Wedesday 4th April I decided to head for Summer Leys for the afternoon. It was a tad grey and the wind chill was bloody horrible! Half an hour in a male Marsh Harrier flew straight through heading east, seen from the main hide. A good start!
The other side of the reserve held a total of 7 Little Ringed Plover (a flock of 6 on Mary's Island & 1 on Gull Island), the Curlew still showing by the screen hide, a single Ruff on spit opposite the feeding station and 1-2 Little Egrets about too.
There was a large flock of around 100 hirundines over Mary's. The flock was made up of Swallows and Sand Martins. There had to be a House Martin in with them and, sure enough one showed amongst the masses.
As I got back to the car I heard some Golden Plovers. They soon showed and circled around for a while before eventually landing in the first field left of the lane. Several were looking dead smart in their Summer black bellies. I watched them for a bit before heading home.
The next day (Thursday 5th April) I went bright an early over to Borough Hill in the hope of catching up with a Redstart or a Ring Ouzel. Sadly nothing outrageous, however there were 5 very showy Wheatears (male and 4 females). There was also several Meadow Pipits singing away and still around 50 Fieldfares knocking around.
After this it was off to Summer Leys again. There wasn't really anything new with the Curlew, the Ruff and 5 LRPs all present. My first Willow Warbler of the spring was in song close to the double-decker hide. Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs were in good numbers. A small flock of House Martins were over Mary's along with Swallows and Sand Martins. After this I went for lunch with Ma & Da which was lurvely. Then I went to Pitsford for a brief look for a Fulmar that had appeared that morning opposite the feeding station. Sadly it had left before I got there. Wasn't too much else there other than good numbers of hirundines.
On Sunday 8th April I headed to central Milton Keynes first thing to see a male Black Redstart that had been on wasteland the previous day. Sadly it had moved on plus it tipped it down with rain and I really needed the loo. Grumpy Jonty! I then met up with Dave James at Borough Hill again. It again drew a bit of a blank with just 3 Wheatear (a pair and a single female) and around 30 Fieldfare.
At nearby Daventry Resevoir I was hoping to catch up with a 1st-summer Kittiwake that had turned up the previous day. Unsuprisingly it appeared to have moved on. The bird though somehow escaped our searches until one last scan where it showed out on the water. A handy year tick and in fact the third time I've seen them in the county having seen 3 adults and another adult, also in April and both times on Mary's Lake, by Summer Leys.
After a sneaky Reggae Reggae box meal at KFC (which went down very nicely by the way), we went looking for Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers in woods on the edge of Northampton. Sadly despite a dam good search we couldn't track one down despite seeing both Green and Great Spotted. After that it was home time.
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