It all started with a visit, along with my good mate Dave James, to a site looking for our first ever Northants Adders. The cold weather and cloudy conditions were hardly conducive for finding reptiles but still we gave it a good go!
First of all though, we were pointed to some rare Northants flora, in the shape of the 'Yellow Star of Bethlehem'. This is a tiny, stunning little thing on the forest floor, so easily missed.
After trying several spots for the Adders, we went back to one particular spot around 1 o'clock. After a brief search, Dave struck gold, finding a dozy male Adder curled up in the undergrowth. It obligingly sat there for a few minutes, knowing full well we were close-by. It then slowly but surely made it's way back into cover and that was that! How an earth we managed to see one with the weather how it was, I will never know. Brilliant!
The next day, I paid a visit to a site close to Northampton to look for Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. If there was a morning to look for them, this was it with a bit of sun and not a hint of wind. Was still though a bit of a long shot.
Initially there was no sign, however I soon latched onto both Great Spotted & Green Woodpeckers, the lesser's bigger & far more numerous cousins.
While enjoying a Great Spotted drumming, a more higher pitched and frequent drumming began in the oak tree next to it...Lesser Spotted Woodpecker! Boom!
For the next 15 minutes or so I enjoyed some excellent views of the bird, drumming frequently and calling a couple of times. Eventually, it melted away and I left with a bloody big smile on my face having witnessed a now very rare sight in the UK.
On Friday (27/03) I took a walk around Grimsbury Reservoir after work as it looked like a pretty stunning, sunlit evening. Having seen very little, I walked back towards the car when I got a text saying a Ring Billed Gull had been found at Boddington Reservoir by Gary Pullan. Panic!!
I got to the car at about quarter past 6. Let's just say I was far from shy with the accelerator and arrived at Boddington in around 15 minutes! I briskly made my way along the path towards a handful of birders some 200 metres away. Despite quite a lot of the gulls moving off north, amazingly the Ring-Billed Gull remained and Gary had the bird in his scope in what was now seriously poor light. It was though, just about possibly to make out that bit chunky bill. Dreadful i-phone scoped photo below taken at 18:50pm!
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