Heading East...

Hello

Eleanor was off to Norfolk for a few days and left early this morning. En-route of course she couldn't resist a wander around Harrington Airfield and saw a Turtle Dove actually on the concrete track and a hunting Barn Owl.

Just off the A14 east of Kettering is the rather lovely Twywell Hills and Dales Country Park and that was her next venue. Here large numbers of Common Spotted Orchids look an absolute picture and here also there was a Turtle Dove, a Raven and a calling Cuckoo. A sign of the times, this was Eleanor's first calling Cuckoo of the year - just in time really because some of them are already heading back south!

A little further east and Eleanor walked around the Titchmarsh Reserve at Thrapston Gravel Pits, notching up at least six singing Cetti's Warblers. Other birds here included a Peregrine, three Hobbys and another Cuckoo.

Not surprisingly Titchwell on the Norfolk coast was her next stop where she managed to see the vagrant summer plumage Great Knot which is currently commuting between there and Scolt Head.

Away from all this excitement I felt privileged to find a pair of Grey Partridge on the outskirts of Hanging Houghton this morning, and then found a single bird on the other side of the village in the afternoon. Four Ravens were an impressive sight between the villages of Scaldwell and Brixworth early this afternoon.

Also today Dave Francis was afloat at Pitsford Reservoir checking on the tern rafts. An estimated 52 nests is good news and to date this year 39 Common Tern chicks have been ringed. Dave's timing was excellent inasmuch that he liberated a brood of Greylag Geese and a brood of Mallard which had laid eggs on the rafts but had no means to reach the water (the rafts have border panels to prevent Common Tern chicks from falling off and to counter significant wave action). The pair of Oystercatcher have also hatched four chicks on one of the rafts.

Regards

Neil M

Cuckoo

Common Tern

Summer solstice birding

Hello

Jacob Spinks located a Raven family between Scaldwell village and Pitsford Reservoir this afternoon, and at risk of sounding repetitive, Blueberry Farm hosted two Barn Owls and two singing Grasshopper Warblers on a beautiful evening after a very wet start to the day.

Yesterday (Sunday) John Woollett and his team tried hard to catch and ring birds at Stortons Gravel Pits with over 800 feet of mist nets providing 54 captures which included 33 new birds. Like Pitsford, a real lack of young birds and little in the way of tit flocks. A juvenile Kingfisher was probably the most exotic capture and other birds included four Bullfinches, two Song Thrushes, a Reed Bunting, an impressive four Cetti's Warblers, two Blackcaps, a Garden Warbler, two Whitethroats, five Sedge Warblers and fourteen Reed Warblers. Some of the Reed and Sedge Warblers were birds ringed on-site from previous years.

Regards

Neil M

Woodpigeon

Male Bullfinch.

Above two images courtesy
of Jacob Spinks.

Eyed Hawk-moth

Barred Yellow moth

Longhorn Beetle
Agapanthia villosoviridescens

Above images courtesy
of John Gamble.

Great Knot contained within a Knot
 flock at Titchwell, Norfolk.
The Great Knot is the larger, darker bird (at
the front of the upper two images).

Courtesy of Cathy Ryden.

Crab-eating Herring Gull.

Courtesy of Cathy Ryden.

Sunday update...

Hello

Yesterday's (Saturday) ringing at Linford Lakes was very productive with 58 new birds and 7 re-traps of 18 species. Warblers dominated, all of which were new and included some juveniles. They included a Cetti's Warbler, eight Blackcaps, eight Whitethroats, seven Reed Warblers, two Garden Warblers and three Chiffchaffs. The catch also included six gorgeous speckled juvenile Robins, three Treecreepers, a Song Thrush and two Bullfinches.

Kenny returned in the evening and just about survived the mosquitoes to catch five Sand Martins. One was a juvenile and the other four were adults, one of which was first ringed there last year.

Kenny's sustained efforts at this site are paying off with some excellent ringing recoveries. We have been notified of a controlled Garden Warbler which was first ringed as a juvenile at Icklesham in East Sussex on 16th August 2011 and re-trapped at Linford Lakes on 7th May this year. A period of 1726 days elapsed between the two dates and of course this small bundle of flesh and feathers has now successfully migrated and wintered well south of the Sahara on five occasions. Just amazing!

Today (Sunday) and Eric Graham was out again at Thrapston Gravel Pits spending most of his time on the Titchmarsh Reserve. Morning sunshine brought out a host of insects including plenty of dragonflies and butterflies. A drake Red-crested Pochard was the birding highlight.

