Newsround 28th June to 4th July 2025

Local temperatures continued to climb this week, peaking at 31°C during the final day of June, on the eve of the first day of ornithological autumn. From ducks to passerines, numbers of migrants were on the up across the spectrum and out there to be found were, of course, godwits galore …

With duck numbers understandably having dipped down to the summertime low, the long-staying, static drake Red-crested Pochard, now moulting into eclipse, remained at Earls Barton GP throughout the period.

But, after at least two Common Scoters were heard on ‘noc mig’ last week, one turned up on the water at Clifford Hill GP on 1st, remaining there until the following day, constituting the fifth record for the county in 2025.

Following their partly successful breeding attempts, the sad departure of the Avocets from Earls Barton last week left us with a trickle of commoner migrant waders alongside those a little more scarce. A Whimbrel turned up at Pitsford Res on 28th, followed by two more flying south-west over the dam there on 2nd. But the week was marked by a glut of Black-tailed Godwits across six localities, Pitsford maxing out with a mobile flock of approximately twenty-five on 1st, following one there on 28th. Clifford Hill produced the next highest numbers with five on 29th, fourteen on 1st and one on 3rd, while five were all equally brief visitors to Stanford Res on 2nd, Thrapston GP’s Titchmarsh NR held two on 3rd, when one also visited Summer Leys LNR. Finally, one made landfall at Daventry CP at the week’s end, on 4th.

A first-summer Mediterranean Gull at Hollowell Res topped the week’s larids on 1st, otherwise there was little more than the usual loafing Yellow-legged Gulls at Pitsford, where there were four on 2nd.

Back in the Nene Valley, a Bittern reappeared at Titchmarsh NR on 1st, while three new juvenile Cattle Egrets were found with an older juvenile and an adult at an undisclosed breeding site on 4th.

The Northamptonshire reservoirs were again responsible for dishing up the week’s repast of Ospreys, Pitsford being the most reliable site for providing viewings. The latter location produced multiple sightings during the period, Hollowell also added to the tally with singles on 30th, 1st, 2nd and 4th, while Stanford saw flyovers on 2nd and 3rd and one drifted over Ravensthorpe Res on 2nd.

And with single Common Redstarts – the first of the autumn – at both Harrington AF and Lilbourne Meadows NR on 2nd, it was good to know that some quality passerines were on the move, the latter also including a Crossbill over Bucknell Wood on 1st and three in Christie’s Copse at Pitsford Res, briefly, before flying off south-west on 4th.