Month: August 2022

A return to temperatures more normal for mid-August, variable wind directions and some seriously heavy showers characterised the week just gone. A surprise Shag in a Towcester garden headed up a veritable mixed bag of birds, which included the extended dwell time of the juvenile drake Ferruginous Duck at Daventry CP.

It was at this location that things were beginning to look decidedly dodgy as last week’s on-site Pink-footed Goose showed signs of being paired with one of the Greylags present. It remained until the end of the period. Unless there are two different birds involved, the on and off eclipse drake Garganey at Pitsford Res also saw out the week there, as did two Red-crested Pochards. Another eclipse drake Garganey visited Stanford Res on 14th while, back at Daventry, the juvenile drake Ferruginous Duck also remained throughout.

No longer confined to the winter months, Bittern, it seems, has become a bit of a Martini bird in Northants, nowadays having the potential to be found any time, any place, anywhere. This is no doubt a result of its continually increasing UK breeding population, a measure of which is reflected in the number of booming males – a record 228 in 2021. Following one at Summer Leys LNR recently, another showed well on the edge of the reeds at Stanwick GP on 15th. They are still not easy to come by …

Stanwick also hosted a Cattle Egret between 16th and 19th, while this week’s Great Egrets were too readily available at Ditchford GP, Stanwick, Summer Leys and Pitsford – the latter site producing a maximum of up to five birds.  

Putting aside the rarity value of a certain Daventry duck, the bird of the week slot was rightly occupied by a juvenile Shag. In this instance, a garden pond in Towcester came firmly under the spotlight, playing host for the best part of the day, on 13th. Feisty and approachable during its stay, the bird had departed by the evening but not before it had consumed the pond’s one and only goldfish.

This week’s Ospreys were limited to the area around Hollowell Res, with two there on 16th, one on 18th and one flying south over the nearby village of Guilsborough on 19th. The only other raptor of note was Marsh Harrier, Summer Leys producing a juvenile on 13th, Harrington an adult male on 15th and the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton one on 15th and 18th.

When compared to the last review period, things were looking up on the wader front, kicking off this week with eighteen Whimbrels flying south over Daventry on 16th – a decent flock size for Northants, if ever there was one. Black-tailed Godwits were also more in evidence, Stanford leading on numbers with seventeen circling the site before flying west on 19th. On the ground, Summer Leys produced birds on a daily basis, which comprised probably five different individuals during the period. Elsewhere, singles were at Hollowell on 17th, Daventry on 17th-19th and at Naseby Res on 18th.

Ruff numbers, too, were on the up, Pitsford laying claim to the lion’s share with three on the ground and six more flying over on 16th and one remaining the following day. Stanwick subsequently produced one on 17th and another was at Summer Leys on 18th, while an out-of-season Sanderling appeared at Thrapston GP on the first of those two dates.

This week’s one and only Wood Sandpiper was at Earls Barton GP’s New Workings (North) on 18th-19th, while single Greenshanks visited Summer Leys on 16th and Naseby on 18th.

The week’s only Caspian Gull – an adult or near-adult – was again at Daventry on 16th, while Pitsford held up to three Yellow-legged Gulls, Daventry produced a first-summer on 17th and an adult visited Naseby the following day.

After a very lean spring for the species, the first of the autumn’s Black Terns appeared at Thrapston GP on 17th and it seems highly likely this was the same bird relocated at Stanwick the following day, remaining there until 19th.

Heading up this week’s passerines was a Pied Flycatcher, located in a boundary hedge at Hollowell on 18th. As is often the case, it remained highly elusive and its stay was equally brief. Chalk and cheese, though, the appreciable run of autumn Common Redstarts continued, producing birds at seven localities, including Blueberry Farm (Maidwell), Brampton Valley, Harrington AF, Lamport, Lilbourne Meadows NR, Pitsford Res, Stanford Res. The highest number was four or five at Harrington on 15th and 18th, with one trapped and ringed there on the latter date.

Whinchat numbers improved somewhat this week, Harrington producing four on 14th and 17th, Blueberry Farm (Maidwell) three on 18th, up to two in the Brampton Valley between 14th and 19th and singles at Stanford on 15th and 19th. An early autumn Stonechat put in an appearance at Wollaston Mill, near Summer Leys, on 14th. Northern Wheatear numbers continued to move slowly upward, with Harrington producing singles on 13th and 17th and two on 17th. Elsewhere, singles were found in the Brampton Valley on 13th and 18th, Thrapston on 16th, Summer Leys on 7th and Welford Res on 18th, while single Tree Pipits flew over Blueberry Farm on 13th and Duston on 19th and one was below Hanging Houghton in the Brampton Valley on the latter date.

