Farmland birds

Hello

Eleanor was out and about for much of the day today and started at Harrington Airfield where birds included a Whinchat, two Ravens, the large brood of Grey Partridges and two Siskins.

Sywell Country Park hosted a Water Rail, at least two Grey Wagtails and a Siskin.

The Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton towards Blueberry Farm was busy with the scuffling of the fields post-harvest and the gulls, corvids and raptors were taking advantage of this agricultural work to enhance the top-soil. A Peregrine was on one of the fields with prey and other birds of prey included Hobby and lots of Red Kites and Common Buzzards.

Passerines included a trio of chats with a Wheatear and two Whinchats and at least the male and a juvenile from the Stonechat family...

Regards

Neil M

Images from the Brampton
Valley courtesy of Eleanor.

An outing to Boddington Reservoir

Hello

A short report by Helen Franklin...

Banbury Ornithological Society members spent a very pleasant evening yesterday Monday) at Boddington Reservoir (in Northamptonshire, just west of Byfield) for their summer outdoor meeting.  Initially the skies were threatening and indeed a brief shower sent us all scurrying for our waterproofs, but this quickly blew over and the rest of our time was attended by attractive cloud formations, a rainbow and a lovely sunset.

Birds included several species with juveniles in tow: Tufted Duck, Great Crested Grebes, Mute Swan (with 6 cygnets, which is a very good number for this site) and Mallard.  A small group of gulls was made up of mainly Black-headed Gulls with a few Lesser Black-backed.  Hedgerows contained Whitethroats, Chiffchaff, Reed Bunting and Yellowhammers and there was a large flock of corvids on telegraph wires south of the dam at the end of the water.  Swift and Swallows were overhead in small numbers and a Grey Heron, Common Sandpiper, a juvenile Grey Wagtail and two Kingfishers were disturbed as we walked around the path close to the water’s edge.

But the highlight for most of us was hearing a Cetti’s Warbler in the reed-bed in Byfield Pool at the back of the main reservoir, which belongs to The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire!

Regards

Neil M

Fineshade Wood news

It's summer time - and the flowers are high After all the rain earlier in the year, the flowers and other vegetation in Fineshade are profuse at the moment. Because of the height of the grass, you have to look quite carefully to see the newly arrived sheep in the field in front of the Visitor Centre - there are rare breed Llanwenogs and Hebrideans who certainly have plenty to eat. Elsewhere in the wood, flowers are blooming, and insects flitting and it's a great time to visit. What could be better than joining Brian Laney for an informal wildflower walk this coming Saturday, 13th August at 10am? The weather forecast for Saturday is dry and not too hot - just ideal! We'll meet just outside the courtyard at the visitor centre but please send us an email to let us know that you're coming. We hope you can join us.

Back from the Brink project Thanks very much to those of you who were able to respond to our last request to complete the online survey www.naturebackfromthebrink.org. We've heard unofficially that there's a good chance that the Rockingham Forest part of the project could be based here and that there was a very positive meeting with Forestry Commission staff. There's still a long way to go, but it could be that the project would start next year. There are details on our website here: http://www.fineshade.org.uk/#!back-from-the-brink/p3lhi and we'll update that page as soon as we hear anything definite.   Forest Holidays You may have seen on the website that the Chief Executive of Forest Enterprise has said that: Following various consultation activities, they (Forest Holidays) are reconsidering how they approach Fineshade and it is unclear when any firm proposal for the area will be forthcoming soon, if at all.  While this is good news, it does leave the threat of future development hanging - Fineshade is still one of about a dozen FC sites on the so-called Exclusivity List, where Forest Holidays have been given carte blanche to plan developments. Perhaps we should be doing more to pressurise FC to take Fineshade off that list - what do you think?   Lots of Wildlife records The Chief Excucutive of Natural England has declared that "Fineshade is a wonderful place for wildlife". This summer we've had the help of several local wildlife recorders and photographers who've been finding rare or unusual creatures and plants. All the findings continue to be published on this page of the website http://www.fineshade.org.uk/#!wildlife-month/ph12q.  If you can help in any way, please do get in touch.   Enjoying and Protecting Fineshade Wood Thank you once again for continuing to support Fineshade - we are delighted that Fineshade has so many Friends. Do please let us know if you have ideas or suggestions about what more we could do encourage the enjoyment and protection of the wood. Friends of Fineshade

Dozy Barn Owl!

