November birding

Hello

A ringing session took place at Stortons GP this morning under John Woollett's leadership and birds caught included a juvenile male Sparrowhawk (please see below).

Some ringing at a garden in Scaldwell village this morning provided 34 captures of common birds which included a Lesser Redpoll and three Goldcrests. A significant passage of winter thrushes and a variety of finches over the village included a Crossbill at 10.10am, a Brambling, six Siskins and about another 15 redpoll sp.

A pair of Stonechat remain in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton and another three were still present in the southern-most field of the Blueberry Farm complex.

A regular flock of Red Kites has been consistently present around the fields west of this seta-side area for the last couple of weeks, taking advantage of the winds and air currents lifting them above the escarpment and allowing them to pick of invertebrates in the fields below. This afternoon the flock was at an all-time high of thirty birds, far and beyond anything I have seen in this part of Northamptonshire.

Regards

Neil M

Juvenile male Sparrowhawk.

Images courtesy of John Boland.

Quiet Day!

Hello

Eleanor was over at Staverton again today and saw two of the local Ravens. A visit to Daventry Country Park yielded two Green Sandpipers and the feeders there attracted a couple of Nuthatch and half a dozen Siskins. Half a dozen Lesser Redpolls were in nearby trees. Two Green Sandpipers were also on show at Ravensthorpe Reservoir, visible from the causeway.

I spent some time in the Kelmarsh Estate woodlands today but only noted a few Siskins. And I'm afraid the Pitsford Reservoir gull roost was unspectacular with no gulls of note seen...

Oh well there is always tomorrow!

Regards

Neil M

Soggy Sywell

Another day of wet dog walking !!
A pair of Stonechat remain below Hanging Houghton but the surrounding fields and hedgerows appeared very quiet.
I walked around Sywell Reservoir this afternoon. It was such a pity that it was raining as it detracted from the beautiful Autumn colours and the fallen leaves were simply a soggy mess. However the dull day was brightened up by the sight and sound of at least 80+ Siskins. Such gorgeous little birds and always so happy.
Other birds in the wooded areas were several noisy Jay's, 6+ Lesser Redpoll, 2+ Brambling and plenty of Goldfinches.
Two Water Rails were making all sorts of high pitched squeals as they chatted to each other and at times popped out from the cover of the reeds. 
I nearly over looked a pair of Red Crested Pochard which were sitting among the Wigeon and blended in very well.
My surprise find was a Jack Snipe, found accidently as I went to retrieve the ball which the dog had lost !!
Other birds present included Tawny Owl, Kingfisher, 2 Grey Wagtail and a flock of 50+ Skylark on the nearby fields.

Regards Eleanor

Harrington in the rain

Hello

This morning's rain ensured that no ringing took place at Harrington Airfield. Birds present included a vocal Water Pipit over there heading south at 8.05am and a mobile Short-eared Owl. Only small numbers of Golden Plover were present and the thrush numbers were unspectacular, both perhaps because of the mild weather. A few Siskins and redpoll sp joined the Linnet and Goldfinch flocks briefly.

Eleanor espied two Ravens near Walgrave this afternoon.

Regards

Neil M

Less fog, more birds...

Hello

A second morning ringing at Harrington Airfield today was more productive than yesterday with 45 birds caught and assessed. Eight thrushes were made up of four Redwings, two Song Thrushes, a Blackbird and a handsome Fieldfare. Smaller birds included two more diminutive Goldcrests, four Reed Buntings and eight Yellowhammers plus a couple of Chaffinches and eight Goldfinches. Three re-trap (birds ringed previously at this location) Green Woodpeckers provided more colour, this area being a focal site for local birds.

Other birds noted at Harrington Airfield today included a Raven, a Chiffchaff, six Bramblings and a couple each of Siskin and redpoll sp plus a flock of up to seventy Linnets.

Eleanor saw a Barn Owl and a pair of Stonechat in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton this afternoon.

Regards

Neil M

Fog!

Hello

Foggy all day today which prevented much in the way of birding, but local ringers were active in the murk...

Chris Payne ringed birds in his garden at Greens Norton and caught an impressive 84 birds which included a superb total of 46 Goldfinches. Other birds included 3 Coal Tits, 9 Long-tailed Tits, a Goldcrest and 2 Collared Doves.

In the meantime Neil Hasdell and I checked nets at Harrington Airfield which were surprisingly quiet with just 30 birds caught and processed. These included migrants in the shapes of 4 Redwings, a Song Thrush and a likely continental Blackbird. Other birds included a Magpie, 6 Chaffinches, 3 Yellowhammers, a Reed Bunting and 2 Goldcrests.

Birds noted consisted of a single Brambling and a couple of Siskins cruising about.

