Frosty November birds

Hello

An early morning visit to East Carlton Country Park provided views of three Hawfinches which were vocal and quite mobile. Other birds included about nine Siskins and small numbers of Marsh Tits and Nuthatches.

A little later and another Hawfinch was located in Rushton village, perched in an ash tree in the grounds of the Old Rectory opposite the churchyard. A Raven flew past. There were a number of large gulls at the nearby landfill site but they were distant and in conflicting light.

Kelmarsh Hall hosted a gang of noisy Siskins and a Grey Wagtail and Eleanor's afternoon visit to Ravensthorpe Reservoir provided views of the juvenile Whooper Swan again, three Great White Egrets, a drake Pintail, a Scaup and two Green Sandpipers and two Grey Wagtails.

Ringing at Stortons GP today resulted in 52 birds which were mostly Blue and Great Tits and Sarah and Kenny at Linford Lakes caught another 24 birds, 22 of which were new. They included a Moorhen (the first one caught and ringed here), a Chiffchaff, 11 Redwings, 4 Blackbirds, 2 Wrens, 2 Blue Tits and singles of Greenfinch, Goldfinch and Robin.

Regards

Neil M

Moorhen.
Courtesy of Kenny Cramer.

Chiffchaff.
Courtesy of Cathy Ryden.

Male Reed Bunting.
Courtesy of John Tilly.

Saturday's taste of winter

Hello

Early morning snow flurries and then beautiful sunshine, blue skies and invigorating cool air reminded us that winter is almost upon us!

The birds at Pitsford Reservoir hadn't changed a great deal, several observers collectively seeing two Great White Egrets, an adult Yellow-legged Gull, a Shelduck, 13 plus Pintail, 3 Redshank, 2 Dunlin, a Green Sandpiper, a male Brambling on the feeders in the grounds of the Sailing Club, a Siskin, a Grey Wagtail and an adult Caspian Gull in the gull roost off the Sailing Club.

Harrington Airfield attracted about three hundred Fieldfares plus smaller numbers of other thrushes, and two Bramblings were at the concrete track entrance. Brixworth Water Treatment Works hosted two Grey Wagtails and a Chiffchaff.

Eleanor saw at least four Ravens at Staverton this morning but her visits to Borough Hill Country Park and Daventry Country Park drew a blank without any birds of interest being seen. Eleanor's last venue was Ravensthorpe Reservoir where she saw two Great White Egrets, the juvenile Whooper Swan and two Grey Wagtails. An unidentified diver sp.flew in at about 3.45pm and disappeared off over the dam and away...

Regards

Neil M

Grey Wagtails.

Female Siskin.
Courtesy of Kenny Cramer.

Long-tailed Tits courtesy
of John Tilly. These birds will
  always remain very high on the
 cute factor!

Northants BTO Newsletter

Northants BTO Quarterly Newsletter - Autumn 2017 View this email in your browser

To all BTO contacts in Northants From Barrie Galpin and Ben Reeve, Regional Representative and Regional Ambassador for the BTO in Northants Hi all, We're proud to announce the release of the first of a regular quarterly newsletter for the BTO in the Northants region. The autumn edition includes an introduction to the regional team, information on the various BTO surveys undertaken in the county, a spotlight on Pitsford Water and other interesting information including BTO Training Courses and the brilliant BTO Bird ID videos. The newsletter can be viewed by clicking on the following link - Northants BTO Autumn 2017 Newsletter Or by typing the following web address in your browser -  http://bit.do/northantsbtoautumn2017 We do hope you enjoy the newsletter and if you have any feedback including suggestions for things you'd like to see in the the next newsletter we'd love to hear from you! All the best, Barrie and Ben. Barrie Galpin BTO Regional Representative for Northants 15 Top Lodge, Fineshade, Corby. NN17 3BB Email: barrie.galpin@zen.co.uk 01780 444351 07717 446417 Ben Reeve BTO Regional Ambassador for Northants 7 Rectory Close, Crick, Northants, NN6 7SY Email: benreeve@outlook.com Twitter: @NorthantsBTO Personal Twitter: @BeardWarbler 01788 824413 07961 038455

Friday ringing

Hello

Dave Francis embarked on some further ringing at the main feeding station at Pitsford Reservoir today, catching 67 birds of 17 species. Finches were made up of 15 Goldfinches, a Greenfinch, a Redpoll and 6 Chaffinches. Other birds included a Reed Bunting, 3 Yellowhammers, 6 Tree Sparrows, 7 Dunnocks, 2 Wrens, a Goldcrest, 2 Coal Tits, 2 Great Tits and 4 Blue Tits. A fresh pulse of thrushes came in the form of a Fieldfare, 3 Redwings, 2 Song Thrushes and 10 Blackbirds.

