed to see three of the Cattle Egrets trying to keep up with fast moving cattle (at 4pm), a Little Egret and a Great White Egret - who would have predicted a trio of egrets spectacle twenty years ago?

Eric visited Thrapston Pits again today and connected with the six Velvet Scoters still on Town Lake, a Great White Egret and several Cetti's Warblers. He and Debbie later visited Stanwick this afternoon and saw all four Cattle Egrets, the Great White and a couple of Little Egrets too...

Regards

Neil M

A charm of Goldfinches!

Red Kite.

Female Shoveler.
 The older and shallower pits in the
Ditchford Gravel Pits complex
provide excellent foraging opportunities
for dabbling ducks, in particular Wigeon,
 Shoveler and Gadwall.

Cormorant.

A small section of the
Gadwall armada!

Ditchford WeBS (West)

Hello

Yesterday afternoon (Wednesday) and Jacob and Bethan checked the gull roost at Pitsford Reservoir and located two Yellow-legged Gulls (adult and first year).

Today (Thursday) and I completed the WeBS count on the western section of Ditchford Pits. It was very quiet for birds in mild, breezy conditions and the only birds of note were a fine adult Peregrine on the pylons west of Ditchford Lane plus an overflying Raven. A Mink was seen and a Migrant Hawker dragonfly was still on the wing.

A Grey Wagtail remained at Hanging Houghton.

Regards

Neil M

Red-necked Phalarope.

Brunnich's Guillemots.

Iceland Gull.

Great Black-backed Gull.

Red-throated Diver.

All images from Iceland in June.

Ringing recoveries

Hello

Not much opportunity for birding today but early this morning the eleven Whooper Swans were still in the Scaldwell Bay at Pitsford Reservoir and five Great White Egrets were visible north of the causeway. Later in the morning the Whoopers were in a close-knit flock next to the Maytrees Hide, disturbance had caused much of the wildfowl to exit the bay (tree management work near to Willow Hide) and the Whoopers were pretty much the last ones out. I hope they remained and they didn't use this as an excuse to move on...

We have received notification of some ringing recoveries including a House Sparrow fatality in Hanging Houghton (road casualty) and a Goldfinch fatality in Scaldwell village (both birds were ringed as juveniles this autumn in Hanging Houghton). Other records with a little more history are as follows:-

KN98466 was a juvenile Blackcap first ringed at Harrington Airfield on 30th August 2018 by Helen Franklin and then re-captured four days later at Southwick Wood by Colin Graham. For some reason this bird moved 27km ENE after initial capture, the significance which may prove difficult to interpret!

AKD286 relates to a juvenile Cetti's Warbler ringed at Tring, Hertfordshire on 5th August 2018 and this young bird travelled 32km north to be re-captured at Linford Lakes, Milton Keynes on 30th September 2018 (56 days later).

LJ39586 refers to a juvenile Starling first caught and ringed in Rushden on 13th July 2018 which was subsequently reported as taken by a cat elsewhere in Rushden on 20th October 2018.

Regards

Neil M

Blackcap

Cetti's Warbler.

Starling.

Autumn merging towards winter...

Hello

Eric enjoyed himself at Thrapston Pits today with a quality selection of birds which included the now long-staying six Velvet Scoters, a Great White Egret, five Little Egrets, a pair of Red-crested Pochard, a Scaup and two Yellow-legged Gulls.

Eleanor ran around the south section of Pitsford Reservoir this morning, notching up three Great White Egrets (one Moulton Grange and two in Pintail Bay) and several Redpolls.

In the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton this morning there were four Bramblings, two Siskins and two Redpolls with lots of Skylarks and Meadow Pipits on the fields. A Grey Wagtail was in the village as were a couple of Siskins. Harrington Airfield sported a day time hunting Barn Owl this afternoon but little else. A Grey Wagtail and several Siskins were noted at Overstone Park.

Regards

Neil M

Arctic Tern.

Golden Plover.

Redshank.

Sanderling.

Eider.

Sabine's Gull.

Kittiwake.

I think without exception all these
images were taken in the rain during
our 'summer' trip to Iceland this year
(it was exceptionally cold and wet but
still amazing despite the weather conditions).

Sunday's stuff!

Hello

Northants Ringing Group ringers were out doing their stuff today at Stortons Pits and Linford Lakes.

The session at Stortons started with the whoosh of three thousand Starlings zapping past as they left their night-time roost and birds caught amounted to 37 individuals made up mostly of Blue and Great Tits but also a Redwing. The Linford ringers caught 39 birds with quality catches in the shape of 2 Blackcaps, a Chiffchaff, 10 Redwings, a Cetti's Warbler, 2 Meadow Pipits and a Jay.

