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.
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!
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.
I had the day off on Friday 02/11, given to me by work as it was my birthday the following day. The Mrs and everyone else I knew was at work, so there was no choice but to go out birding for the day. Poor me! I had a plan in mind to set off early and get up to Thrapston, to see the group of 6 1st-winter Velvet Scoters that had taken up residence on Town Lake since the previous Sunday. It looked likely I'd miss out on this valuable county tick, but miraculously, they had hung on for me. Friday was a beautiful bright, crisp day and ideal to be out and about. I made my way to the southern side of town lake, hoping the scoters would still be in situ. I eventually found a gap in the lake side trees to view a reasonable amount of the lake. Relief soon enveloped me, as a single Velvet Scoter appeared in my bins, loosely associating with a group of Tufties. I walked further along and after a bit of effort, found another opening in the trees to enjoying closer, better views of the bird.
After a while, a second Velvet joined it and then the other 4 appeared a little later too, in the middle of the lake. I don't know where they were all hiding but now all 6 were in view! I spent some time getting lovely scope views and also picked out the recently reported 1st-winter Scaup too. Bonus!
It was now 10 o'clock and I was mulling what to do next. Either I mooched around a few county sites to try and find something OR, being well on the way to Norfolk, would it be a bit mad to go there for the afternoon?
Well, I'd realised that I had spent so much of 2018 patch birding and keeping it local, that I'd yet to see a lifer at all this year. So with the lure of of the probable Stejneger's Stonechat & King Eider in North Norfolk, I was soon heading around the Peterborough ring road and on towards Kings Lynn! Calling my Norfolk mate Kieran, he was luckily free and so we agreed to meet at Salthouse beach road, about 12:45pm. The possible Stejneger's Stonechat was a short walk away, along the Meadow Lane track. To be honest, we thought it would be relatively straightforward, particularly as it had been reported a few times already during the morning. But, for a good half hour it went AWOL! Thankfully though, someone else picked it out not too far from where we were. It certainly is a distinctive bird, with a noticeably white throat, pale underparts and a peachy rump which was not easy to see but could occasionally be seen when the bird was at rest. With DNA obtained from it's poo, we all await the results with interest!
Just after 2 o'clock, we hopped in our cars again and headed along to Sheringham. Just right of the seawatching shelter were several others already looking. After a brief scan with the bins, the 2nd-winter King Eider was duly located and there was my second UK lifer of the day! We soaked up the bird for a good 20-30 minutes, watching it diving for crabs. The light was immense and while it was a scope job to see it, the views were not to be sniffed at! We had a quick look for Purple Sands on the rocks down by the public toilets, but just the usual Turnstones were in situ.
With it now 3pm, I had about an hour and a half until sunset. Enough time then to finish the day at Stiffkey to look for raptors, before getting home for dinner! I therefore parted ways with Kieran and wound my way along the coast road to Stiffkey. I walked a short way west from the campsite car park and set the scope up. No more than a minute later, a female Merlin flew past west, really close by before setting off after some Mipits. Better was then to come with a fairly distant but fantastic male Hen Harrier, slowly making it's way west, pausing several times to half-heartedly chase something before carrying on it's path. Well that was all rather easy and seemed like the ideal way to end the day.
As is generally tradition, I managed once again to squeeze in a few days in North Norfolk in mid-October, in the hope that the wind had an easterly theme! My pal Kieran again showed spot-on hospitality by putting me up and it was wicked to properly catch up again. I spent the first two days of my 4-day visit birding by myself, as Kieran had to look after his little daughter. The first day, Sunday was in all honesty a right old washout, with horizontal rain all the way there and for the majority of the day. I tried my best to get out and find something, but it weren't easy! A scan at Thornham across the saltmarsh, in a brief break in the rain produced a redhead Goosander, several Rock Pipits, a Red-Throated Diver, a Pintail, flocks of Brents & Pinkfoots and a selection of waders, including 3 Greenshank.
I tried nearby Gypsy Lane near Titchwell and Titchwell church, but both were unsurprisingly devoid of passerines. I decided to carry on E and spend a chunk of the afternoon seawatching off Cley with the wind showing a bit of NW.
It wasn't too bad, straight away encountering 2 Snow Buntings at point blank range in the car park. Best birds seen on the sea included 2 Arctic & 1 Sandwich Tern, c10 Bonxies, 1 Manx Shearwater, several Eider and plenty of Gannets.
The next day, Monday 15/10, I decided to give Sheringham a go early for a seawatch. It was pretty squally with a strong NE wind, plus Sheringham is only 15-20 mins from Kieran's, so perfecto! It was a busy 3 hours, hardly mental, but lots of interest. The Little Gulls, Red Necked Grebe and Manxies were probably the highlights:
I then moved further west for the afternoon to give Wells Woods a go, as with the NE wind, I fancied there being a reasonable chance of finding something a bit tasty. After all...it's got just a bit of a track record! I love slowly making my way round there, always hopeful an OPB will flick up, or one of the Robins, morphs into a Bluetail. In reality, on this occassion, it wasn't so amazing, however I did come across my first Yellow-Browed Warbler of the autumn. A couple each of Brambling and Redpoll went over calling, while there was also a small smattering of Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Redwing, plus a notable number of Robins too, presumably mostly migrants.
