Ring-Necked Duck

With Pitsford Reservoir holding a great range of interesting avian winter visitors, I decided to pay the place a visit for a few hours on Saturday 08/12.

The feeding station / Scaldwell Bay area was the place to be. I began scanning from here, looking for the drake Ring-Necked Duck that had been around about a week, playing hide and seek amongst the big numbers of wildfowl present.

It took a good 25 minutes, but thankfully I found him, in with a distant feeding flock of Tufties and diving regularly between the Walgrave & Scaldwell Bays. After quite a while, it slowly made it's way into the mouth of the Scaldwell Bay, where it stayed near to the Maytrees Hide, for the rest of the time I was there. My 2nd Northants Ring-Necked, after the Billing GP female some 3-4 years ago.





There was plenty more of interest and the Scaldwell Bay held lots of wildfowl, including a single Bewick's Swan and 10-11 Whooper Swans - in fact a very rare chance to see all 3 species of swan together in the county!





The now usual Great White Egrets were in situ, with at least two about. A Ruff, a couple of Green Sands, c3 Red Crested Pochard and several Pintail completed an impressive supporting cast.

That wasn't all...a trip over to the dam, confirmed the continued presence of a single juvenile Great Northern Diver lingering in the Yacht Club Bay, too distant for any picture.

Down south

For much of November, any birding has been concentrated to the southern half of Northants and also the usual Grimsbury Res patch in Banbury.

On Sunday 25/11, I spent a large part of the day going around some sites between Brackley & Banbury, before heading on towards Boddington Res, Daventry Res & Borough Hill.

I started the day at Thenford Church, near Brackley in a hopeful attempt to find Hawfinches. Not surprisingly, I drew a blank. Last winter was certainly exceptional for Hawfinch, however regardless, Thenford still looks very favourable for them. I'll certainly be keeping an eye out for them there for the remainder of the winter.

For the first time in ages, the Middleton Cheney / Chacombe area, had drawn in some decent numbers of gulls, feeding on cattle feed and manure. One such area just SW of Middleton Cheney held at least 3 Yellow-Legged Gulls, all adults and a lovely distinctive adult Caspian Gull. The adjacent hedge also sprung another surprise, with c20 Tree Sparrow also coming down to the field to feed. 









The water levels continued to be very low at Boddington Res, but was also very quiet on the bird front. Daventry Res painted a similar picture. There were though plenty of birds about, however the only thing of note was a vocal Green Sandpiper.





On then to the adjacent Borough Hill, in search of the recently reported Short Eared Owl. It was about 14:30pm and was very gloomy, so there was a reasonable chance it would appear. I walked through the centre of the hill and spent a good 40 minutes scanning and searching, right up to the far north end of the hill. I wanted to get back to Banbury, to Grimbo for the gull roost, so I reluctantly began walking back to the car, taking a slightly different route.

Thirty seconds later, and BANG the Short Eared Owl flew up out of the long grass, no more than 4 foot in front of me!! After a bit of fly about, it settled in the dead branches of a nearby bit of scrub and then went on to quarter the hill for a good 20 minutes. Big success, although felt a little bad for accidentally waking him up!

Rough Leg reward

Saturday (17/11) was spent going a grand tour of mid & north Northants sites, something I hadn't done for quite some time.

First up, at Clifford Hill GP early on, it was cold and cloudy and while there was nothing outrageous, a female Red Crested Pochard & 4 Pintail were something of note at least. Nearby Hardingstone GP drew a blank.



I then moved on further north to Thrapston, to have a scan of town lake. After a while, sunshine appeared and I managed to pick out the lone remaining 1st-winter Velvet Scoter, as well as a couple of female Pintail and plenty of Pochard, Goldeneye & Tufted Duck.



Further north still and to the Polebrook Airfield area looking for raptors, in particular Rough-Legged Buzzard, however just the standard Red Kites and Buzzards, plus a pair of Stonechat about too.






Having a look on Googlemaps, I was only 15-20 minutes away from Holme Fen, just into Cambridgeshire, which had been holding two Rough Legged Buzzards for the previous week or so. Having been unsuccessful in finding my own and having not seen one for a few years, I decided to give Holme Fen a go.

I made my way to the general area of where one was reported earlier and after a bit of scanning and searching, came across several birders who confirmed one had been seen not too long ago.

After some 20 minutes a buteo species appeared quite distantly, soon turning to reveal that distinctive black and white tail...Rough-Legged Buzzard! Over time it came a bit closer, hunting over the farmland and ditches, hovering regularly.

I enjoyed decent scope views for a while, before deciding to head back in the general direction of Northampton. Turning the car round, I noticed the Buzzard was getting closer and it's flight path was heading towards the road further up. So I swiftly drove further along the road and using the car as a hide, was able to enjoy some brilliant views as the Rough Leg casually hunted close to the roadside, again spending a lot of time hovering. Flippin' awesome!

I then really did leave and decided on my way back home, to pop into Pitsford Res, for a look at the Scaldwell Bay area during the last hour or so of daylight. Here, it was cool to see the 11 Whooper Swans that had hung around in recent days. They showed well, albeit spending most of the time with their heads under the water feeding! Also about were at least 2 Great White Egret, 11 Red-Crested Pochard, 10 Pintail, and large numbers of commoner wildfowl.