Newsround – 25th November to 1st December 2023

Last week’s temperature drop appropriately continued throughout as we moved into meteorological winter on the last day of the period. In what might traditionally be thought of as a quiet week, there was still plenty of interesting fare lingering and new birds were still out there to be found …

At Hollowell Res the Pink-footed Goose reappeared on 28th and was still present there on 1st, while a short-staying adult Bewick’s Swan at Summer Leys LNR, early in the morning of 27th, was only the second record for the county this year, following fifteen at the same site in early March. It did not stick around, though, neither did it turn up at Slimbridge by mid-week and its bill pattern was not recognised as that of any individual that regularly winters there.

After a week with no reports, three Red-crested Pochards, including two drakes, turned up at Stanford Res on 25th but did not stay. Three at Pitsford Res, on 1st, may well have been the same trio on the move.

Also at Pitsford, a first-winter drake Greater Scaup was found on 28th. In a far less advanced state of moult than last week’s bird at Billing GP, it was clearly new in, although it wasn’t seen subsequently. Another duck chalking up more than a week in residence at Pitsford was the ‘female-type’ Common Scoter, which was still present on 30th.

On the wader front, a Grey Plover flying east over Stanwick GP was the sole representative of the tribe this week.

Gull numbers were down and included an adult Caspian Gull reported at Pitsford Res on 26th and two adults at Hollowell on 28th and 1st. The same two localities again produced Yellow-legged Gulls, with Pitsford holding an adult and a first-winter on 26th and an adult on 28th, while Hollowell delivered two adults on 26th and 28th and a single adult on 1st.

Back at Pitsford, the juvenile Great Northern Diver remained faithful to the area between The Narrows and the dam until at least 30th.

In the Nene Valley, an interesting scenario played out at the end of the week when a single Glossy Ibis was watched in flight and, apparently, was then seen to land at Summer Leys on 1st. It promptly vanished. Given that the Stanwick duo are, based on comparative size difference and bill length, a male and female which are exhibiting a strong pair bond and they were still present both before and after the Summer Leys sighting, it more than suggests this is a different individual. The fact that the recent Ditchford GP bird was clearly a rogue wanderer between Summer Leys and Stanwick adds further weight to the argument for there now being three birds at large in the area.

Stanwick also continued to harbour up to six Cattle Egrets this week, one of which would appear to have roamed to adjacent Ditchford on 30th.

Single Marsh Harriers visited Stanwick on 26th and Summer Leys two days later, on 28th, while the weekly Merlin record appeared in the form of a flyover at Fineshade Wood on the latter date.

Fineshade also featured as the venue to host forty-seven Waxwings, close to its car park, on 26th – a flock which was reported by national bird news services on a ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ basis. The source of the report remains a mystery. Along exactly the same lines, at least five were said to have been seen in flight over Aynho on 29th. The wait for a tangible feeding flock, duly pinned down, goes on …

Seven localities produced Stonechats, with site maxima of four at Earls Barton GP on 25th and 28th, Stanwick on 28th and Upton CP on 30th.

Small numbers of Crossbills continued to be seen in the north-eastern part of the county, where two were at Fineshade Wood on 25th and 28th while, on the latter date, there were six at Westhay Wood and ten at Wakerley Great Wood.