Three ringers operating at Glyn Davies Wood west of Boddington today caught 152 birds (114 new and 38 re-traps) of 15 species. Woodland birds included 70 Blue Tits, 28 Great Tits, 8 Coal Tits, 4 Marsh Tits, a Long-tailed Tit, 4 Nuthatches and 5 Great Spotted Woodpeckers. Other birds were made up of 2 Wrens, 6 Robins, a Dunnock, 7 Goldcrests, a Treecreeper, a Bullfinch, 4 Blackbirds and 10 Redwings.

A study of the gull roost at Boddington Reservoir after the nearby ringing session provided views of two Caspian Gulls (an adult and a 4th year/adult), an adult Yellow-legged Gull, a Kingfisher and a Grey Wagtail.

Regards

Neil M

Blue Tit.

Marsh Tit.

Great Tit.

Feeding the birds

Hello

The day after a stormy night, and a quick walk at Harrington Airfield this morning didn't locate anything much out of the ordinary, but there were at least five Grey Partridges on the top fields, and of course still plenty of Redwings and Fieldfares in the bushes.

We are now broadcast-feeding the birds on the concrete track next to the willow bushes just in from the metal gate and already today there were good numbers of Chaffinches and Yellowhammers taking advantage. If you do visit Harrington and can spare some safe mixed seed or similar we would be grateful if you would supplement our food by feeding the birds too. For some reason this spot seems to attract disproportionately large numbers of common birds, and when it becomes cold sometimes up to thirty Blackbirds and many others. It can be a good spot for Bramblings too and the advantage is that they can be watched from vehicles or at least from the gate area without causing too much disturbance.

Eleanor saw a pair of Ravens near Hanging Houghton this morning and my visits to the Kelmarsh Estate feeding stations provided me with views of Marsh Tit, Nuthatch, several Siskins and Grey Wagtail.

Chris Payne opened a single mist net for just over an hour at Bradden this morning and he caught 35 birds amounting to 12 Goldfinches, 3 Chaffinches, 17 Blue Tits and 3 Great Tits.

Regards

Neil M

Blue Tit.
Image courtesy
of Cathy Ryden.

Chaffinch.
Image courtesy
of John Tilly.

Brambling.
Image courtesy
of Steve Bennison.

All these birds are regular
visitors to winter feed stations.

Ditchford WeBS count

Hello

In very mild and blustery conditions, I completed a WeBS count at Ditchford Gravel Pits today, taking about seven hours to cover my section of about two thirds of this large complex.

Scarcer birds included a female Goosander, an aythya hybrid (Tufted Duck x ?), an adult Mediterranean Gull (Wilson's Pits), two Water Rails, three Jack Snipe, just a single Common Snipe, two Kingfishers, a male Stonechat, two Chiffchaffs and five Cetti's Warblers. The more notable counts of common wildfowl included 83 Shovelers and 341 Gadwall.

Regards

Neil M

Gadwall.

Shoveler.

Jack Snipe.

Harrington thrushes.

Hello

Eleanor visited Harrington Airfield at lunchtime and was amazed at the sheer numbers of thrushes stripping the berry bushes. There were literally hundreds of Fieldfares and Redwings and much smaller numbers of Song Thrushes and Blackbirds. Four Hawfinches were in hawthorn bushes at the first bunker and flew when the thrushes swirled around them. Some eighty Golden Plovers were flying around too...

Regards

Neil M

Golden Plovers.

Redwing.

Fieldfare.
Image courtesy of
Jacob Spinks.

Pitsford WeBS count

Hello

The WeBS count was completed at Pitsford Reservoir today in dull and then latterly quite wet conditions. At least four Great White Egrets were present as were about 30 Little Egrets, in excess of 150 Cormorants, a Black Swan, a drake Red-crested Pochard, a juvenile Scaup, 2 drake Goosanders, 17 Pintail, 4 Redshanks, 4 Green Sandpipers, a Dunlin, 10 Snipe, up to 150 Golden Plovers flying around and a couple of Grey Wagtails. Blackbirds were in considerable numbers south of the causeway, stripping the berries from the hedgerows, and small numbers of Siskins were pretty mobile.

Regards

Neil M

Pintail.

Cormorant.
Image courtesy
of Steve Bennison.

