As spring continued to advance, the weather remained unsettled throughout the week, with early west to south-westerly winds swinging round to strong north-westerlies and northerlies by the end of the period. Amid high expectations, the county again chalked up a handful of firsts for the year, including a significant rarity and two more summer visitors.
With a good 75% of these now having clocked in, Garden Warbler and Whinchat were the two new additions this week and, while the date for the former was unremarkable, the latter sets a new record for the earliest arrival of its kind in the county.
The previous earliest arrival date for Whinchat was 15th April – a record set in 1984 and then equalled in 2015. Also noteworthy, a second Whinchat was found this week in the Brampton Valley between Cottesbrooke and Hanging Houghton, on 17th.
Spring continued to shape up nicely with another drake Garganey found at Stanwick GP on 14th. It did not linger, however, unlike the long-staying drake Red-crested Pochard mobile around Earls Barton GP’s new workings area and still present on 18th. Top of the week’s wildfowl for some, though, appeared in the form of a drake Ferruginous Duck at Stanford Res, where it remained throughout the day on 15th. With records well and truly close to rock bottom in recent years, this species has become a true rarity in both Northants and the wider environs of the UK.
In decline internationally and of increasing conservation concern, it’s been a British Birds rarity since it was reinstated on their descriptions required list in 2017. Stanford has three earlier records to its name with birds in 1950, 1972 and 1997 and Northants as a whole has 26 previously accepted records, including a returning drake passing through Pitsford Res during the three Septembers of 2009-2011. Aside from a juvenile drake present at Daventry CP from the end of July until mid-September 2022 (accepted but origin uncertain), the only other county record this century was a first-winter drake at Daventry CP from December 2002 to February 2003, also visiting Hollowell Res in February 2003.
Unlike the fleetingly rare, polished mahogany example above, the female Ring-necked Duck, while extending its stay at Ditchford GP’s Irthlingborough Lakes & Meadows LNR until at least 16th, appeared to attract scant attention.
On the wader front, the year’s first ‘viewable’ Whimbrel put in an appearance at Summer Leys LNR on 13th, followed by one in flight over Stanford on 18th.
Another first for the year was a Bar-tailed Godwit, found on the regularly watched flood meadow at Barnwell Lock, Oundle, on 19th. Otherwise, Black-tailed Godwits continued to hold sway – principally at Summer Leys, where there were three on 16th, singles on 17th and 18th and two on 19th. Elsewhere, one visited Pitsford on 14th, two flew north-east over Daventry on 17th and two flew east over Far Cotton, Northampton on 18th.
Single Greenshanks visited Summer Leys on 13th and 16th and Stanwick GP on the last of these two dates.
Moving up the scale, a White Stork was reported over Summer Leys on 18th and an unconfirmed report of a Spoonbill flying east over Wood Burcote on 17th remained just that.
With two feet firmly on the ground, a Bittern put in an appearance at Thrapston GP’s Titchmarsh LNR on 14th while, on the same date, seven Cattle Egrets were in a cow field near Hothorpe Hall, south of Sibbertoft and three flew west over Summer Leys. Otherwise is was down to the regular singleton at the latter site to see the week out in the Nene Valley.
And so to the larger raptors, sightings of which were dominated by Ospreys. Taking it day by day, single birds were seen on 14th when a female was at Hollowell Res and one was over Oundle Golf Club Fishing Lake while, on 15th, a blue-ringed ‘3AY’, 5-year-old male ranging wide from Rutland visited Hollowell and two were at Ravensthorpe, remaining there until the following day. Also on 16th one flew north near Corby Golf Course and singles visited Stanford and Hollowell on 17th and 18th, respectively.
The week’s only Marsh Harrier dropped in at Stanwick on 15th.
It’s unusual for Short-eared Owls to remain into the latter half of April but that’s precisely what we’re seeing this year with two still at Blueberry Farm, Maidwell on 17th and one lingering at Harrington AF until the week’s end.
A Merlin was seen between Clipston and Sibbertoft on 6th.
And it seems we’re not done with Waxwings yet, as four of last week’s Warth Park six remained at Raunds on 13th.
But the species attracting the most attention this week was Ring Ouzel. Following last week’s four, seven were up for grabs during the period. New in were singles between Cottesbrooke and Naseby on 14th and in the Brampton Valley on 18th, while three were found at Honey Hill on the latter date. And while last week’s long-staying female at Harrington proved a popular pull throughout this week, it was rightly trounced by a more easily accessible and showy bird on the edge of suburbia, in the newly-mown Miller’s Meadow at Weston Mill, Northampton, on 18th-19th.
Common Redstarts also upped their game with singles at Blueberry Farm, Broughton Pocket Park, Harrington AF, Honey Hill, Pitsford, Stanwick and Stoke Albany on 14th, at Harrington on 17th-19th and at Borough Hill on 19th.
Numbers of Northern Wheatears, too, were on the up with 14th seeing singles at Borough Hill and Stanford Res and two at Harrington AF. One was at Summer Leys on 16th, two were at Blueberry Farm on 17th and up to two in the Brampton Valley on 17th-18th, while four were at Harrington on 18th and singles dropped into Clifford Hill GP and Hartwell on 19th.