A visit to Pitsford Reservoir today provided views of the eleven Whooper Swans still in the Scaldwell Bay, five Great White Egrets, an influx of Little Egrets, just three visible Red-crested Pochards and a handful of Pintail.

The Great White Egret count at Ravensthorpe Reservoir went up to two and the Ravens at Staverton increased to four today.

Regards

Neil M

Meadow Pipit wing covert
variation. The upper bird's
borders to the coverts are
the same colour and tone
throughout indicating either
an adult bird or a first year
that has moulted all the feathers
it left the nest with. The variation
in the covert borders of the lower
 bird indicates that this bird was
hatched in 2018.

The upperside of the tails of
two Redwings. The left hand bird
is exhibiting relatively broad
individual feathers and broad tips
with minimal wear all suggestive
of an adult. The narrower feathers
  with pointed and worn tips of the
right hand bird indicate that this bird
is in it's first year of life.
These instructive images courtesy
 of Kenny Cramer.

First year Common Gull.

An image of an acrobatic
 Pine Marten from the August trip
 to the Ardnamurchan Peninsular
in the West Highlands of Scotland
(and definitely one of the stars of
the show)!

Northants Bird Club Indoor Meeting 7th Nov

Hello

A walk at Harrington Airfield this morning did not produce much out of the ordinary and the choice birds at Hanging Houghton amounted to just a Raven, a Grey Wagtail and a couple of Siskins. A single Great White Egret at Ravensthorpe Reservoir was the only bird of note seen there. A Grey Wagtail was at Brixworth Water Treatment Works.

On Wednesday 7th Nov it is the indoor meeting of the Northants Bird Club at the usual venue of the Fishing Lodge at Pitsford Reservoir beginning at 7.30pm. The returning speaker is Conor Jameson who previously presented on the Goshawk. This time his talk is about the Hudson Legacy - the influence of the Victorian author, campaigner and ornithologist W.H. Hudson. This inspired individual helped create modern conservation, organisations and the presentation will reflect on this and with birding stories along the way.

As usual hot drinks and biscuits will be available and everyone is welcome!

Regards

Neil M

Pitsford wildfowl
courtesy of John Tilly.

Waderquest World Watch week-end

Hello

Waderquest is again planning a World Watch week-end

where observers are encouraged to get out there and find

and count waders wherever you happen to be...

Here is the website page with details...

http://www.waderquest.net/wader-conservation-world-watch/

Whether you can help this year or not, all the best, and

have a great weekend whatever you are doing.

Many thanks.

Rick and Elis.

Rick Simpson: Chair.

Elis Simpson: Treasurer.

Wader Quest Board of Trustees.

www.waderquest.org

waderquest@gmail.com

https://twitter.com/waderquest

https://www.facebook.com/WaderQuest

Lapwing courtesy
of John Tilly.

November sunshine birds

Hello

Yesterday (Thursday) and Eleanor came across two Woodcock around the edge of The Hill field on the Blueberry Farm complex.

This morning (Friday) Eleanor was at Hockerhill Farm which is on a small upland plateau between Wilby and Mears Ashby (no public access). Grassy paddocks and thick set berry-laden hedges provides good habitat for a variety of birds. At the moment there are large numbers of migrant thrushes and Starlings and today two very vocal first year Ring Ouzels were in with them.

Eleanor was further rewarded with her dog-walking and bird feeding chores at Harrington Airfield this afternoon when she was treated to sustained views of a stunning adult male Hen Harrier hunting the top fields and rough areas. Smeagol the spaniel also flushed up another Woodcock!

What was intended as a taster, low key introduction to ringing at Scotland Wood on the Kelmarsh Estate today spiralled somewhat with 112 birds of 14 species being caught and processed from just two mist nets. This total was made up of a Jay, a Great Spotted Woodpecker, a Blackbird, six Nuthatches, eighteen Great Tits, twenty-five Blue Tits, twelve Coal Tits, six Marsh Tits, nine Long-tailed Tits, six Chaffinches, a Robin, three Wrens, twenty-two Goldcrests and a Treecreeper. Other birds on-site included at least three Bramblings, a handful of Siskins and a couple of Redpoll.

Regards

Neil M

Coal Tit.

Goldcrest.

Jay.

All above images
courtesy of John Tilly.

A small Toad that
needs to quickly start
hibernating! Image
courtesy of Jim Dunkley.