Wet wildlife!

Green Sandpiper at
Pitsford Reservoir
yesterday.
Courtesy of Robin Gossage.

Hello

Wendy and Robin Gossage enjoyed their time on the reserve at Pitsford Reservoir yesterday, particularly as they experienced sustained if rather distant views of an Otter (see images below)!

A change of scenery this morning saw me over at Grafham Water first thing conducting a mini boat safari. Birds of note included a 'redhead' Smew and two adult Bewick's Swans.

Eleanor was again over at Staverton this morning and the regular pair of Raven were in residence.

Jacob Spinks spent much of today at Pitsford Reservoir in pretty awful weather conditions but he and other observers connected with the Great Northern Diver plus a Great White Egret, two Scaup (north of the causeway), a Redshank, four Snipe, three Dunlin, an adult Yellow-legged Gull, three Ravens, a couple of Bramblings and one or two Stonechat(s).

Early this afternoon Eleanor again stopped at Ravensthorpe Reservoir and saw the two Otters on the 'small side'. The Great White Egret was also close feeding off the causeway and a good find was a bright and vocal Firecrest with a tit flock feeding in the causeway bushes at the Guilsborough/Coton end.

It might have been a wet day but there was still plenty to look at!

Regards

Neil M

Otter (and Kingfisher)!

Otter at Pitsford
Reservoir (yesterday)
courtesy of Robin
Gossage.

Dunlin at
Pitsford Reservoir
yesterday.
Courtesy of Cathy Ryden.

Wildlife of a sunny November day

Hello

Some ringing at Brixworth Treatment Works today provided 47 captures which surprisingly included just two re-traps (birds ringed on-site before). New birds included 2 Magpies, a Redwing, 3 Grey Wagtails, 3 Pied Wagtails, a Meadow Pipit, 3 Robins, 7 Dunnocks, 7 Wrens, 6 Goldcrests, 3 Blue Tits, 4 Great Tits, a Reed Bunting, 3 Chaffinches and a Goldfinch. Other birds on-site in stunning sunshine included at least one more Grey Wagtail, a Snipe and a Water Rail.

Jim Dunkley paid Ravensthorpe Reservoir a visit today and straightaway connected with two Otters as visible some of the time from the causeway (please see image below).

A Grey Plover was both visible and audible this morning (at about 8am) as it flew around the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton and headed off towards Pitsford Reservoir. Birds seen later in the valley included a pair of Stonechat and a Barn Owl.

Harrington Airfield continues to attract large numbers of thrushes in the bushes and other birds included a female Peregrine, two Bramblings feeding at the concrete track entrance and a covey of about ten Grey Partridges.

Birds on show at Pitsford Reservoir this afternoon in the region of the dam included a Great Northern Diver (in open water between Pintail Bay and The Pines), an adult Yellow-legged Gull, a drake Red-crested Pochard, five Dunlin and a Green Sandpiper.

Who said November was a dull month?

Regards

Neil M

Otter at Ravensthorpe Reservoir
courtesy of Jim Dunkley.

Bradden ringing

Hello

Harrington Airfield was the venue this morning for at least two hundred Golden Plovers and two Bramblings were on the seed at the start of the concrete track.

Chris Payne and John Boland committed to some ringing at Bradden today catching seventy-four birds made up of five Chaffinches, thirty-five Blue Tits, twenty-one Great Tits, two Robins, two Goldfinches, seven Goldcrests, a Nuthatch and a Blackbird.

Regards

Neil M

Stonechats at Blueberry
Farm courtesy of Dave Jackson.
Sadly the habitat is changing at
Blueberry Farm day by day now
and much of the seta-side, shrubs
and wild hedges have already been
severely cut back or destroyed
in preparation to convert the complex
back to mainline agriculture. It is
likely that at least some of the
Stonechats will have to find a new
wintering site...

A grey and dull day

Hello

A very dull and initially wet day made it difficult birding today. 

Birds at Blueberry Farm this morning included a Short-eared Owl again, a pair of Stonechat and 2-3 Bramblings flying over. A pair of Stonechat were in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton and three Tree Sparrows visited our garden which was a treat.

A male Grey Wagtail was at Brixworth Sewer Works and Harrington Airfield this afternoon yielded a flock of fifteen Golden Plovers and another Brambling.

A wander around Brixworth this morning failed to locate yesterday's Waxwings...

Regards

Neil M

Grey Wagtail

Kestrel

Both images courtesy of
Cathy Ryden.

Waxwings!