Visit Five of the Constant Effort Site ringing programme at Pitsford Reservoir this morning yielded just 39 birds of 15 species, an all-time low and to a certain extent quite a contrast to Linford Lakes.
The catch included five Chiffchaffs, five Blackcaps, two Garden Warblers, a Willow Warbler, a Reed Warbler. a Song Thrush and three Bullfinches. Preliminary analysis suggests that the numbers are depleted due to a lack of on-territory adult warblers and juveniles of common resident birds.

Presumed breeding Spotted Flycatchers have been vocal at Hanging Houghton, Lamport Hall and Orton during the last couple of days and this morning some agricultural grassland at the latter site was home to a colony of Small Heath butterflies, Azure Blue Damselflies and a Mother Shipton moth.

Regards

Neil M

Juvenile Robin.

Mother Shipton
(day-flying) moth.

Talk and Walk

Hello

Talk & Walk with the Wildlife Trust

Saturday 2 July 2016

1.15pm – 4pm

Abington Park Museum & Kingsthorpe Meadows Nature Reserve

Stuart Baker from the Bedfordshire Cambridgeshire and Northants Wildlife Trust will give a talk at Abington Park Museum, Northampton about local wildlife sites and the interesting creatures you might discover there. He will then lead a guided tour of Kingsthorpe Meadows Nature Reserve, Mill Lane, Kingsthorpe, Northampton.

The talk will be from 1.15pm to 2.15pm.

Attendees will then make their own way to Kingsthorpe Meadows Nature Reserve, ready for a guided walk from 3pm - 4pm.

£5 per person. Limited spaces. Booking Essential.
Ring 01604 837397 to book.

Regards

Neil M

Pitsford CBC

Hello

Debbie and Eric Graham battled through the wealth of vegetation at Titchmarsh Nature Reserve at Thrapston this morning and heard rather than saw eight species of warbler. Swifts filled the skies and the local Cuckoo's voice has changed in pitch as he considers his options, which might include an early journey back south.

I conducted a Common Bird Census on the reserve at Pitsford Reservoir this morning in grey, cloudy conditions. Plenty of common birds singing but the insects were mostly hidden away. Scattered feathers was all I could find of the predated remains of a Barn Owl in Christies Copse, which is a shame because I haven't seen a live one at Pitsford this year. A drake Goldeneye was in the Scaldwell Bay and the summer build-up of ducks has begun with an increase in loafing Gadwall, Tufted Duck and Pochard beginning their eclipse period.

Other birds noted included the persistently singing Lesser Whitethroat in the Walgrave Bay and another individual near the main feeding station. A secretive Willow Tit was heard calling, a juvenile Tawny Owl was begging for food and there seemed to be quite a number of Coal Tit families scattered around the reserve.

Good numbers of Chimney Sweeper moths were active in the Scaldwell Bay meadows despite the conditions.

A couple of Ravens were at Staverton again today, a Turtle Dove and a Hobby were at Harrington Airfield this afternoon and Blueberry Farm again hosted a Barn Owl and a couple of 'reeling' Grasshopper Warblers this evening.

Regards

Neil M

Lesser Black-backed Gull. Currently
the most numerous 'big gull' at
Pitsford Reservoir, but it won't be
long before the Yellow-legged Gulls
begin to filter back through from central
European breeding grounds.

Great Crested Grebes. Always
to be found at Pitsford Reservoir.

Focus on the Swallow

Hello

The Swallow (Barn Swallow) is one of those iconic summer visitors we look forward to welcoming back every spring. And when they disappear in the autumn we know colder, shorter days beckon.

These days Swallows nest in close proximity to man and in fact it is unusual to find them nesting in anything other than a human-made structure. They make their own nests with a foundation of mud, and then line them with varying amounts of dry vegetation, animal hair and large feathers from other birds.

Locally traditional stables are the preferred structure (with or without animals) but of course there aren't enough stables to go around so they also nest in porches, car ports, a variety of barns, garages and awnings and locally I know of one site where they nest in brick-built dog kennels!

On a diet of insects, nestlings grow fast and some pairs in the British Isles (mostly in the south) manage to raise three broods during the relatively short British spring and summer. Locally one or two broods is more the norm.

Ringing species of birds which winter in Africa and breed in Europe is something of a priority within the ringing scheme, and a number of local ringers put a great deal of effort in to locating Swallow nests and with the permission of the land-owner, ringing the nestlings before they fledge.

John Woollett and Chris Payne visit many nests in the South Northants district and Chris has one stable complex which is supporting at least ten Swallow nests and he has already ringed 26 nestlings there this year.

Catching free-flying adult Swallows in the spring is generally difficult, after all they are fast and very maneuverable flyers with most concentrations of birds over open water. The treatment work at Brixworth attracts insect-loving birds and the last couple of years has provided us with an opportunity of catching and assessing adult Swallows. Some of these birds appear to be returning to breed nearby but an unknown percentage are still on migration to elsewhere.