Eleanor located a pair of Stonechat in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton.

Regards

Neil M

Is it really November?

Hello

Several members of the Northants Ringing Group provided a bird ringing demonstration at the Wildlife Trust Pocket Park at Woodford Halse this morning. Ian Dobson the reserve warden organised a wildlife day for residents of Woodford Halse and was keen to provide an opportunity to showcase a variety of fauna and flora.

The ringing provided a modest catch of birds but of a significant variety which included all the common tits, Goldcrest, Wren, Robin and several species of finch including a single Lesser Redpoll. Great Spotted Woodpecker, Blackbird and Treecreeper provided more variety.

Other birds noted on-site included a couple of Bramblings, c6 Siskins and another 4+ redpoll sp plus a couple of Ravens. The incredibly warm weather brought forth insects such as Brimstone and Red Admiral butterflies, wasps, bees and a Hornet.

A brief stop on the causeway at Ravensthorpe Reservoir early this afternoon provided views of three Green Sandpipers, three Goldeneye, a Snipe and a couple of Kingfishers. Significant disturbance caused the ducks to fly and we couldn't see the long-staying Garganey (and reported today).

Simon Hales took a photo of a Comma butterfly near Oundle today (please see below) and reports that a small murmuration of Starlings took place at Titchmarsh Local Nature Reserve this afternoon, possibly a modest start to greater numbers later this month as happened last year...

Regards

Neil M

Comma butterfly on
bramble/blackberries

Courtesy of Simon Hales

Pitsford Ringing and Birding!

Hello

A ringing session in the Scaldwell Bay at Pitsford Reservoir concluded at about lunch-time today resulting in the capture of 91 birds of  20 species. These birds included 2 Moorhens, 16 Goldcrests, 12 Redwings, 4 Treecreepers, 4 Lesser Redpolls, 3 Coal Tits, a Marsh Tit, a Willow Tit, a Blackcap, a Great Spotted Woodpecker and a Kingfisher. 

Other birds seen on-site included 5 Great White Egrets still, the juvenile Slavonian Grebe (diving continuously in shallow water near to the remnants of the Bird Club hide), 6 Pintail, 7 Red-crested Pochard, the Ferruginous Duck x Red-crested Pochard hybrid still, an adult Yellow-legged Gull, a Raven, a Stonechat, a Grey Wagtail and at least 2 Green Sandpipers. Small numbers of Siskins and redpoll sp trickled over all day.

Birds noted between Staverton and Catesby today (just west of Daventry) included at least 6 Ravens, 4 Bramblings, 30 Siskins and 6 redpoll sp. Nearby at Borough Hill Country Park, birds of note on view amounted to 2 Ravens, an adult male Peregrine, 2 Bramblings, 20+ Siskins and a few redpoll sp. 

Please note that further ringing is anticipated at Harrington Airfield this coming Monday and Tuesday. This occurs on the old airstrip near to the old Thor missile bunkers and access is restricted as requested by the landowner's agent during this period. Anyone wishing to enter on to this private site with a view to watching ringing activities on Monday and Tuesday is asked to contact me beforehand. Access to the main concrete track and the footpaths is unaffected.

Regards

Neil M

Additional brightness required!

Hello

A bit of a dull and dreary day today with rain on and off. The shortened days of daylight make it difficult to squeeze in sufficient birding at this time of the year. I thought I would add a little colour to the blog this evening with some excellent butterfly images from earlier in 2015 courtesy of Simon Hales...

Regards

Neil M

Next Bird Club meeting...

Hello

This is a reminder to members of the Northants Bird Club and an invitation to non-members that we hold our next indoor meeting next Wednesday (on 4th November 2015). Our guest speaker will be Mark Thomas who works as an investigator for the RSPB and his presentation is entitled 'The Wildlife Detective'.

The meeting starts at 7.30pm at our usual venue of The Fishing Lodge at Pitsford Reservoir, Brixworth Road, Holcot NN6 9SJ. Hot drinks and biscuits will be available during the evening. Parking is available next to the Lodge with overflow opportunities on the road causeway and off the track that leads down to the moored boats.

I hope to see you there!

Neil M

Ringing in South Northants

Hello

Yesterday (Tuesday) saw Chris Payne commit to some bird ringing at Bradden and Greens Norton, catching 116 birds in total. Common tits predominated but other birds included 17 Goldfinches, 2 Coal Tits, 4 Chaffinches, 2 Nuthatch a Treecreeper and a Goldcrest.

Birds in our garden here at Hanging Houghton are pretty modest currently, but the sunflower hearts feeder is busy with common tits, a couple of Nuthatch and small numbers of Goldfinch coming regularly.

