On Friday (10/04) I got off work early and decided to take a drive down the A361 to Daventry and to Borough Hill, with migrants appearing to be moving through in good numbers throughout the country.
Sadly Borough Hill is heavily disturbed by dog walkers, however it is a fair size and so it is just about possible to find birds. I started on the southern slopes and soon found 5 late Fieldfare feeding in the grass before, yes you guessed it, flushed by dog walkers! A Swallow wizzed through and a Willow Warbler could be heard singing from the wood on the Eastern side.
Moving towards the area on the E side of the BBC compound, I picked up a couple of weary Wheatears, my first of the year. They have, so far, been rather thin on the ground. I spent a fair old bit of time wandering and scanning, however all I saw were good views of the local Skylarks.
Walking back to the car, I though I'd have another look at the Wheatears at by this time, about 18:20pm. Approaching the area, I stopped in my tracks. A short distance away was a 'blackbird-shaped' thing walking around in the grass. Getting it in my bins, it had it's back to me, but the unmistakable pale feathering in the mantle gave it's identity away instantly. Male Ring Ouzel! I've spent quite a bit of time up there each spring looking for one so it was great to catch up with one there. I slowly sat down and enjoyed him for a bit with the sun behind me. I got a few pics and a bit of video as it gradually edged a little closer, unaware of me there.
Sadly and rather predictably a clueless woman with her dog marched by, flushing it completely. Arghh! At least it didn't happen a couple of minutes before, then I really would've been pissed off!! All the same, what a magic encounter!
The next day (Saturday 11/04). I started fairly early at Summer Leys, a great place for spring birding. I spent much of the morning here along with several other friendly local faces! One aim while I was there was to catch up with the very fine-looking 2nd-sumemer Med Gull which has been very much strutting it's stuff amongst the Black Headed Gull colony on Rotary Island. It certainly showed very well and was very terrortorial and loyal to it's own little patch on the island!
Other birds of note here included a cream-crown Marsh Harrier seen 2 or 3 times around the reserve, a Ruff on the bund, an LRP over S early on, several Swallow and Sand Martin through, several singing Willow Warbler, a couple of Goldeneye on Mary's and a Little Egret. I was also pleased to pick up my first Orange Tip butterfly, a male, along the old railway line. It took a while, but eventually he settled for me to get a couple of shots.
A visit to Stanwick GP main lake, later on in the day, failed to yield the recent adult Glaucous Gull. Best here were 2 LRP, a second-summer Yellow-Legged Gull, 4 Dunlin, plenty of Swallow/Sand Martin, a Ringed Plover and a very distant Peregrine on Higham Ferrers church!
The weekend was finished off nicelyon Sunday (12/04) with a visit to Newnham Hill, just south of Daventry. Having spent most of the day landscaping the garden, I rewarded myself by having a look for the group of 4 Ring Ouzel reported here earlier in the day on the steep grassy slopes on the SE side of the hill. Before seeing any sign I was rewarded with a stunning but distant male Redstart, on a fencepost, also reported earlier on. Great stuff!
The 4 Ring Ouzels eventually showed themselves however they were, at times, pretty illusive often feeding in dips in the field or behind hedges. Despite this and the distant views, they were still well worth the drive over to see them, especially as I'd never seen more than one at any one time in the county before. Sweet as!
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