Newsround – 28th May to 10th June 2022

As we move squarely into summer, the slow-down in the discovery of new birds continues and a further squeezing of the spring sponge delivered little at popular birding sites. Two ethereal, fly-over raptors sparked some momentary interest. Time to blow the dust off the barbecue …

Wildfowl were back on the menu during the period although, given the time of year, a Pink-footed Goose at Clifford Hill GP on 5th seems most likely to have resulted from dodgy descendance. Clearly in season, though, were single drake Garganeys at Stanwick GP on 29th, Thrapston GP on 31st and at Summer Leys LNR between 3rd and 7th.

Further down the Nene Valley, after an absence of some three and a half weeks, the White Stork sporting a small metal ring on its right tarsus, was back, if only for two days, on 5th and 6th. Will it ever reveal its ring number? A single Great Egret flew over Stanford Res on 2nd.

On the raptor front, single Ospreys flew over Walgrave on 28th, Blatherwycke Lake on 31st and Stanford Res on 2nd, while a ringed male, ‘T3’ from the Rutland Water project, visited Hollowell Res on 6th and 9th. Further reports of fly-over raptors included a Honey Buzzard near Hartwell on 31st and a White-tailed Eagle moving east, from the A14, near Naseby on 2nd.

Meanwhile, DIRFT 3 chalked up its 25th species of wader with the arrival of two (not three, as previously reported) Avocets on 8th. They did not linger. Other waders included a Tundra Ringed Plover at Stanwick on 3rd and five Sanderlings paying a brief visit to Summer Leys on 5th.

Beyond that, the period delivered two Caspian Gulls – a third-summer and fourth-summer – to Stanwick on 3rd and an ‘all-day’ Black Tern to Stanford on 30th. The spring of 2022 has proven to be a bleak one in terms of records of the latter species. Hopefully, autumn will be a different story …