Golden moment

My standout highlight of August and September was the appearance of a lovely crisp juvenile American Golden Plover that graced Clifford GPs, Northampton from 30/09, before eventually ending up at Pitsford Reservoir for a while.

On hearing the news of it's discovery and subsequent ID, I successfully got a pass from my other half to skip the kiddies bath/bedtime and head straight over to Clifford Hill from work - result! AGP was undoubtedly my biggest bogey bird, having probably tried 5 or 6 times to see one previously without success. It was also a potential county tick, so a bit of a must see!

After enduring the Towcester and Northampton roadworks traffic to get there, I began my walk along the bank around the NW corner of the lake, towards the north shore where the AGP had been residing. It was no surprise, knowing my luck with AGP that a message then promptly came through saying it had flown high and away 'until a distant spec', having been flushed by a bloody hot air balloon (which I could clearly see above my head!). I could not believe it - all that effort and to be actually on site too. Having got over the initial dismay, I gathered myself to stake out the north shore for a while just in case, having heard it had been quite mobile earlier in the day at times.

After about 10-15 mins of standing scanning through what was there, I happened to glance up to see a wader flying in over my head from the diection of town, simuotaneously calling - a call not instantly familiar. Sure enough, my luck was in - the AGP was back...phew!

A real sense of relief arrived instantly, although it took it's time to land, circling for sometime right to the far side of the lake, before eventually settling on the N shore with a Ringed Plover already there.   

It went on to give really nice scope views for the next half hour. It was great to enjoy one not peaking out of a flock of 100s of Goldies and to take in all the features and a leasurely pace. The elegant shape was particularly noticable,more so than I expected.

Finally, American Golden Plover had fallen and a pleasure for it to fall in good old Northants, my home county! 

Back to more local fare, probably the main highlight from August and September was a juvenile Little Stint at Boddington Reservoir, thats stuck around long enough for me to catch it on 15/09, hanging out with 9 Ringed Plover - plus a couple of Ruff that had been around a while. Actually, only my second ever LS locally, so a worthy trip for sure. 

Other local birds of note included a surprise Firecrest at Hinton Airfield, several yearticks with 7 Cattle Egret near Lower Keyford (first of the year), Whinchat, Greenshank, Redshank and Red Crested Pochard. Also a couple of smart juv Med Gulls at Grimsbury, Wheatear, Mandarin and Great White Egret among other things. 

Lastly, I had a few days in north Norfolk with the family, towards the end of August. Not any serious birding really, however did get lovely views of a 1cy Caspian Gull by Cromer Pier, while a walk at Titchwell, did produce views of a couple of Little Stint, Great White Egret and Spoonbill amonsgt the regular visitors, seen from the path.

High summer in the garden

With prolonged hot weather during June and July, I spent plenty of time out in our Brackley garden. It's proved really enjoyable, with good numbers of butterflies popping in and out - certainly better than 2024!

Amongst a nice variety of species, I've been lucky enough to add TWO new butterfly species for the garden, in the shape of a single Marbled White on 01/07, which flew a couple of circuits before departing and also a lovely fresh Brown Argus on 10/07, that allowed just enough time for a couple of photos before getting flushed by a bee and off it went! Both have been anticipated for sometime, so it was awesome to finally get them. It's going to be really difficult now to add any more species, with the garden list now standing at 24!

Just the second ever garden Small Copper also made an unexpected appearance on 10/08, spending a short time on one of the buddleias.

Small Skippers were surprisingly with a number visits, as well as a single Essex Skipper on 10/07 - the first time I've seen both species in the garden on the same day. These were part of a total of 14 species, a garden day record!

Common Blue is a pretty infrequent visitor too but was lucky enough to have a fresh male hang about for a while on 01/07.

Just the one Painted Lady this year (09/08), but it was a beautifully fresh one, hanging out around the buddleias, which also attracted a Hummingbird Hawkmoth on 10/08. Another also made it into our kitchen for a short time on 13/08!! 

Other species seen included up to 10 Gatekeepers, occasional Comma, Speckled Wood and Green-Veined White, while more regular Large and Small Whites, Peacocks, Red Admirals, Holly Blue, Meadow Brown and Brimstone.  

A couple of new garden Odonata were also a bonus, with both a Beautiful Demoiselle and a Broad-Bodied Chaser lingering. The Demoiselle in particular was cool, posing nicely around the pond.

Bird wise, the big highlight was a Whitethroat on 13/08 - a garden first, flicking about with a small tit flock in the hedge.

Flying ant season, pulled in a mass of large gulls to the area on 10/08. The playing field was alive with Lesser Black-backs, but also a lovely adult Yellow-Legged Gull. It was strange peering over my garden fence watching a YLG at point blank range! Also of interest were three ringed LBB Gulls, two Dutch and one Spanish! The flying ants also pulled in a Hobby a couple of times - now pretty much annual in autumn.