Wigeon.
Image courtesy of
John Tilly.

Sunday's county ringing

Hello

With relatively calm but cool weather conditions, it is no surprise that Northants Ringing Group members were busy today...

A small team operated mist nets at Stortons Gravel Pits catching about 70 birds of which 30 were previously unringed. These captures included 3 Goldcrests, 2 Robins, 5 Dunnocks, 3 Blackbirds, 3 Redwings, 3 Long-tailed Tits, 17 Great Tits, 2 Coal Tits, 18 Blue Tits, 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers, 2 Chaffinches and 5 Reed Buntings. Two of these Reed Buntings were carrying rings indicating they were ringed elsewhere.

Sarah and Kenny worked the mist nets at Linford Lakes and processed 54 birds of 12 species, 44 of which were new birds. This total was made up by 6 Goldcrests, 3 Robins, 4 Dunnocks, 3 Wrens, 14 Redwings, 4 Blackbirds, 8 Blue Tits, 4 Great Tits, 2 Coal Tits, a Chaffinch, 4 Goldfinches and a Siskin.

Jacob completed a little ringing at Scaldwell village this morning catching plenty of common birds but also a Bullfinch and 4 Redwings. A Grey Wagtail and a Hawfinch were noted flying over.

Jacob's subsequent birding expedition to Pitsford Reservoir provided views of 4 Great White Egrets, a Scaup, 2 Dunlin and 2 Redshanks and a Grey Wagtail. A female-type Common Scoter was located in the Holcot Bay but what was presumably the same bird was later in open water half-way between the causeway and the dam. Two Caspian Gulls found each other in the afternoon gull roost, a smart adult and a third calendar year bird.

Helen Franklin's foray into Glyn Davies Wood over in the far west of the county yielded Raven, Nuthatches, Marsh Tits and a Woodcock.

Regards

Neil M

Goldcrest.

Redwing.

Blue Tit.

All these species were
ringed in the county
by ringers today.
today

Saturday sightings

Hello

Jacob was active at Pitsford Reservoir again today, locating or re-locating a Water Pipit in the Scaldwell Bay feeding with Meadow Pipits. Other birds which have now become regular were 5 Great White Egrets, 3 Scaup, a Red-crested Pochard, 13 Pintail, 20 Golden Plovers, 4 Redshanks, 2 Dunlin and 2 Green Sandpipers. I spent some time at Christies Copse in the Walgrave Bay in order to complete more work in support of the winter feeding station there and flushed 3 Woodcock from alongside the feeding ride and noted 2 Ravens flying over.

Eleanor was over at Staverton again today and noted a Peregrine, 4 Ravens and 2 Hawfinches which were initially perched on top of a conifer and then flew on. Afterwards a visit to Borough Hill Country Park provided views of the pair of Stonechat still plus a few each of Brambling, Redpoll and Siskin. A brief visit to Ravensthorpe Reservoir confirmed the continuing presence of 2 Great White Egrets, 10 Little Egrets and 2 Green Sandpipers.

Regards

Neil M

The big, glossy Raven!

Robin.

Blue Tit.

Coal Tit.

Nuthatch.
Above four images
courtesy of Steve Bennison.

This is the time of year when
garden and open country or
woodland feeding stations play
an important part in the lives
of our more common birds as
they prepare for winter and
identify safe and reliable places
to find suitable sustenance.

A Friday Fieldfare!

Hello

It was the last day of ringing at Harrington Airfield this week and the birds caught and ringed today included a Fieldfare, 14 Redwings, 2 Meadow Pipits and 6 Reed Buntings amongst 50 plus birds captured. No Hawfinches were noted on-site today and although there were still reasonable numbers of Redwings and Fieldfares about, visible migration was much quieter than of late. Vocal Golden Plovers were mostly flying over but they are coming down into fields nearby. A covey of Grey Partridge were seen yesterday and a single 'Redpoll' was mobile today late morning. 

A hunting Barn Owl was seen early this morning near Staverton and birds noted by Jacob at Pitsford Reservoir today included 5 Great White Egrets, 8 Pintail, a Red-crested Pochard, 4 Scaup, 2 Dunlin, 4 Redshanks, 116 Golden Plovers, 3 Green Sandpipers, 6 Snipe and a Stonechat and a Grey Wagtail. Eleven Siskins were seen flying over Scaldwell village and a Grey Wagtail was at Hanging Houghton.

Regards

Neil M

Fieldfare.

