Back from the Scillies

Hello

Kenny and team committed to a bout of bird ringing at Linford Lakes, Milton Keynes yesterday which resulted in 91 birds of 19 species being processed, the majority of which were new birds. The highlights were 5 Blackbirds, 7 Song Thrushes, 16 Redwings, 8 Chiffchaffs, a Cetti's Warbler, a Blackcap, 2 Moorhens, 4 Goldcrests and singles of Siskin, Meadow Pipit, Treecreeper, Goldfinch and Great Spotted Woodpecker.

A Great White Egret was also on site and non avian interest included Grass Snake, Great Crested and Common Newts and Toads.

Regards

Neil M

Male Siskin courtesy
of Kenny Cramer.

Great Spotted Woodpecker
courtesy of Kenny Cramer.

Bishop Lighthouse Isles of Scilly.

Pied Flycatcher, St Mary's
Isles of Scilly.

Stonechat, St Martin's,
Isles of Scilly.

An electric vehicle on
Tresco, the Isles of Scilly
called Boris!

The Scillies Photo Diary Part 3

Hello

A few more images from the latter half of our three week stay on the Scillies. The weather improved and the storms from the west brought in some American birds. During the last week the weather system emanated from the east and this brought migrants from the continental shelf mostly from northern climes. October also brought the usual influx of birders to the isles and the extra eyes ensured more birds were found...

Neil M

Barred Warbler.

Common Rosefinch.

Boat trips Covid-19 style!

Great Black-backed Gull.

Hugh Town, St Mary's,
Isles of Scilly.

Merlin.

The Scillies Photo Diary Part 2

Hello

The main issue relating to the Scillies this autumn is the weather! Gale force winds have swept the islands for over a week! The wind direction has been from the north and west and like much of the mainland it has been accompanied with plenty of rain too! Few birds have left the island albeit many have arrived since the weather abated. Fortunately there are quite a few common birds on the islands so at times like this I go about trying to photograph some of the common species, some of which are more common than on the mainland.

Regards

Neil M

Female Blackbird digging
in the beach for invertebrates.

Dunnock consuming a
Crane Fly.

Male House Sparrow.

The dogs are enjoying
the beaches - Jaeger covered
in sand.

Lapland Bunting, also having
just consumed a Crane Fly!

The Scillies Photo Diary Part 1

Hello

Apologies for the lack of blogs recently, unfortunately our current accommodation does not permit a WiFi/Internet facility. We have been in Cornwall and on the Isles of Scilly for the past week and are currently bracing ourselves for gale force winds tomorrow and a wet week ahead! Nevertheless the last week has been good where perhaps sea-birds and waders have dominated but hopefully with good passerines to come...

Regards

Neil M

Dotterel.

Semi-palmated Sandpiper.

Sanderling.

Turnstone.

Common Snipe.

Gannets.

Great Skua.

Sooty Shearwater.

End of the 'Indian Summer'

Hello

Limited opportunities for birding today but the Ravens were noisy around the village this morning!

A change in the weather clearly influenced the number of passerines seen today and Eleanor's wanderings didn't produce any lingering Common Redstarts or chats.

Steve Fisher managed to count an excellent ten Cattle Egrets leaving their roost at Stanwick Pits this morning, the roost also included nineteen Little Egrets and two Great Whites too.

Yesterday's Wood Sandpiper was still on the scrape at Summer Leys LNR this morning as was a Great White Egret.

A flock of eleven Ring-necked Parakeets in the grounds of St Andrews Hospital, Northampton was notable.

A Dunnock ringed as a juvenile in Greens Norton village on 9th May 2012 was taken by a cat in the same village on or about 19th September this year. An all too familiar outcome for these ground-dwelling birds but this Dunnock was very long-lived at over eight years old (the current longevity record in the UK is ten years seven months).

Regards

Neil M

The humble Dunnock.
Image courtesy of
Dave Jackson.

Ring-necked Parakeets
courtesy of Robin Gossage.