Hello

At 7.20am this morning whilst I was out in the garden feeding the birds, I heard the unmistakable high pitched musical trill of a Waxwing. Thinking it must be flying over I peered upwards but the single bird was perched on the top of a tree. By the time I had whizzed back into the house to find some optics and emerged again it had gone.

A little later and Eleanor heard Waxwings again and witnessed a flock of six flying steadily south over Blueberry Farm. A Short-eared Owl was flying around the southern-most field of the complex and at least eight Bramblings were in trees in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton with other singles and twos also heading south. At about 9am another two Waxwings were seen flying south over the Brampton Valley, again the distinctive calls giving away their presence. Four Stonechats remain in the immediate area.

At about 11am several Waxwings were heard calling in the village of Brixworth in the vicinity of Tantree Way and sounded settled but nothing was seen.

Pitsford Reservoir provided the rest of the avian interest with birds north of the causeway including three Scaup, three Great White Egrets, eight Red-crested Pochard, four Goosanders and several Goldeneye and Pintail plus a Redshank and two Green Sandpipers.

Regards

Neil M

A Waxwing from a previous year...
Better cut up some more apples!

Cold but sunny!

Hello

Two Woodcock and seven Golden Plovers greeted us at Harrington Airfield this morning and the main contributors to evidence continued autumn migration was good numbers of thrushes and Starlings. Chaffinches, Yellowhammers and Reed Buntings were coming down to the feed but it seems that the last wave of Bramblings have passed through now.

This afternoon and four Stonechats showed themselves at Blueberry Farm together with a hunting Barn Owl.

Birds north of the causeway at Pitsford Reservoir late this afternoon included four Scaup, three Great White Egrets, thirteen Little Egrets together in the Scaldwell Bay and still plenty of Pintail. The usual large winter corvid roost was scattered over the reserve...

Regards

Neil M

Jackdaw

Carrion Crow

Rook

Hundreds of Jackdaws, Carrion
Crows and Rooks make up a large
corvid roost at Pitsford Reservoir.

Sunday's sightings

Hello

A wander around Ravensthorpe Reservoir today provided views of a Great White Egret, a Green Sandpiper, a couple of Kingfishers and a male Grey Wagtail. Two Otters showed briefly at 1pm, again on the 'small side' and close to the causeway tunnel.

This morning there were twenty Golden Plovers in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton and all eight Stonechats were present on the Blueberry Farm complex.

Birds visible north of the causeway at Pitsford Reservoir late this afternoon included four Scaup (I couldn't find the fifth bird), three Great White Egrets, ten Little Egrets, four Snipe and a Yellow-legged Gull.

Regards

Neil M

Great White Egret being
pursued by a Grey Heron at
Ravensthorpe Reservoir today.

Saturday's sightings

Hello

Plenty of Redwings and Fieldfares were at Harrington Airfield first thing this morning but not much else...

Two Otters were showing very well at Ravensthorpe Reservoir this morning (at about 10am) and one of them was still on show at about 3.30pm. Viewing was from the road causeway between the villages of Coton and Ravensthorpe with the animals fishing and playing in the water on the west side of the causeway (the 'small side'). A Green Sandpiper was also present.

A Peregrine suffered the attention of two mobbing Ravens at Staverton this morning and nearby Daventry Country Park with its low water levels hosted two Shelduck, a Green Sandpiper, two Chiffchaffs, a Blackcap, a Kingfisher and a Grey Wagtail.

Two Ravens were at Lamport Hall this afternoon and a redpoll sp and a Grey Wagtail were at Brixworth Sewer Works.

Pitsford Reservoir continues to attract up to three Great White Egrets, at least ten Little Egrets, still plenty of Pintail, several Goldeneye, a Green Sandpiper and a Grey Wagtail. Scanning the gull roost didn't provide a bird of note. A Barn Owl was hunting the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton at dusk.

Kenny Cramer and team experimented with ringing in the afternoon until dark at Linford Lakes and caught thirty birds of eleven species which included two Redwings, a Blackbird, a Song Thrush, nine Long-tailed Tits, two Goldcrests, a Treecreeper and a Bullfinch.

With Waxwings arriving on the east coast in good numbers it can't be long before we soon have a sighting or two in the county...

Regards

Neil M

Raven.

Green Sandpiper.
Courtesy of Jacob Spinks.

November musings

Hello

Birds today were minimal but a wander around Blueberry Farm was sufficient to find a female Peregrine and the eight Stonechats still. Some brush clearance at Harrington Airfield this afternoon disturbed large numbers of winter thrushes in the hawthorns and on the fields where they were joined by flocks of immigrant Starlings and Chaffinches. There was even a decent-sized Lapwing flock at dusk, the first sizable flock for what seems like an age.

