June 2026 – Northants birds

It’s June and, while the quest for the best continued, with migration in meltdown, sightings of rare and scarce birds were sparse, to say the least …

A drake Red-crested Pochard at Ecton SF on 17th is undoubtedly the seemingly resident bird that has developed a liking for the River Nene between there and Earls Barton GP over the past year or so.

After some concern expressed a couple of weeks ago about the decline in occurrences of Quail in the county, two more were located during the period – single singing males in fields south of Clifford Hill GP on 6th and north-west of Aldwincle on 13th. May records across the UK are said to be significantly higher than average this year.

Waders were not entirely absent either, with two Avocets present at Thrapston GP’s Titchmarsh NR on 6th and two at Earls Barton GP on 8th. Nine Whimbrels flying south over Daventry CP on 17th and a Greenshank at Titchmarsh NR on 15th begs the question: is autumn migration now underway?

And an adult Yellow-legged Gull at Summer Leys LNR on 8th-10th was somewhat unusual for the locality and time of year.

A Black Tern dropped in at Stanford Res on 14th.

Black Tern, Stanford Res, 14th June 2026 (Chris Hubbard)

Bitterns were logged at Titchmarsh NR on 6th and daily from 12th to 17th, with two there on 15th, while singles were seen at Summer Leys on 8th, 10th and 16th. And aside from one again at Clifford Hill GP on 6th, the number of Cattle Egrets rose to twenty at their Nene Valley breeding site, where nine adults and three broods totalling eleven unfledged young were counted on 12th.

After a week with no reports, the period’s Ospreys were on the up with birds found at four localities. Apart from two at Pitsford Res on 13th, singles were seen there on 8th, 12th and 17th, at Titchmarsh NR on 6th-7th, at Stanford on 15th and at Hollowell Res on 19th.

Osprey, Stanford Res, 15th June (Barry Silverman)

The only other raptor of note was a male Marsh Harrier in the Brampton Valley between Cottesbrooke and Hanging Houghton on 7th.

An unconfirmed report of a Bee-eater over Everdon Stubbs on 18th remains exactly that …

In stark contrast to last week, a run of low pressure systems to the north of the UK drew westerly winds in off the Atlantic, laden with rain and introducing below average temperatures. While the birding scene quietened down considerably, there was a welcome return – albeit fleetingly – of a once common species that has not been seen in the county for three years.

We’re talking, of course, about Turtle Dove – a long-lost, breeding summer visitor, whose UK population has declined by 98% since 1994 and one of which was seen briefly in Cogenhoe on 2nd. This dramatic drop is the largest UK decline of any of the 119 species tracked by the RSPB Breeding Birds Survey over the period of monitoring. In line with this, the number of localities where Turtle Doves were recorded in Northamptonshire during the first quarter of this century has fallen drastically from 36 in 2001 to zero in 2024-25.

Evidence suggests one reason for the overall decline is a shortened breeding period, which has reduced the number of nesting attempts, thought to be driven by reduced food availability as a result of increased herbicide use. Mortality both on the wintering grounds from habitat deterioration and on migration through hunting, are also potential drivers (BTO). A moratorium on hunting along the ‘Western European Flyway’ (France, Portugal, Spain) came into force in 2021 and has had a positive effect with the number of breeding pairs of Turtle Dove subsequently increasing along it by an estimated 40.5%. However, abundance along the Central European Flyway, where no restrictions are in place, continues to decline and the moratorium on the western flyway was lifted in 2025, although a limited quota is now in force (Joint Nature Conservation Committee, 2025). What impact this will have on our own Turtle Dove population remains to be seen.

In other news, two Avocets were at Summer Leys LNR on 31st, two flew east at Clifford Hill GP on 3rd and a Whimbrel also visited the latter site on 2nd.

Following one over Thrapston GP on 4th May, another – or the same – White Stork flew high over the A605 there on 30th and was identified as one from the Knepp reintroduction project, some of which are satellite-tagged.