The fabulous Blue Tit.
With the adults just concluding
their post-breeding moult and the 
youngsters just finishing their post juvenile
moult, these familiar little birds are
 once again looking glamorous!
Image courtesy of Robin Gossage.

Juvenile Curlew Sandpiper and surely
a passage individual is due to be found in
 the county any day now?
Image courtesy of Robin Gossage.

Pitsford WeBS count

Hello

Today was chosen for the WeBS count at Pitsford Reservoir, which was rather nice in the last of the warm, sunny and still conditions. Quite a lot of disturbance made for difficult counting but the counters persisted and made the best of it! At least five, and possibly six Great White Egrets were present north of the causeway and other birds on the reserve included seven Pintail and a Green Sandpiper, and four Yellow-legged Gulls included one on the reserve. Two Ruff were on the water's edge just south of the causeway car park. Passerine migrants on the move overhead included Skylarks, Meadow Pipits, Grey Wagtails, Swallows, House Martins, Siskins and Redpolls. Butterflies included Red Admiral and Comma.

One or two Common Redstart(s) remained at Blueberry Farm, Maidwell this morning and the Black Redstart was reported again at Borough Hill Country Park. At Stanwick Pits the Cattle Egret count was eight and Hollowell Reservoir hosted a Great White Egret and a couple of Snipe.

The ringers at Stanford Reservoir again located the best bird in the county today in their mist nets with the capture of a Yellow-browed Warbler - anticipated but still a great find locally!

A Wood Sandpiper at Summer Leys LNR this afternoon was another good find.

Ringing at Linford Lakes (Milton Keynes) this morning was eventful too with over a hundred captures which included a Common Snipe, a Kingfisher, a Cetti's Warbler, ten Reed Warblers, eighteen Blackcaps, fifteen Chiffchaffs, an excellent sixteen Reed Buntings, seven Meadow Pipits and eight Redpolls. Perhaps the most remarkable of the captures was that one of the Meadow Pipits was a re-trap from 2018 - very unusual for a species that doesn't breed in any real numbers locally. Other birds seen on-site included another four Snipe, two Green Sandpipers and a Dunlin. A Poplar Hawk-moth caterpillar fell out of the canopy and the usual Grass Snakes, Common and Great Crested Newts were still present and correct!

Regards

Neil M

Ruff at Pitsford Reservoir
today. Note the swollen right
knee. Images courtesy of
Dave Jackson.

Poplar Hawk-moth caterpillar
courtesy of Kenny Cramer.

Common Snipe courtesy
of Kenny Cramer.

Lesser Redpoll courtesy
of Kenny Cramer.

Chats!

Hello

With a day of virtually no wind I decided to commit to a little garden ringing this morning, a rare luxury to catch and process the birds coming to the garden whilst also appreciating home comforts! I was pleased with the number and variety that found the garden mist net, and not surprisingly the Blue Tit was the most common. All the tits seemed in good health but I did see a Blue Tit the other day at Pitsford Reservoir that was clearly unwell - fluffed up and hopping around on the ground - and it reminded me of the scare in the spring of a virus or similar affecting Blue Tits on the continent and with reported cases in the UK too. I hope this is not something which will become a widespread issue!

Locally there seems to be a problem with Woodpigeons with a number being found simply sitting quietly and lethargic and then subsequently dying. I have seen a number of dead birds that give the impression of simply sitting on the ground and it isn't until you are close that you realise they have died. There is no obvious physical trauma and they don't seem to be showing the symptons of trichomonosis, which is a regular avian disease caused by a parasite associated with finches and doves/pigeons.

Helen Franklin over at Priors Marston was also ringing in her garden this morning and caught and ringed a stunning Grey Wagtail.

Bird-wise the day belonged to the chats and allies - with at least six Stonechats and a Common Redstart at 'shrike hedge' in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton this morning (plus a small falcon seen poorly that may have been a Merlin) and a Corn Bunting, and four Stonechats and one or two Wheatear(s) and a Common Redstart, Spotted Flycatcher and Turtle Dove all at Harrington Airfield. This afternoon the Stonechats in the Brampton Valley were nowhere to be seen but were replaced with a Wheatear and a Whinchat (Common Redstart still present). Two more Common Redstarts were at Blueberry Farm, Maidwell this morning.

