The day started at first light with a visit to Ravensthorpe Reservoir in the hope of seeing the Otters that have recently become reliable in their appearances. Otters have long eluded me in Northants and in fact England as a whole, only seeing them (several too) on Mull and the west coast of Scotland. So these were simply a must see!
It was a bitterly cold, yet stunning, clear morning. I began scanning quietly with a couple of others already there. The Great White Egret, present here for some time now, stood out like a sore thumb on the small side, chilling on the ice with a few gulls.
It wasn't too long before I could hear the squeaking calls of an Otter out of sight further along the bank and then YES, 2 Otters appeared to our right, showing a few times before disappearing.
Some more brief views occurred before we were treated to some amazing views of another swimming right across the water from the left and along the edge of the ice in front of us. Amazing! This individual, presumably a male, judging by its size, gave us some good prolonged views as he swam in and out of an isolated nearby island. The other two showed again, with one of them in particular, creating some great entertainment as it smashed it's head through the ice, had a look around and then disappeared back under water!
Several more people arrived to see them but they just didn't seem to understand the idea of being quiet in order to see them, talking at the top of the voice and just generally making way too much noise. End result being, the Otters ceased to show...shock! By this time though I'd more than had my fill of Otter and smugly left to get a nice hot coffee and then head over to nearby Hollowell Reservoir.
I like Hollowell a lot, it always has some great looking habitat and always seems to have some nice muddy shore exposed. Today was no exception. There was nothing amazing here today though with best being 3 Stonechat (2 males, 1 female), a flyover Raven, several Goldeneye and lots of Wigeon & Teal.
After Visiting Northampton for a quick cheeky haircut, I drove on to Ditchford GP, west of Ditchford Lane. I do miss the gulls here thanks to the closure of the nearby Sidegate Landfill. Multiple white-wingers now a thing of the past! A few nice bits were on offer here though with the juvenile Great Northern Diver still present on the water-ski pit, seemingly spending more time under water than above it. A single Great White Egret was about and was soon joined by a second bird before both headed off towards Wellingborough. Seven Egyptian Geese were here too, hissing away and just generally causing a bit of a din, but a welcome year tick all the same I guess. That drew an end to Ditchford for me and so off I went to finish my day at Pitsford Reservoir.
Pitsford if I'm honest was pretty quiet. A scan north of the causeway from the feeding station revealed surprisingly low numbers of wildfowl and nothing more unusual than 4 Goosander (2 drakes, 2 redheads) at the back of the Scaldwell Bay. The feeding station though was encouragingly alive with Tree Sparrows and Yellowhammers.
Finally, I spent some time at the dam end, soon confirming the continued presence of the Red Necked Grebe at the mouth of the Moulton Grange Bay. I walked round to get a better look and enjoyed some nice scope views. I had a good look through the gathering gull roost too here, but failed to find anything of note and so headed for home.
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