Chris Payne continues to monitor passage Goldfinches in his garden at Greens Norton, catching and ringing another 17 new birds yesterday to add to an already impressive autumn total. It is assumed that these birds are moving generally south from northern Britain and/or the continent, feeding up wherever they find a good food source.

Neil Hasdell has kindly created another birdwatching site map, this time for Stanwick Lakes, and this is now posted on the Birdwatching Site Maps tab.

Regards

Neil M

Male and female Goldfinches in adult plumage
look very similar but in the hand there are some
features that can allow ringers to identify the gender
in the majority of birds handled. In this image taken
by Goldfinch guru Chris Payne the right hand bird is a female and
 the left hand bird is a male, both still completing body moult.
 Finches often have remnants of their food stuck on their bill where
it can coagulate and remain for quite a time as in
the right hand bird. Females tend to be marginally smaller,
often exhibit grey/silver feather tips just above the bill and
generally the red around the face is more restricted and duller.
Males tend to be brighter and with blacker feathering around
the eye, on the crown and nape...

A picture of  Pitsford Reservoir reserve
warden Mischa Cross toasting marshmallows!
A very nice by-product of brush cutting and
 woodland management is the fire that follows -
and the opportunity to bake spuds and roast
chestnuts and marshmallows thereafter!

Goldfinches and friends...

Hello

Chris Payne has been ringing in South Northants this week with another go in his garden at Greens Norton on Tuesday providing nineteen new Goldfinches. It seems that his garden is the epicentre for Goldfinches locally! Yesterday (Wednesday) and the site at Bradden produced a catch of 51 birds which was made up of 23 Great Tits, 18 Blue Tits, a Coal Tit, a Nuthatch, a Robin, a Dunnock, two Wrens and four Chaffinches. 

It seems that Great Tits fared better than Blue Tits in the awful spring weather we suffered in the county this year if the ringing returns are anything to go by. Robins seem to have enjoyed a good year again but it was only the later broods of Wrens that produced plenty of surviving youngsters.

Regards

Neil M

Recent images from the Sailing Club
at Pitsford Reservoir (two depicting
the Ruddy Shelduck) courtesy of
Clive Beasley.

More feed stations...

Hello

Birding opportunities yesterday (Tuesday) were virtually non-existent but Eleanor did see a Barn Owl just outside the village here at Hanging Houghton.

Today was spent clearing brush and vegetation on the Kelmarsh Estate in preparation for setting up the winter wild bird feeding stations. A little later this year as October was so mild, I'm sure that it won't take long for the birds to respond!

A Raven was heard calling at Sunderland Wood where Nuthatch and Marsh Tit were also audible. A few Siskins were present at Kelmarsh Hall and Common Buzzards were vocal and airborne at all three sites.

Despite the habitat changing for the worse, four pairs of Stonechat remained at Blueberry Farm, Maidwell this afternoon. A male Brambling remained around our garden at Hanging Houghton.

Regards

Neil M

The white cattle at Kelmarsh
Hall were a little bemused
at our efforts of cutting back
the vegetation bordering their field!

A day out to Norfolk...

Hello

Dave Francis committed to some ringing again at Pitsford Reservoir this morning, this time working the Old Scaldwell Road Feeding Station. He caught 57 birds which included 2 Goldcrests, 7 Long-tailed Tits, 5 Tree Sparrows, a Reed Bunting, a Yellowhammer and three Blackbirds.

Eric Graham spent some time at Thrapston Gravel Pits today and again saw a mobile Great White Egret as well as the usual fare.

Today we had a day out on the North Norfolk coast, starting at Burnham Overy Dunes. Here we connected with an Isabelline Wheatear which has been present for well over a week, plus a couple of Snow Buntings, a Water Pipit, a couple of Marsh Harriers, a Brambling, plenty of common waders and in-coming winter thrushes. Lots of Pink-footed Geese unfortunately brought out wildfowlers who were actively bringing them down as they flew over us. Wonderful to see the geese and their evocative calls, but the thump of guns and bags of dead geese was sickening quite frankly.

A wander around the sands and coastal vegetation at Holkham was good for watching a flock of at least 35 Shore Larks, well at least until the mist/fog came down! A large flock of Linnets and good numbers of Rock and Meadow Pipits were also present but it was probably human disturbance that had caused displacement of the reported Twite and Lapland Buntings of the last few days. We heard a Waxwing and Siskin and watched thrushes coming in off the sea and a hunting Barn Owl, but with the visibility curtailing any more birding we moved on to Titchwell.

