Rocking up out of the blue

I was pleased to squeeze in the odd bit of birding in between Christmas and new year. This began on Tuesday 27/12 with a tour around several south Northants sites. I started fairly early at Woodford Halse near Daventry for a Waxwing that had spent the previous day on berries by the local co-op. No luck unfortunately, however nice to see a few familiar birding faces!

Boddington Reservoir was my next port of call, walking the full circuit and giving it a meticulous going over for anything out of the ordinary. Best were a lone Jack Snipe, a calling Willow Tit by Byfield Pool, 10 Goosander, a couple of Little Egret, 3 Shoveler & at least 19 Wigeon, a decent count for the site.

A quick look around Fawsley Park lake revealed very little other than a flock of Siskin and a couple of Gadwall. The lure of the big numbers of large gulls between Banbury & Chacombe then saw me head back down the A361 for another gulling session.

It didn't disappoint with even bigger numbers present than seen previously, all just into Northants. A 2w Caspian Gull was on show for a little while and even better was a striking 3w Caspian too, my first 3w ever I think (poor iphone-scoped pic below). Together with the Casps were 3 Yellow-Legged Gull (2 adults & a 2w) and at least 5 GBBGs (not a spectacularly common bird in the area). LBBGs were in good supply too, together with impressive numbers of Herring Gulls for the area too, possibly in excess of 150-200 birds.

Another go the next day (28/12) with Gareth B produced far fewer gulls, however we still managed 1, possibly 2 1w Caspian Gull, plus 3-4 Yellow Legged Gull.

My last bit of birding during 2016 was to pop into Stow-on-the-Wold with Em on Friday 30/12, while en route to Cheltenham. This was of course to see the now famous male Blue Rock Thrush that had taken up residence on house roofs and gardens, close to the centre of the small town. There were plenty of birders about but nothing compared to the first couple of days it seems, so I'm glad I waited. I spent a very enjoyable 20 or so minutes with the bird, not having to wait too long for it to appear.

There's been a lot of speculation about the origin of the bird, however to me, there is nothing remotely conclusive to suggest that the bird is anything other than wild. With the remarkable number of vagrants during Autumn 2016, why not?! I hear murmurings that someone has obtained a feather so maybe a bit of DNA analysis will put all the speculation to bed.