No let up in the dry weather saw more migrants on the move, including some early bonus birds, comprising both the bold and the bizarre. Falling squarely into the latter category was the first ‘pure’ Ferruginous Duck in Northamptonshire for eleven years.

Following the short-term scare elicited by a hybrid at Stanwick back in January 2020, there is no doubt about the identification of this week’s bird, a juvenile male, which turned up at Daventry CP on 31st, remaining there throughout the week. What may be in doubt, however, is its origin. Clearly one of the two which turned up a stone’s throw away, at Draycote Water, it remains a mystery as to what they are doing there, unseasonally, in late summer – especially as this mirrors last year’s occurrence at the same locality around the same time. Is there a local wildfowl collection in the vicinity, from which captive-bred birds are escaping before they are pinioned? The jury is out …

Despite some twenty-five previous records, Ferruginous Duck – currently a ‘BB rarity’ – is now a seriously rare bird in the county. The last acceptable one was a drake at Pitsford Res, returning for its third year, from 28th September to 14th October 2011, while the only other record this century was a first-winter drake at Daventry CP from 15th December 2002 to 10th February 2003, and what was believed to have been the same bird visiting at Hollowell Res on 1st February 2003.

In contrast to the above, six Common Scoters (five drakes) at Pitsford in no way proved contentious when they dropped in while undertaking their overland moult migration, on 31st. Pitsford also held up to four Red-crested Pochards (two drakes) throughout the week, along with an eclipse drake Garganey on 1st, ahead of what was likely to have been the same bird there again on 4th-5th.

Last week’s Bittern was seen again at Summer Leys LNR on 30th while, back at Pitsford, two Cattle Egrets paid a brief visit the following day. The latter site also produced the week’s maximum count of Great Egrets with five present on the 5th, while Summer Leys and Thrapston GP held one apiece during the period.

Heading up the raptors, single Ospreys were seen over Hollowell Res on 30th and 31st, Stanford Res on 30th and 5th and at Daventry on 3rd. Marsh Harriers remained in the spotlight this week, though, with one flying west over Sulby on 30th, and singles at Stanford on the same date, Summer Leys on 30th-31st and 4th and over Pitsford on 5th.

On the wader front, two Whimbrels flew west over Ditchford GP and over Summer Leys shortly afterward on 30th and one flew over Pitsford on 31st. Pitsford also scored a respectable twenty-eight Black-tailed Godwits – albeit fleetingly – on 31st and a modest ten flying south there, on 4th. Four and seven were at Summer Leys on 31st and 4th, respectively, four visited Stanford on 5th and singles were found at Daventry, Hollowell and Pitsford on 1st.

The week’s only Greenshank was mobile around Summer Leys between 30th and 2nd, the same site hosting an adult Wood Sandpiper between 30th and 1st while, a little further west along the Nene valley, a juvenile Wood Sandpiper spent the day at Earls Barton GP’s New Workings (North) on 4th.

Following the first pop-in juvenile Mediterranean Gull of the autumn at Stanford last week, another was there equally briefly on 4th. Upsizing, Yellow-legged Gulls peaked at seven at Pitsford on 31st, followed by three there on 1st and at least one lingering throughout the week. Elsewhere, single birds visited Stanford on 31st and 2nd, Harrington AF and Stanwick GP on 2nd and Wicksteed Park Lake (Kettering) on 4th.

A Short-eared Owl was captured on a trail-cam, positioned in the Brampton Valley, during the early hours of 5th.

A short hop away at Harrington AF, topping this week’s passerines were two rather nice Pied Flycatchers, present for one day, on 30th. A great find and a welcome distraction from the run-of-the-mill bits and pieces coming through hitherto. More were to follow, with 1st seeing another located at Blueberry Farm, Maidwell and yet another down in in the south-west of the county, at Eydon, on 4th.

A scarce, much admir’d and locally sought after migrant, Pied Flycatcher is an almost annual visitor, producing an average of three records per year, although 1995 saw an amazing thirteen appearing, ten of which were in autumn. Though rare, records in July are not without precedent but August remains the peak month for occurrences.

Common Redstarts were again in profusion this week with up to two at six localities including Blueberry Farm (Maidwell), Clifford Hill GP, Harrington AF (where one was trapped and ringed on 4th), Lamport, Pitsford Res and Woodford Halse. Two more  Northern Wheatears appeared – one at Wollaston on 4th and the other in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton the following day. A single Common Crossbill flew over Harrington on 31st.