The next two days I had company, with Kieran now free to bird, as his wife was now off work and able to look after their little one. The anticipation was high with far calmer weather forecast, following 2-3 days of minging weather and NE wind. We spent Tuesday 16/10 birding Kieran's patch along the coast near Trimingham. It was as good a place as any to turn up something juicy, with plenty of decent areas to try. As it turned out, we were straight into something very good! In the first 15 minutes of decent light, we saw a few Brambling, 2-3 Blackcaps and a surprise House Martin W. Then, around 5 minutes later, we reached a scrubby, grassy, more open area along the cliffs. Simultaneously, we heard a distinctive soft tack coming from the grass and dead weeds, a short distance to our left. We both knew full well what it was...a Dusky Warbler! We inched our way a little closer and were able to hear it really well for a good 10 minutes, as well as gain the briefest, classic Dusky views, as it scratted around in the dead weeds and long grass. See a recording of it here: https://www.xeno-canto.org/439999 Now that was some start to the day!! With appetite suitably whetted, we carried birding the rest of the area.
Unsurprisingly, there was nothing else as rare as the Dusky, however we still had a very decent day's birding with highlights including a Lapland Bunting, a fresh-in Yellow-browed Warbler in undercliff scrub, a Jack Snipe in-off and late Whinchat & Wheatear.
Just as interesting was watching birds coming straight in-off the sea too. This, included regular groups of Starling, Redwing, Skylarks, Bramblings and Chaffinches. An exciting sight!
On the ground there were impressive numbers of Robins and Song Thrush, particularly on the undercliffs, while the scrub had a decent sprinkling of Goldcrests and Chiffchaffs too. All in all, a really interesting day. Wednesday 17/10 was my last day in Norfolk. We once again made our way around the cliffs at Trimingham. There were still birds about, however we didn't find anything too new. Best bird was probably a rather late Willow Warbler. There were more Fieldfare and Redwing about, flocks of Golden Plover & Pinkfeet overhead, 4 Grey Wagtails through W, several Brambling and an impressive number of c200 Chaffinch over W early on.
I then gradually made my way home along the N Norfolk coast. I stopped off at Stiffkey Campsite Wood for a prolonged look about. Rather predictably, I came across a Yellow-browed Warbler, feeding with c10 Goldcrests at the W end of the wood. A Brambling was the only other bird of note, despite a meticulous search.
There ended an enjoyable few days and a welcome change of birding scenery!
This week saw the first autumnal gales of the year and as such, attention turned to the possibility of displaced seabirds. With such rewards in my mind, I've spent quite a lot of time on the Grimsbury Res patch. Following the remnants of tropical Storm Florence earlier in the week, Storm Bronagh soon arrived on Thursday 20/09 & Friday 21/09, with strong westerly / north westerly winds hitting the UK. This one got things going and a good number of Grey Phalaropes began popping up all over the place.
Finding a Grey Phalarope at Grimsbury Res last September was so exciting but surely it couldn't happen again could it?! Well, both early morning, before work and on my lunch break, I drew a bland on finding pretty much anything to be honest. But, seeing how many Grey Phals and other seabirds were continuing to be found elsewhere, I persevered and visited again about twenty past five, after work. On reaching the res, I began scanning and quickly found a Polish-ringed Black Headed Gull on the pontoon. Further scanning along the east side produced a small, gleaming white shape towards the SE corner. It soon moved and turned...a Grey Phalarope!!
It wasn't possible to view it from the E side as the view along this section of shoreline is blocked by a long stretch of concrete step. So it took a while, but eventually it ventured out into unobscured shoreline allowing myself and local birder Steve Holiday to enjoy this characterful little juvenile/1st-winter. I hadn't realised he wasn't around for last year's one, so it was great Steve got to see this one.
Gareth & Colin arrived too and having watched the bird for a while, we went on to see a decent supporting cast before dusk, including 6 Golden Plovers through, 1 Hobby, 1 Little Egret (scarce here) & c5 Yellow-Legged Gulls into roost. The next day, (Saturday 22/09) I just had to go back to see the Phalarope again and so arrived nice and early. It was very much the calm following the storm, however still produced some interesting birding. There was unfortunately and rather surprisingly, no sign of the Phalarope, though under cloudy skies, there was a lot of overhead vis mig between 07:25 - 09:40. A total of at least 453 Meadow Pipits moving S was very impressive, as were 35+ Siskins in dribs and drabs, though there were certainly more than that, with many more distant calls heard. A flyover Yellowhammer was a welcome patch year tick, probably my last Yellow Wagtail of the year went S and a Snipe zoomed through NE. More than satisfied with what I'd seen, I decided to get home for some breakfast with the stomach rumbling! On leaving, I looked back one last time to see a species of tern rapidly dropping out of the sky! I marched back and was pleased to find it was a beautiful adult Arctic Tern. Get in! I sat and enjoyed it elegantly floating up and down the reservoir for a while and then it really was time for some food! My fourth patch year tick in 2 days...very good times!