Ongoing migration

Hello

A modest ringing session at Harrington Airfield this morning provided 52 birds which included 25 new Redwings, 5 new Blackbirds and 5 new Meadow Pipits. Two Hawfinches were flying around the bushes with Redwings at 8.20am and there were various sightings and calls of singles during the morning including at least another one flying straight through, so a minimum of four birds. Nearby there two more Hawfinches in a hawthorn hedge in the Brampton Valley at Draughton Crossing and at 9am another single flying around gardens at Hanging Houghton.

Other birds noted at Harrington during the day included small numbers of Siskin, Redpoll and Brambling and a couple of Snipe. In excess of four Bramblings and a Barn Owl were in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton and small numbers of Brambling, Siskin and Redpoll were noted a several spots in the NN6 district this afternoon. Single Grey Wagtails were in Scaldwell village and Kelmarsh Hall.

Eleanor and Jacob visited Pitsford Reservoir and between them they saw 4 Great White Egrets, a Barnacle Goose, a Red-crested Pochard, 10 Pintail, 4 Scaup, 3 Redshanks, 3-4 Green Sandpipers, 8 Dunlin and 2 Siskins. Large numbers of Redwings and Fieldfares were moving over all day within NN6...

Regards

Neil M

Redwing.

Male Green Woodpecker. This bird
was first ringed as a juvenile at the
same site in 2015.

November ringing

Hello

The dull, still and mild weather conditions of today were perfect for the deployment of mist nets and several Northants Ringing Group members were active...

Chris Payne caught 60 birds in just one 60' mist net at Bradden made up of 29 Blue Tits, 15 Great Tits, a Coal Tit, a Robin, 2 Wrens, 3 Chaffinches and 9 Goldfinches. Chris has been ringing at this site regularly this autumn yet the majority of the birds were all new, thus providing an insight to the sheer number of birds that a feeding station can and does support.

Dave Francis conducted some ringing in his garden on the edge of Northampton, catching 70 birds. It has been some time since Dave has tried ringing in his garden so it is perhaps not surprising that nearly all the birds had not been ringed before. However, both of two Nuthatches were old friends from previous years, one being over 3 years old. Other birds included 27 Blue Tits, one of which was a bird initially ringed as a nestling from a nest box at Pitsford Reservoir. Also caught were 10 Great Tits, 5 Coal Tits, 15 Goldfinches, 5 Greenfinches, 3 Robins, a Wren, a Dunnock and a House Sparrow.

Ringing operations were also initiated at Harrington Airfield and three ringers were responsible for trapping and processing 135 birds. Migrant thrushes dominated the early morning with 12 Blackbirds, a Fieldfare, 30 Redwings and a Song Thrush all impacting with the nets. Other highlights included 10 Meadow Pipits, 10 Yellowhammers, 4 Reed Buntings, 15 Long-tailed Tits, 12 Chaffinches, 2 Goldcrests and a Chiffchaff.

Three Hawfinches were seen flying over the complex heading west at 12.20pm and other birds included over a hundred Golden Plovers, 2 Snipe, 4 'Redpolls' and a couple of Siskins.

Eleanor waked around Sywell Country Park this morning and saw 5 Hawfinches low in flight, a Water Rail, 2 Kingfishers, 2 Grey Wagtails and c50 Siskins. Two Bramblings and a Barn Owl were in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton first thing this morning.

Regards

Neil M

Coal Tit.
A regular visitor to many
 garden and woodland
feeding stations. They often
cache food and at this time
of the year will quickly empty
sunflower feeders despite their
small size!

The modest and unassuming
Meadow Pipit breeds in very
small numbers in Northants but
is a heavy passage migrant and
thinly distributed winterer. The
very long rear claws are typical of
birds striding around on the ground,
and for their size this species has
one of the longest. The well
established oil seed rape crop
(already with plenty of large leaves)
at Harrington Airfield is proving
popular with a quite a gang of these
streaky passerines feeding and
sheltering in the fields. Sustained cold
periods sends these birds south, with
many wintering in Iberia...

Autumn wildlife images

Hello

Not much in the way of birding opportunities today I'm afraid but Chris Payne had his garden mist nets open for a short time at Greens Norton today and caught typical birds which included a Treecreeper and some Starlings...

Treecreeper.
Courtesy of Chris Payne.

Starling.
Courtesy of Chris Payne.

