May odds & sods in Northants

Mid to late May has seen the majority of migration coming to an end and therefore a large reduction in yearticks and unusual visitors.
The 7th was spent casually looking for a couple of scarce Northants residents along with Dave. We headed over to Polebrook Airfield near Oundle to look for both Turtle Dove and Nightingale. After getting a bit lost we found the correct area. As soon as we got out of the car a Nightingale was properly going for it and we managed to get some prolonged views of it. There were around 3 singing males in total there. There was however no sign of any Turtle Doves.
After a swift pint in Polebrook, we headed back to Salcey late in the day. There we headed for a clearing just east of the lawn. There Dave had had Grasshopper Warbler reeling earlier in the spring and I was keen to see/hear them for my yearlist. After around 5 minutes a male Grasshopper Warbler started reeling followed by another. Result!


I headed to Summer Leys after work on the 16th. There were both a handsome drake Garganey and a Greenshank on the scrape with the Greenshank being a yeartick. There was also a late Wheatear & 2 Grey Partridge in the field to the right of the lane, 6 Ringed Plover & 5 Dunlin on Gull Island and 1st summer Goldeneye on Mary's Island.

I had a further two trips to Summer Leys with a another two yearticks. Firstly, on the 18th, a got round to seeing the adult Little Stint which had been present for a couple of days. Was a very smart adult bird in the NW corner of the scrape along with a Greenshank, 4 Dunlin and a couple of Ringed Plovers. Also present was a 1st summer Little Gull firstly on Gull island and then flying around Mary's with lots of Swifts and House Martins.

Lastly, the I visited on the 28th in the hope of seeing a Wood Sandpiper which had been one of several seen in recent weeks, however most had not lingered long. There had in recent days been an excellent count of 13 Greenshank present on the scrape. I managed to count at least 9 from the main hide. From the double decker hide the Wood Sandpiper along with the Greenshanks, 9 Ringed Plover, a Snipe, a Dunlin and a bright male Yellow Wagtail...not a bad haul! On the slips the previous 1st summer Little Gull was also still present.