Hello

A visit to Ditchford Gravel Pits today in cooler temperatures provided views of an adult male Peregrine, six Snipe, a Ringed Plover, eight Egyptian Geese, two Little Egrets, a Kingfisher and a Grey Wagtail. The best bird was undoubtedly a Barn Owl found roosting in ivy in a hedge.

A Raven and a Hobby were at Hanging Houghton and this afternoon birds visible at Harrington Airfield included a cracking adult male Redstart, two Turtle Doves and the big brood of Grey Partridges again.

Regards

Neil M

Barn Owl at
Ditchford GP.

Quiet Sunday

Hello

It seemed pretty quiet out there today and a walk at Harrington Airfield this morning suggested that many of yesterday's migrants had already moved on. Two broods of Grey Partridge including an exceptional family of ten or eleven half grown young - an excellent breeding record in modern times. A Hobby was in bird hunting mode, trying to intercept Linnets and others with rapid low-flying sprints. A single Turtle Dove was also on show in the dead willows half way along the concrete track.

The Ruddy Shelduck was in the vicinity of Yacht Bay at Pitsford Reservoir this afternoon and a Hobby was hawking insects around trees in Hanging Houghton again this evening...

Regards

Neil M

Hobby with House Martin prey.

August migration

Wheatear at Harrington Airfield.

Eleanor McMahon.

Hello

Eleanor's early morning foray to Harrington Airfield today paid off with a small fall of passerine migrants which included a Redstart, two adult Whinchats, a Wheatear, and plenty of common warblers. Other birds included a Hobby, two Ravens and two Turtle Doves.

A ringing session in the Walgrave Bay at Pitsford Reservoir was very quiet and provided just 27 captures. The best was a new juvenile Kingfisher, other birds processed including a Marsh Tit, a Chiffchaff, a Willow Warbler, three Blackcaps, a Treecreeper and four Bullfinches. Other birds noted included a Curlew, a Green Sandpiper and a Willow Tit. An Osprey was fishing south of the causeway this afternoon.

The ringing at Stortons Gravel Pits today was much better, resulting in the capture of 31 warblers made up of a Lesser Whitethroat, 5 Whitethroats, 5 Garden Warblers (including a bird ringed elsewhere), 8 Blackcaps, 4 Reed Warblers, 4 Sedge Warblers, 3 Chiffchaffs and a Willow Warbler.

This afternoon four more Whinchats were located in the southern-most field at Blueberry Farm and a Hobby and a 'kettle' of 16 Common Buzzards were cruising over the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton.

An evening visit to Welford Reservoir provided views of a Common Sandpiper, a Kingfisher and 2 Grey Wagtails and at dusk a Hobby was hawking insects arounds the tops of trees in Hanging Houghton village.

Regards

Neil M

Small Copper butterfly

Roesel's Bush-cricket

Kingfisher

All images courtesy of Cathy Ryden
and taken at Pitsford Reservoir.

Birds of early August

Hello

A late jaunt to Welford Reservoir yesterday evening (Thursday) was useful to appreciate the very low water levels of this canal feeder. Birds included three Little Egrets, a Common Sandpiper, a Kingfisher, a Grey Wagtail and a Barn Owl. Nearby Naseby Reservoir received a brief visit, the water level being higher here and the only birds of note were a Little Egret and a brood of Tufted Duck ducklings.

This morning (Friday) and a ringing session took place in the Scaldwell Bay at Pitsford Reservoir which yielded 59 birds of 19 species. Perhaps the most noteworthy were two juvenile Kingfishers, four Reed Warblers, three Garden Warblers, ten Blackcaps, six Whitethroats, two Willow Warblers, four Chiffchaffs, a Treecreeper, two Song Thrushes and a juvenile Willow Tit. Other birds noted included a Water Rail, a Green Sandpiper and an adult Yellow-legged Gull.

At least six Crossbills were feeding in trees in the main car park at Sywell Country Park this morning, other birds noted here included two female Red-crested Pochard and two Grey Wagtails and two Kingfishers. Two Ravens were at Hanging Houghton and a Hobby was at Blueberry Farm, Maidwell.