The RSPB reserve rarely disappoints and the scrapes and islands were packed with birds including a thousand Golden Plovers, over a hundred Ruff and many godwits and other waders, geese and gulls. Up to four Marsh Harriers quartered the reeds, one making an effort to try and catch the roosting Starlings (which included a white bird). There was a group of four European White-fronted Geese, plenty of vocal Water Rails and the bushes and trees held Chiffchaffs, Siskins and Bramblings. Birds at dusk included three Water Pipits, a Barn Owl and small flocks of Common Scoter on the sea.

Regards

Neil M

Male Bearded Tit

Isabelline Wheatear

Snow Bunting

Dark-bellied Brent Geese.

NBC Indoor Meeting 2nd Nov

Hello

The next indoor meeting of the Northamptonshire Bird Club will be this coming Wednesday evening (2nd Nov) at the Fishing Lodge, Pitsford Reservoir, Brixworth Road, Holcot (NN6 9SJ).

The meeting starts at 7.30pm and following preliminary notices the main part of the evening will be a presentation by Tim Mackrill on the Rutland Osprey Project. The aim is to bring the Osprey back in to the midlands as a breeding bird and Tim will provide an illustrated update following on from a previous presentation. Hot drinks and biscuits will be available all evening.

This meeting is open to members and non-members alike and we look forward to seeing you there!

Regards

Neil M

Osprey

Sunday's birds...

Hello

This morning we spent a couple of hours at Ditchford Gravel Pits on the pits west of Ditchford Lane. Birds noted included three Egyptian Geese, a Snipe, a Kingfisher, two Water Rails, three Cetti's Warblers and three Stonechats. A group of four Rock Pipits touched down briefly but after only about five minutes of foraging around the edge of one of the pits they appeared to fly off.

Kenny Cramer and team enjoyed another ringing session at Linford Lakes near Milton Keynes this morning, processing forty-six birds. Thrushes dominated with seven Redwings, two Song Thrushes, two Blackbirds and a single Fieldfare. Six new Robins and four new Goldcrests suggested an influx. Amphibians on show amounted to Great Crested Newt, Common Newt and Common Toad and there was a late Grass Snake visible too.

John Woollett and team were industrious at Stortons Gravel Pits this morning with thirty-nine birds caught. One of these was a re-trap Goldcrest which was first caught in November 2015 and again in February 2016, suggesting that this individual treats the vegetative borders of the gravel pits complex as a suitable wintering site (generally there are no Goldcrests on-site during the summer months). Other birds captured included a Chiffchaff, three other Goldcrests, a Reed Bunting, a Song Thrush and three Redwings. Other birds overflying included a Siskin and a pair of Raven.

A Woodcock and three Snipe were flushed from field margins near to Lamport Hall this afternoon and birds in the village at Hanging Houghton today included a Nuthatch, a Siskin, a Brambling and two Grey Wagtails.

Regards

Neil M

Goldcrest at Stortons
GP, courtesy of John Boland.

The Redwing has featured
heavily on the blog recently
but I couldn't resist this image
from Chris Payne of one of the
birds captured at Stortons GP today...

House Sparrow x Tree Sparrow
hybrid. This bird was caught at
Hanging Houghton this afternoon.
Superficially this bird most
resembled a Tree Sparrow but was much
too large and note the extensive bib,
absence of a clear cut cheek patch, grey/
brown flecking to the front of the
crown and almost a hint of a pale
supercilium. The underside was greyer
than a pure Tree Sparrow. It is likely that
this is a male bird.

Glyn Davies Wood

Hello

A complete change of venue this morning as a small team of us ventured over to the small but special Glyn Davies Wood in the extreme west of the county. This relict woodland reserve is an occasional winter ringing site and is managed by the warden Mike Lewis of the Banbury Ornithological Society. We set up some mist nets before dawn but the three or so calling Tawny Owls evaded capture and we could hear a calling Barn Owl patrolling just outside the wood.

We went on to catch 68 birds, the composition of the catch clearly influenced by the very mild conditions. The most common bird we caught was Goldcrest with 26 birds being ringed. Other birds of note included two Lesser Redpolls, two Great Spotted Woodpeckers, a Treecreeper, five Coal Tits and two Marsh Tits.

A male Brambling, a couple of Siskins and a Woodcock were also present in the wood.

A pair of Stonechat were on the south side of the Blueberry Farm complex this afternoon and two Ravens were again present at Staverton.

A late visit to the dam at Pitsford Reservoir this evening provided views of an adult Caspian Gull and an adult Yellow-legged Gull.

Regards

Neil M

Redwing

Lesser Redpoll.
Images from the Pitsford
ringing session yesterday
courtesy of Lynne Barnett.