Please note an additional Tab on this blog entitled 'Brazil Revisited'. This is devoted to images taken by Robin Gossage on our trip to Brazil in 2012. Most of these images have not been shown before and the insects in particular are quite amazing. More images will be added in due course...

Regards

Neil M

Bird Feeding Stations

Hello

Little opportunity of any birding today, although a stop on the causeway at Pitsford Reservoir late this afternoon was sufficient to note that all five Great White Egrets were still present on the reserve.

Some additional images have been added to Robin's Wildlife Images Tab, mostly from the NBC car trip to Titchwell last Sunday...

We took delivery today of the first big order of bird food for the autumn and winter as I prepare to again maintain a number of wild bird feeding stations in the centre of the county. As in previous years, three will be on the Kelmarsh Estate with others at Brixworth, Harrington and Pitsford.

The main feeding station at Pitsford is situated on the Old Scaldwell Road and is managed primarily by Dave Francis, myself and Neil Hasdell. Another is managed by myself and John Warner the groundsman at the Sailing Club and the third, a more seasonal one, is managed by myself and Diane Freeman in Christies Copse in the Walgrave Bay. Eleanor presides with the feeding of the birds at Harrington. My thanks to everyone who helps out on this initiative.

Regards

Neil M

Local bird images

Hello

A selection of images from local naturalist Cathy Ryden...

Robin in front
of the red moon
from a few weeks ago.

Look closely, a Blackcap is
looking at you!

Greenfinch

Little Egret

Pied Wagtail

Tufted Ducks

Goldeneye

Sunset at Pitsford Reservoir

Ditchford WeBS

Hello

Northants Ringing Group members were in action yesterday (Sunday) with sessions at Linford Lakes and Woodford Halse. Birds captured, ringed and released at Linford included a Lesser Redpoll, a Siskin, five Redwings, three Goldcrests and a Treecreeper amongst 75 captures.

Woodford Halse, a new site, provided 76 captures which included four Coal Tits, three Marsh Tits, a Nuthatch, two Goldcrests and ten Chaffinches.

Today (Monday) and a visit to Ditchford Gravel Pits to complete the monthly WeBS count provided views of a pair of adult Peregrine, 16 Egyptian Geese, a Goldeneye, six Cetti's Warblers, two Chiffchaffs, a Water Rail and small numbers of Grey Wagtails, Siskins and redpoll sp.

The relatively warm and sunny conditions at Ditchford brought forth plenty of insects including Common Darter and Migrant Hawker dragonflies and a few tardy butterflies. An active and rather large Grass Snake was something of a surprise!

Regards

Neil M

Carrion Crow.
One of two birds at Ditchford
Gravel Pits today exhibiting aberrant
plumage colouration. Both birds
appeared to be first year birds with
grey/coffee coloured feathering and barred
wing feathers. Carrion Crows regularly exhibit
white and silver in the wings but these birds are
certainly different. For many years, a metallic almost
bronze-coloured bird was present at Ditchford
Gravel Pits and it's tempting to think these birds
might be related!

Egyptian Geese.
A displaying pair

Grey Heron.

Birding to the north...

Hello

Yesterday (Saturday) and Eleanor noted a Little Egret and two Green Sandpipers at Ravensthorpe Reservoir and the usual group of six Ravens which are regularly at Staverton near Daventry.

Today (Sunday) and some birding in the north of the county was called for, particularly in the under-watched Welland Valley. East Carlton Country Park and surround provided views of a single Brambling, small flocks of Siskins and redpoll sp and common woodland birds including Nuthatch and Marsh Tit. Various stops in the valley produced sightings of Little Egret, Kingfisher and a flock of about c200 Golden Plovers in fields between Harringworth and Wakerley. Good numbers of Red Kites and Common Buzzards adorned the fields and hedgerow trees.

A visit to nearby Eyebrook Reservoir provided views of the hoped-for adult American Golden Plover which has been present on and off for several days. Wildfowl included Pintail and Goldeneye and a couple of Dunlin were present too.

A couple of hikes around the Wakerley Wood and Harringworth Airfield complex produced just more winter finches and thrushes and of course Jays raiding the oaks for acorns. Blatherwycke Lake hosted three Black Swans, a couple of Chinese Geese, four Little Egrets, two Kingfishers, common wildfowl and plenty of finches and thrushes.

Our last venue was the Brampton Valley where we recorded five Stonechats between the Brampton Valley Way and the southern boundary of Blueberry Farm.

Regards

Neil M

Red Kite
Blatherwycke Lake

Quiet wet day

Hello

Pretty miserable weather today, but a wander at Harrington Airfield this morning before the worst of the weather hit was useful simply to assess that it was pretty quiet up there. The only visible migration were a couple of large flocks of Starlings flying low and fast in a south-westerly direction and small numbers of thrushes and finches moving against the southerly breeze, which included several redpoll sp and Siskin.