Regards

Neil M

Kingfisher

Bits and pieces

Hello

On Tuesday (2nd Aug) an adult Yellow-legged Gull was present at Pitsford Reservoir off the dam, but the gull roost at this site is very slow to gain momentum this autumn. The same afternoon Eleanor watched one of her Barn Owls hunting in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton.

Yesterday (Wednesday 3rd) and a couple of Spotted Flycatchers were showing well around the Fishing Lodge at Pitsford Reservoir and the Stonechat family party was still present in The Hill field at Blueberry Farm (pair of adults and two juveniles).

Opportunities to help out or simply observe some bird ringing is possible both tomorrow (Friday) and Saturday. The regular session in the Scaldwell Bay at Pitsford Reservoir is due to commence at 5.30am tomorrow under the leadership of Dave Francis. On Saturday we plan to ring in the Walgrave Bay also at Pitsford Reservoir starting at 5.30am, using three rides on the west side of the bay. Also on Saturday, John Woollett will be ringing at Stortons Gravel Pits starting from about 6am on the south side of the reserve...

Regards

Neil M

Spotted Flycatcher

Juvenile Stonechat

Passerines of Fair Isle

Hello

Fair Isle is well known for its breeding sea-birds and ability to pull in far-flung rarities. The exposed conditions and minimal amount of shrubs and trees ensures that only a few species of small birds find sufficient cover and food to breed on Fair Isle.

However the ones that do call Fair Isle home generally breed in good numbers. Fair Isle Wrens and Shetland Starlings find the dry stone walls and cliffs perfectly adequate nesting sites, House Sparrows cling to crofts and other buildings and open country birds such as Wheatear, Meadow Pipit and Twite cope very well with the heather strewn north end and the gentler croft dominated south end. Rock Pipits find the dramatic cliffs and geos to their liking and can be found foraging on most areas of the island. And apart from a few pairs of Pied Wagtails, few other small birds try to breed on this 3 mile by 1.5 mile rock situated between the Shetland and Orkney Isles.

Summering birds this year included a couple of Robins, a Blackbird and one or two Redwing, but no evidence of breeding...

Regards

Neil M

Male House Sparrow

Juvenile Twite

Juvenile Rock Pipit

Juvenile Wheatears

Wet Tuesday

Hello

Eleanor was out in the wet but quite humid conditions at Harrington Airfield this morning, and no near misses with tractors this time! A juvenile Marsh Harrier was hunting the fields and a second brood of Grey Partridge was found, this time a group of four youngsters...

Ringing returns from the weekend included a session at Linford Lakes on Saturday resulting in 45 birds being caught, 35 of which were new. They included 7 Reed Warblers, 4 Sedge Warblers, a Willow Warbler, 5 Chiffchaffs, a Garden Warbler, a Blackcap and a Treecreeper. A Great Crested Newt was an excellent non avian find!

On Sunday Stortons Gravel Pits was the venue for another session and this yielded 48 birds of which 40 were new. They included a Treecreeper, a Chiffchaff, 12 Reed Warblers, 3 Sedge Warblers, 2 Cetti's Warblers, 3 Garden Warblers and 9 Blackcaps.

My thanks to Kenny Cramer and John Woollett for the ringing information.

Regards

Neil M

Juvenile Robin at
Stortons GP.

Courtesy of John Boland.

Fair Isle summary

Hello

Apologies for the trailing off of blogs recently, a disadvantage of residing on the most isolated populated island in the UK - the Internet and mobile phone coverage on Fair Isle is limited and often absent completely...

We enjoyed a mixture of weather during our stay, the only sustained period of rain being at night. Walking, birding and some ringing has been the main activity of our short time on the island, the long daylight hours meaning we remained busy in the great outdoors for much of the time. The wonderful Fair Isle Bird Observatory hospitality and good food ensured a comfortable and enjoyable stay.

