Wood Warbler

I had Sunday (26/04) morning to myself and so decided to visit a few Northants sites in the hope of more migrants.

I decided to start at Daventry Reservoir/Country Park as it's usually a good site for terns/gulls in spring. Heading there was all the more a must as just as I was leaving, news came of a singing Wood Warbler in the car park. Brilliant!

I arrived to be greeted by a guy saying it was not around, however within 30 seconds I was beckoning him over as the unmistakable tumbling song of a Wood Warbler came from trees close to where I'd parked. The bird created a mini twitch of local birders and showed fairly well, if a bit high in the canopy between the car park and the reservoir. Neck-breaking stuff!

They really are always a cracking bird to see and hear and I spent ages watching and enjoying it, my second county Wood Warbler. The reservoir held little else, other than a decent gathering of Common Terns. On my return to the car park I had another little vigil with the Warbler and in fact, he showed far better in marginly better light.

I decided to give Summer Leys a go next as with limited time, it would almost certainly provide some good birds.

Pioneer Hide produced some nice stuff, with a distant, dabbling drake Garganey in wader bay along with a White Wagtail. A really smashing looking spring Green Sandpiper was feeding in vegetation on the scrape, as well as 3 vocal LRP and a Greenshank was on Round Island.

Wandering round to the lane, a relatively illusive Whimbrel appeared near to the screen hide, while a total of 14 Dunlin were spread between Gull Island and Mary's Lake. Nearby, my first 2015 Garden Warbler was in song and the near-resident 2nd-summer Med Gull went over a couple of times calling.

Before I finished my birding for the day, I popped into Clifford Hill GP for a short while, a site I hadn't visited for quite a few months. Here 1-2 Arctic Terns were cruising about, together with several Common Tern. Also here were a single Common Sand and a summer plumaged Dunlin.

Great morning's birding and 6 new year ticks to boot!

The lengths & breadths of Northants

On Saturday (18/04) I spent a while in Bucknell Wood, near Silverstone enjoying the sunshine and the first really good numbers of Orange Tips now on the wing, together with 1-2 Green-Veined Whites. The Bluebells too were beginning to show, though not quite at their peak.

I then went on to a great site for Slow Worms where I came across two whopping great specimens, as well as a small Common Lizard.

I popped into Summer Leys to see if the Whinchat reported earlier in the day, was still about. In severe heat haze, there was no sign, however in the fields either side of the lane were 2 Yellow Wagtail & around 5 White Wagtail. On Mary's, a nice pair of Red Crested Pochard were feeding, together with a few Gadwall. The Med Gull was still in the gull colony on rotary island, a couple of Common Tern were around and a nice surprise was a pair of Grey Partridge in fields by the lane as I was leaving.

  















The next day, Sunday (19/04), I again popped into Summer Leys as I was passing and almost immediately chanced upon presumably the same male Whinchat as had been seen the previous day in the ploughed field behind the Paul Britten hide. Spring male Whinchats really are great looking things!

3 Yellow Wagtails were again in the area, together with a smart male Wheatear. There also appeared to be a bit of an increase in Common Tern numbers over night.

I spent the rest of the day further north, checking a reliable Nightingale site. I failed to track one down there, however I did see and hear my first Cuckoo of the year and the number of Blackcaps here was impressive.

Glapthorn Cow Pasture eventually yielded a singing Nightingale, however it took quite a while and even when I did hear it, it only gave out odd snippets. A male Tawny Owl bizarrely gave out a couple of calls in the late afternoon sunshine, while a flock of around 15 Fieldfares overhead was unexpected and possibly my latest ever.

The main lake at Stanwick GPs was my last stop. The adult Glaucous Gull was about, however staring into the sun I couldn't locate it amongst the resting gulls. A bird that I'm almost certain was it, made off high to the west and there ended my chance to see it, never mind!
2 LRPs were about, a 2nd-summer Little Gull was flying around the lake and a couple of singing Reed Warblers were in the nearby reedbed. A nice couple of yearticks to finish the day!

Spring patching

I'm currently giving Grimsbury Reservoir in Banbury a real good go this spring in the hope of turning up some great passage birds. So far it has been pretty good, however I must admit I'm cursing the current, gorgeous weather a tiny bit as it's hardly ideal for migrants dropping in. I can't really complain though, it is rather nice and does make a nice change from constant rain!

So what have I seen so far? Well it has been pretty stop, start on the migrant front however things have gradually trickled through. Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps & Willow Warblers are now here in force and there's also several lively Sedge Warblers singing away along the river.