Over at Borough Hill Country Park, the Black Redstart from yesterday remained and was seen during the day around the BBC buildings at the summit. A Wheatear was present too.

This evening there were twelve Yellow-legged Gulls in the gull roost at Pitsford Reservoir (off the dam).

Nene Valley birding was still good at Stanwick Pits today with a Marsh Harrier and two Great White Egrets present this morning and a Mediterranean Gull, four Yellow-legged Gulls and a Dunlin there this afternoon.

The Lammergeier was reported in Oxfordshire today, now south of us, so if it did waft over Northamptonshire it seems no-one managed to witness it!

Regards

Neil M

Stonechat.

Whinchat.

Wheatear.

Common Redstart.

Black Redstart.

Ditchford WeBS count

Hello

I completed a WeBS count at Ditchford Pits today, starting west of Ditchford Lane where an adult male Peregrine was perched on pylons. Juvenile Woodpigeons perched next to him on the wires but he was clearly not hungry!

On a count which was busy with people wherever I went, wildlife was in pretty short supply but other birds west of Ditchford Lane included a Curlew and nine Egyptian Geese and a Kingfisher plus three Cetti's Warblers and a couple of Grey Wagtails.

The older pits east of Ditchford Lane didn't yield much that was significant, the Battle of Britain commemorative flight of a Hurricane leading a trio of Spitfires was the undoubted highlight!

The main pit between Irthlingborough and Higham Ferrers was busy with wildfowl, the shallow water and abundant water weed attracting 4 Pintail, 190 Gadwall, 50 Shovelers and 110 Wigeon. More Grey Wagtails, a couple of Kingfishers, a Hobby hawking dragonflies and small numbers of Siskins and Redpolls were the best of the rest! A Brown Hawker is very much at the end of their flight period.

Elsewhere and Gary Burrows was having a good time at Borough Hill Country Park this afternoon with finds of a Black Redstart, a Common Redstart, a Whinchat and at least nine Stonechats! Four more Stonechats were watched in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton by Jonathan.

Stanwick Pits today was still hanging on to nine Cattle Egrets plus a Great White Egret, five Pintail and a Ringed Plover and the Peregrine was atop St Mary's church again in Higham Ferrers at 10am.

Interestingly, the Lammergeier (or Bearded Vulture if you prefer) which has been summering in the Peak District wasn't reported there today but there was a sighting of it at 2.30pm in neighbouring Leicestershire flying SE over Thornton... which begs the question did it come into Northamptonshire airspace?

Regards

Neil M

Egyptian Geese.

Grey Heron.

Highland Cow, or if you are
north of the border, Highland 
Coo! A small herd of these
animals manage the sward and
coarse grasses of the Ditchford
Lakes and Meadows reserve.

All images from Ditchford Pits today.

Sightings for Saturday

Hello

Eleanor's visit to Lamport Hall and Harrington Airfield produced no birds of note today with the bushes pretty much empty of birds. However Terry saw a Merlin chasing Skylarks at Harrington Airfield and Hollowell Reservoir's Little Stint re-appeared this afternoon in company with two Ringed Plovers, and a Stonechat was present too.

A red wing-tagged Marsh Harrier was seen at both Stanwick and neighbouring Ditchford Pits today and other birds at Stanwick included four Cattle Egrets and a Great White Egret. An Osprey was seen flying west over Ditchford Pits and a Peregrine was on St Mary's Church at Higham Ferrers.

A first year Mediterranean Gull and a Great White Egret were at Summer Leys LNR this morning, two Crossbills were mobile in Wakerley Wood and three Yellow-legged Gulls were at the south end of Pitsford Reservoir this afternoon.

Debs and Eric enjoyed their walk around the Titchmarsh Reserve at Thrapston Pits today, catching up on two Great White Egrets, a Kingfisher and two Hobbies showing well as they hawked dragonflies

Regards

Neil M

Yellow-legged Gull at
Pitsford Reservoir this
afternoon.