An interesting week, culminating in the first day of meteorological spring, rewrote the statistics in terms of both weather and birds. While it was confirmed that the eastern region of the UK, of which Northants is a part, ‘enjoyed’ the warmest and wettest February on record, a certain duck also swam into the record books as the earliest ever spring migrant of its kind.
And we’re off! Yes indeed, the summer visitor arrivals clock started ticking this week with the appearance of a smart drake Garganey at Ditchford GP’s Irthlingborough Lakes & Meadows LNR on 27th.
Although still present at the end of the period, it remained stubbornly elusive, on view for only short periods during the mornings of two of the four days it was present, leaving many would-be observers returning home empty-handed.
The above bird constitutes the earliest ever reported in the county, beating the previous earliest – a drake at Blatherwycke Lake on 8th March 2004 – by a fat ten days.
Other ducks were available, of course, and the reappearance of the drake Green-winged Teal at Stanwick GP on 29th and 1st was clearly not to be scoffed at. Where it had been lurking, unseen since 10th February, is anyone’s guess but, let’s face it, it’s had plenty of floodwater and resultant boggy meadows to lose itself on. Following suit, after three weeks’ absence, the first-winter drake Greater Scaup was back at Earls Barton GP’s Grendon Lakes on 28th-29th, with a few less brown feathers.
In a week of dapper ducks, then, the final slot was again filled by last week’s ‘redhead’ Smew, still present at Clifford Hill GP on 29th.
Jack Snipes continued to keep the scarce wader group afloat but numbers were low with two at Daventry CP on 26th and singles at Pitsford Res and Hollowell Res, on 26th and 27th, respectively.
Mediterranean Gulls were back in the frame this week when two adults drifted north over Kettering on 27th, the same date on which two adult Caspian Gulls were again at Hollowell Res and one was reported from Ditchford GP. An adult Yellow-legged Gull was again at Pitsford on 25th and 28th, while a first-winter visited Daventry CP on 26th.
Keeping up appearances, predominantly in the Nene Valley, Cattle Egrets continued to be seen at Ditchford until at least 27th, when six were present in one small area off Ditchford Lane, while the Summer Leys duo remained all week. The Stanford on Avon individual also saw another week out in the area between Stanford Hall and nearby Stanford Res.
The mid-Nene Valley roving male Marsh Harrier once again played hard to get, being seen at Summer Leys briefly on 29th.
For anyone intent on seeing Short-eared Owls, Blueberry Farm, Maidwell continued to produce the goods, hosting up to four, any number of which were seen daily between 27th and 1st while, nearby, one was seen at Cottesbrooke on 24th. At least one remained at Neville’s Lodge, Finedon on 25th.
A female Merlin was seen between Hanging Houghton and Scaldwell on 1st.
And we’re not quite done with Waxwings yet, so it seems, as five flew north-west over the old railway track at Stanford Res on 24th and one was reported from Brackmills CP, Northampton on 27th. This latter date also saw a return of last week’s Oundle nine – becoming ten – in the same area as before and again, nearby, the following day.
The period’s Stonechat quota saw reports from eleven localities – the same number as last week – but numbers were down to just one or two birds at nine of these, with maxima of five at Hollowell on 27th and four in the Brampton Valley on 25th.
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