Reservoir birding

Had a day around some of the Northants reservoirs on Sunday (03/02). I started off at Ravensthorpe to catch up with the large group of Smew and the Brent Goose seen there the previous day. The Brent Goose was not to be found, however the Smew showed well on the small side with at least 3 Drakes and around 6-7 females.

After this I headed over to nearby Hollowell Reservoir in the hope of finding my first Pintail of the year or anything else that might be lurking around. The undoubted highlight was an adult Mediterranean Gull lingering off the point with a large flock of Common and Black Headed Gull. Also seen here were the male Stonechat on the barbed wire fence near the outflow stream and 2-3 Goosander.

Finally, I joined up with Dave and we had a stomp around the reserve side of Pitsford to see what was about. The Great White Egret flew from Walgrave to Holcot Bay before showing well in Scaldwell later on. A Barn Owl showed really well hunting late in the afternoon at the back of Walgrave Bay. We also saw a pair of Smew in Scaldwell and later Walgrave and there were also several Siskin and Redpoll sp. knocking around. A male Tawny Owl was then calling at the back of Scaldwell late in the day.