Bird ringing operations are planned for Wednesday, Thursday and possibly Friday mornings at Harrington Airfield whilst this relatively calm period of weather persists. Target birds will be migrant thrushes and it is possible that Redwings will dominate. Please let me know if you would like to attend these ringing sessions as the area will otherwise be restricted to ringers and helpers. My apologies if this affects your plans for the next couple of days...

The below images were taken on the Scottish islands of Islay and Jura during a very pleasant week-long trip there at the end of October...

Regards

Neil M

Fallow Deer.

Twite (and one Linnet!).

Scaup.

Red Deer.

Golden Eagle.

A good start to the week !

The "north" of the county is always attractive at this time of year both in the beautiful array of Autumn colours found in the woodland and the associated birds.

First stop for me was East Carlton Country Park which looked particularly stunning draped with blue skies, sunshine and frost. Zig zagging around the park produced 2+ Brambling, 6 Siskins, Nuthatch, Marsh Tit and Great Spotted Woodpecker. But a clump of bushes/trees near to the big house held the prize of a staggering 13 Hawfinches !!!! Absolutely amazing sight, unfortunately short-lived due to the arrival of some yappy dogs and equally noisy owners.

A slow drive along the Welland Valley produced huge flocks of Fieldfare and Redwing and a male Peregrine Falcon near Gretton.
Next on the agenda was the churchyard at Bulwick. This small churchyard held an incredible number of birds including a male Blackcap, Chiffchaff, several Goldcrests and big numbers of Redwings.

Then it was onto Blatherwycke churchyard which like Bulwick was attractive to good numbers of birds, mainly winter thrushes and common finches.

Blatherwycke Lake is one of those places which is always busy with birds. Today it was "busy" for the wrong reasons, namely disturbance due to a big shoot taking place in the adjoining fields. Birds were literally flying everywhere and it was only possible to pick out 4 Mandarin Duck, an Egyptian Goose and Little Egret.  

A good walk around Wakerley Wood produced very little apart from 2 Hawfinches, several Siskins, a Woodcock and the usual woodland species of Nuthatches, Marsh Tit and more winter thrushes.

My final destination was Fineshade Wood, looking stunning with the weak afternoon sunshine help creating the myriad of oranges, browns and yellows of the trees - amazing!  Birds were a bit thin on the ground, a couple of Redpolls, a Crossbill and 2 Ravens being the highlights.

Throughout the day Red Kites were always overhead and filled the air with their evocative calls. All in all a good day and a good start to the week.

Other birds seen today included a Hawfinch flying over our garden at 07.20 this morning plus Nuthatch and Raven during the day. There were approx 300 Golden Plover at Harrington Airfield and a Barn Owl was between Hanging Houghton and Scaldwell.

Jacob visited Pitsford Reservoir today and notched up quite a list -  2 Green Sandpiper, 3 Redshank, 3 Great White Egret, 2 Stonechat, 5 Brambling, 2 Redpoll, 8 Siskin, 18 Pintail and 5 Scaup.

Regards,

Eleanor

A cool wind blows...

Hello

Sarah, Kenny, Rory and Thomas braved the cool temperatures this morning for a little ringing at Linford Lakes near Milton Keynes. They caught 24 birds made up of a Fieldfare, 4 Redwings, a Song Thrush, 2 Blackbirds, a Chiffchaff, 7 Goldcrests, a Wren, 3 Treecreepers, a Long-tailed Tit, a Robin, a Greenfinch and a Redpoll.

Jacob was at Pitsford Reservoir today and his observations included 4 Great White Egrets, 3 Scaup, 13 Pintail, 15 Dunlin, 2 Redshanks, 2 Green Sandpipers, a Peregrine, a Yellow-legged Gull, 2 Stonechats, a Grey Wagtail and 3 Redpolls. The gull roost off the Sailing Club was unremarkable

A visit to Harrington Airfield this morning in blustery, cool but bright conditions yielded good numbers of Fieldfares and Redwings, a Siskin, 4 Redpolls and a flock of about 150 Golden Plovers. The local Sparrowhawks have obviously been busy intercepting in-coming thrushes judging from  piles of feathers found in the rough grass. However the best bird was a stunning adult male Hen Harrier flying north-west towards the Brampton Valley Way, after a little quartering over some rough ground.

Ringing is anticipated at Harrington Airfield this coming week on Wednesday and Thursday. Public access remains the same along the footpaths but the bunkers and old airstrip will be subject to restricted access.

Regards

Neil M

Chiffchaff courtesy
of Kenny Cramer.

Fieldfare courtesy of
Kenny Cramer.

Sparrowhawk courtesy
of Cathy Ryden.