We have received notification of four birds caught this year at Brixworth which were ringed originally elsewhere:-

Y774176 was ringed as a juvenile bird at Stanford Reservoir on 28th August 2014 and was caught at Brixworth on 18th May this year, some 629 days later;

Z541815 was a juvenile ringed at Rye Meads, Hertfordshire on 15th August 2015 and caught at Brixworth on 18th May this year, 277 days later;

D458758 was a juvenile ringed at Oakley, near Martin Hussingtree, Worcestershire on 16th July 2013 and captured at Brixworth on 1st June, 1051 days later;

Z720186 was a juvenile ringed at Ely Beet Pits, Cambridgeshire on 4th September 2015 and trapped again at Brixworth on 18th May 2016, 257 days later.

All these birds of course have wintered in Africa, many as far as South Africa, but have subsequently returned to 'middle England'.

Regards

Neil M

Juvenile Swallow.

Just-fledged juvenile Swallows.
Courtesy of Robin Gossage.

Brixworth Treatment Works
attracts flying insects which in turn
attracts Swallows.

The Des Res in Swallow accommodation!
Stable block near Greens Norton supporting
at least ten pairs of Swallows.

Above two images courtesy of
Chris Payne.

Adult Swallow.

Terns and ducks!

Hello

Efforts were made by a small team of ringers today to visit the tern rafts at Pitsford Reservoir where they found plenty of Common Tern eggs and thirty-two chicks. Exposed to the conditions they are vulnerable to extreme weather during the first few days off their life, but if they avoid overheating or chilling then they soon toughen up. Sections of tubing are on the rafts to allow the chicks to shuffle under cover should they be attacked or suffer a deluge or prolonged periods of hot sunshine.

The adults will be working hard to find food for their young, but it means leaving them on the rafts whilst they hawk insects and dive for fish fry, and often they leave Pitsford to forage at other reservoirs and and even quite small lakes to find sufficient food. Collectively terns will try to drive off avian predators such as large gulls, raptors etc so providing there are some adults present on the rafts they are often successful at achieving minimal chick and egg predation. We are hopeful for a bumper 2016 for this species after a series of mediocre years.

Nine Mallard were caught and ringed in the duck trap at Pitsford today, seven of them ducklings well on their way to full adult size. Nationally there are concerns that Mallard numbers are reducing in number, thought to be due to ducklings not surviving their early life and making it through their first year. The early broods at Pitsford seemed to do well this year, possibly assisted by the high water levels.

Regards

Neil M

Common Tern egg
and a just-hatched chick.

Image courtesy of Lynne Barnett.

Tree Sparrow.

Frog!

Just-emerging
Broad-bodied Chaser.

Eyed Hawk-moth.

Painted Lady butterfly. There are apparently
quite a few on their way to us from the south!

Azure Blue Damselfly.

Burnett Companion Moth.

Grass Snake.

Male Broad-bodied Chaser.

All images courtesy of David Arden
from his stunning wildlife garden at
Spratton.

More images from Cathy!

Hello

Cathy Ryden and her bridge camera have been a busy duo despite the wet weather recently...

Regards

Neil M

Great Tits.

Juvenile Blue Tit.

Looking through a rainy window!

Yellowhammer.

Turtle Dove at
Harrington Airfield.

Yellowhammers.

A big thank-you to Cathy for her
constant stream of local and not so
local bird images.

Focus on the House Martin

Hello

Today's ringing session at Brixworth Treatment Works provided some 104 captures of 19 species made up of 77 new birds and 27 re-traps. The most common bird caught was the House Martin with forty new birds and three re-traps (two from 2014). The catch also included five Swallows, a couple of Starlings, two Yellowhammers, a Whitethroat, fourteen Pied Wagtails, two re-trap Yellow Wagtails (one from 2015), a Reed Bunting and three re-trap Great Spotted Woodpeckers.

Eleanor watched a Barn Owl and two singing Grasshopper Warblers at Blueberry Farm this evening and Cathy Ryden saw a Turtle Dove at Harrington Airfield.

Regards

Neil M

The star bird of today, the
beautifully crafted House Martin.

Images courtesy of Chris Payne.

Images from Minsmere

Hello

Yesterday afternoon (Monday) and the Ruddy Shelduck with it's injured wing hanging down was still in the grounds of the Sailing Club. Further efforts will be made to try and catch it and see if anything can be done...

This evening (Tuesday) a Barn Owl was again hunting in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton village.

Cathy Ryden enjoyed a recent visit to the RSPB reserve at Minsmere and her images depict some of the highlights...

Regards

Neil M

Bittern

Marsh Harrier

Oystercatcher and chick

Green Hairstreak butterfly

Mediterranean Gulls
(and Mallard)!

Kittiwakes