This afternoon a Barn Owl and two Stonechats were in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton and the gull roost at Pitsford Reservoir (off the dam and Sailing Club) contained a first winter Mediterranean Gull and four Yellow-legged Gulls.

Regards

Neil M

Pitsford WeBS Count

Hello

Birds yesterday (Thursday), included a single late Swallow winging it's way south between Walgrave and Pitsford Reservoir at lunch-time. Other birds included a pair of Stonechat in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton with three more in the southern-most field of the Blueberry Farm complex.

Most of today (Friday) was committed to completing the wetland and waterbird count at Pitsford Reservoir. Five Great White Egrets were the highlight, at one stage with all the birds standing together on the point between the Scaldwell and Walgrave Bays. Other counts included a site record of 25 Little Egrets, 5-8 Green Sandpipers, 25 Snipe, two Barnacle Geese, 24 Pintail, 5 Goldeneye, 17 Red-crested Pochard, an unusual hybrid in the shape of a female Ferruginous x Red-crested Pochard, a single Ruddy Shelduck, a Shelduck, a dozen or so redpoll sp and a similar number of Siskin, half a dozen noisy Marsh Tits, 3 Grey Wagtails and an adult Yellow-legged Gull.

The evening gull roost included five Yellow-legged Gulls including one adult with a marginally darker upper-side and a streaked head.

This afternoon there were three Grey Wagtails at Brixworth Sewer Works and Blueberry Farm attracted a male Stonechat, an adult male Peregrine and a group of twelve foraging Red Kites.

Regards

Neil M

County bird ringing

Hello

During the last few weeks members of the Northants Ringing Group have been active in and around the county. Chris Payne has been ringing down in South Northants at Bradden and Silverstone and has been catching a nice selection of birds including some stunning Nuthatches. John Woollett has been catching birds at Stortons Gravel Pits with team members and birds caught have included Redwings which are arriving and passing through in good numbers now. Kenny Cramer has been working hard at his new site down at Linford Lakes on the edge of Milton Keynes and has been catching good numbers of a variety of species and this new site is now looking very productive. Dave Francis in the meantime has been busy at Pitsford Res with his trainees, and the feeding station is producing good numbers of Tree Sparrows, a couple of Redwings and some latish Chiffchaffs among others.

Our colleagues over at Stanford Reservoir have been spending long periods of ringing and this has paid off with some scarce birds including a couple of Firecrests, a Yellow-browed Warbler and an 'eastern' Lesser Whitethroat as well as a hat-full of more common species, particularly warblers.

On 1st November a ringing demonstration is planned for the old railway reserve at Woodford Halse over in the west of the county, and it is hoped to carry out some more ringing soon at Harrington Airfield.

We have been informed of a number of recoveries from the Ringing Unit at the BTO recently. One of these referred to a Lesser Redpoll, a species particularly renown for producing excellent data. This individual was first ringed as a first year bird at the village of Spratton in March 2013 and was caught again by a ringer operating at Leighton Moss Silverdale, Lancashire on 12th October 2015. An excellent example of the nomadic nature of some birds, even tiny ones like Lesser Redpoll!

Regards

Neil M

Nuthatch

Treecreeper

Redwing

All images courtesy
of Chris Payne

Pitsford Birding

Hello

Neil Hasdell has been out birding on the reserve at Pitsford Reservoir today and in addition to seeing an Otter in the Walgrave Bay, saw the following birds - 3 Great White Egrets, 13 Little Egrets, 4 Pintail, 9-13 Red-crested Pochard, a Goldeneye and a Willow Tit.

There is currently quite a bit of disturbance on the reserve due to on-going management work which in the medium term will further enhance the reserve. Recently waterside willows were removed between the causeway and Bird Club hide in order to keep this section clear and prevent it growing up as in other sections of the reserve.

Work is now underway to create new ponds on the reserve to further improve the habitat for insects, amphibians etc and the Bird Club hide in the Scaldwell Bay and the main Walgrave Hide are in the process of being dismantled and replaced with new hides.

Eleanor paid a brief visit to Harrington Airfield early this afternoon and saw just c80 Golden Plovers and a covey of 10 Grey Partridge of note.

Regards

Neil M

24 hours later !

Today was very quiet in comparison to yesterday and despite spending many hours out in the field I saw very little.  Although there were still lots of passerines present around the Blueberry Farm complex they were only a fraction of the number of birds which were there yesterday.  There were 3 Stonechat in the southern most field, 2 Bramblings and the female Peregrine went over.
Whilst at Walgrave I saw 2+ Ravens and small flock of 4+ Brambling.
So a much quieter day.....but who knows what tomorrow might bring ??

Regards Eleanor