We located over 80 Bonxie or Great Skua chicks on the wilder areas of the island ensuring that the total number of ringed birds were at record levels this year, and with high levels of productivity. We also ringed some Fulmars, both chicks and adult, their legendary projectile vomiting habits reminding us why they are not a favourite amongst sea-bird ringers! We caught and ringed about 40 passerines which included the (Shetland) Starling and (Fair Isle) Wren, Twite, Pied Wagtail, Rock Pipit, Meadow Pipit and good numbers of Wheatear. Photographing colour-ringed birds proved an adult male Wheatear to be at least five years old and the identification of a breeding Rock Pipit that was first ringed in 2012 and has since been seen wintering in Aberdeenshire.

No rare birds were located but we did encounter Purple Sandpipers, a Black Redstart, quite a variety of waders and summering Great Northern and Red-throated Divers.

Time now for the long journey home to sunny Northamptonshire...!

Regards

Neil M

A stunning light phase
Arctic Skua - beautiful both
on the ground and in flight.

Adult Lesser Black-backed Gull

Dark phase Arctic Skua

Red-throated Diver

Dark phase Arctic Skua defending
its territory and chick from a
marauding Bonxie

Wheatear

Round Up

It has been a busy week and my birding has been rather restricted.
Whilst at agility near Staverton the resident family of Raven's were very vocal and tumbling about which was quite funny to watch......almost as funny as Tor, my dog, clowning about as he went over the jumps !!

The big grassy field at Blueberry has had a severe haircut and there is now only a small area of long grass/bushes.  Despite this at least two singing Grasshopper Warblers remain . It was whilst scanning this area I found a family of Stonechat, 2 adult with 3 youngsters and I'm pretty sure that they could not have flown very far as too young. I think that they could have bred there. Yesterday I could only find 2 youngsters with the adults. Before the field was cut I had been watching a healthy colony of Marbled White Butterflies, but I cannot find these now.

There have been a couple of Barn Owls hunting the area and also below Hanging Houghton.

This afternoon I was walking the fields between Walgrave village and the back of the Walgrave Bay. A couple of the fields have been recently harvested and these were attracting plenty of gulls, Red Kites, Common Buzzard and a "cream crown" Marsh Harrier.

I visited Harrington Airfield this evening and nearly got bowled over by a tractor. I literally had to jump into the bushes dragging the dogs with me !!!  They were busy harvesting and several tractors were taking the grain away, but one particular tractor was going too fast along the track.  So this rather spoilt my walk. I got off the track as soon as I could and was rewarded by a Redstart, Turtle Dove and at least 10 young Grey Partridge.

A few birds over the house this week including 2 Crossbills, Grey Wagtail, Ravens and Common Terns. There was a Humming Bird Hawk Moth in the village during the week.

It is nearly time for the next Birdclub Meeting.  On Wednesday 3rd August we have one of our birdclub members Jeff Blincow giving a talk about his trip to Chile.  It promises to be an excellent and entertaining evening. Everyone is very welcome - 7.30pm at the Lodge, Pitsford Water.

Regards

Eleanor

An island of skuas!

Hello

Our morning on Fair Isle today was made up of seeking out and ringing Great Skua (Bonxie) chicks! Quite different to their confrontational and aggressive parents, these delightful 'monsters to be' generally behave very well once located and sit still whilst their metal ring is affixed. Providing they survive the first year, these ocean predators may well live for twenty years or more...

Record numbers are breeding on the island this year, and it seems that they and other sea-bird species are generally enjoying a productive breeding season.

Also on the island are the beautiful and graceful Arctic Skuas. Much smaller and slimmer than their Bonxie cousins, a small population manages to breed on Fair Isle but sadly the chicks are often predated by the Bonxies at the fledging stage. Nevertheless they also seem to be experiencing a more productive season than of late.

Very few migrant passerines are moving through but gulls and waders are definitely on the move with plenty of Common Gulls, Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Curlews, a Whimbrel and a variety of smaller waders feeding on the beaches or croft fields.

Regards

Neil M

Helen Franklin and Lynne
Barnett holding Bonxie chicks

Adult dark phase
Arctic Skua

Juvenile Arctic Skua

John Franklin suffering 'the Bonxie
experience'. Even when they are not
on territory, these intimidating birds
are renown for flying at the heads of
people, sometimes with a resounding
'slap' as they make contact with their feet...

Head to head with a Bonxie!

Adult Bonxie or Great Skua.
Big, powerful but also very
maneuverable too, these
predatory sea-birds really are
the 'wolves of the sea'.