Whitethroats are yet to really properly arrive, although I did have one feeding in scrub in the sw corner on 16/04. Yellow Wagtails seem very thin on the ground with just the odd one turning up around the cattle field from 14/04. A couple of White Wagtail have dropped in, one in particular showed very well, also on 14/04.

Wheatear passage has been poor so far this year however thankfully, 3 dropped in on 16/04 and showed really nicely in the early morning sun.

Passage waders have consisted of up to 4 Little Ringed Plover & as many as 6 Common Sandpiper. Little else as yet although Gareth Blockley did have a flyover Curlew the other day. Still plenty of time on the wader front, with now until mid-May usually the most productive time.

Tern passage is only just getting under way and I'm hopeful that some or even one Arctic Tern will pay a visit at some point. I have though had three separate sightings of a single Common Tern. Could be the same individual lingering in the area but could also be 3 different birds..who knows!

Hirundines have been through in fairly good numbers particularly Swallows & Sand Martins. I also had my first House Martins on 16/04.

Finally, the lonely Willow Tit is still hanging around, however very much largely keeping his head down. He did though, show really well feeding in the pines of the SW corner of the wood and along by the canal on the 15/04. A Jay flying purposefully north on 17/04 was slightly unusual for this time of year.

It's Raining Rouzels!

Spring migration is now well and truely in full swing and certainly is a really exciting time of the year. Hense, at the moment I'm trying to spend as much time as I can in the field!

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!

The brilliant Brecks

So Easter Monday saw David James & I take a trip to Suffolk in the vein hope that the recently reported Scarce Tortoiseshell would appear at Peewit Hill in Felixstowe. It was a glorious, sunny journey all the way down to Felixstowe. We parked up and had been out of the car no more than 5 minutes before the cloud rolled in and the temperature dropped. Typical! In all fairness, it's what the forecast said but who truely can rely on a weather forecast!

Nevermind! So, after a welcome McDonalds brekky, we paid a visit to Landguard Point and had a good wander around looking for grounded migrants. Sadly there was nothing more than a couple of Ringed Plover, a Turnstone and a single Chiffchaff. Time for Plan B...the Brecks!

We started at Santon Downham churchyard, a well known site for Firecrest. The place was alive with calling crests & Siskins and after a moment of tuning in a bit, we got onto probably 2-3 Firecrest, one in particular showed very well indeed. A couple of Mandarin also wizzed over while we were there.

A visit to nearby Grimes Graves drew a blank on the Great Grey Shrike, but I'm not entirely sure we were looking in the right place! We did stumble across a singing Woodlark though, a fine consolation.

We then spent a long while at Lynford Arboretum. Here we had our most success! First up was some time spent by the wooden gate where food has been put out for the birds. It wasn't long before 2 Brambling made an apprearance. These were a welcome addition to the yearlist with what has been a seriously barren winter for them locally. There were tonnes of Siskin about and the odd one was coming down to the food along with regular visits from Nuthatch, Marsh tits and other common woodland species.

Soon, a guy picked out 3 distant Hawfinch ground-feeding just to the left of the 'lane'. Soon, a male was picked up along the lane feeding amongst the leaf litter. The views while not too close, were really prolonged and just pretty awesome really!

After a while it disappeared for a bit before reappearing far closer just to the left of the lane. Here we gained our best views as it quietly foraged no more than 30 feet away. Brilliant! After a long while it vanished and we decided to go and look for Firecrest.

Soon after pitching up close to the folley, a singing Firecrest could be heard from the adjacent pines. Speaking to a photographer there, he said one had been coming down to feed on flies on the deck!! Thats nuts! So we hung around a while to see what went on.

Soon a Goldcrest showed up and did just that, and happily fed on the ground for a good minute or two no more than 15 feet away. Bizzare! All during this time 1-2 Firecrest continued to sing their hearts out closeby.

We got brief, distant views of a Firecrest feeding in the grass and daffodils under the pines before presumably the same bird appeared on the ground some 20 feet away. Here it fed for a minute or so affording amazing views, finding small flies around the base and roots of one of the pines. Really was an unusual sight! A Brimstone then cruised by, distracting Dave for a short while.

Dave's brilliant video illustrates the Firecrest antics really well:

We finished the day by visiting a reliable Stone Curlew site not far away. It was pleasing to get good yet distant views of a pair sat out in the sun. The end of what was, a great afternoon and a good laugh too.