Just want to say what a brilliant site…well done! Thank you also for all the hard work that obviously went into keeping the old one up to date…even though Waxwings in south Northants managed to evade me all winter!! Am I the only person not to have found them?
Hello there Mike,
I’ve been in touch with Ebernezer Coles recently and he mentioned that there was some good stuff on County birds on the net. Great site, one of these days i’ll maybe find something else to contribute in the sightings section. I’m still in the County for a couple of days a week at Charwelton but mainly back on the Island. Still waiting for one of you old timers to find me a 2RS!
Hi Mike,
I thought you might like to know that Seatrack, the Irish seabird survey, starts again next weekend and continues every other weekend until early November. I will be covering Bloody Foreland, a headland in North Donegal, again this year. The principal aim of the survey is to track Balearics around the Irish coast. We dont get many this far North, only two sightings last year, but we get good numbers of Sooties, petrels and skuas, including the occasional Long-tailed, and also sometimes Sabines Gulls. Can’t wait!
All the best
Chris
Good to hear from you. Exciting part of the world these days. It’s been a long time since I did any seawatching – I’ll have to remedy that soon! Cheers Mike
Thanks for your work on this site, Mike and also the old site over the years. I don’t get as much time for birding as I’d like, but when I have half a day to spare my starting point is invariably “Northants Birds” to see what is passing through. The trends you identify over time are fascinating too.
Hi Mike,
Thought you would like to hear of the geese we have in Donegal at present. 7 goose species in one stubble field! As well as c.1800 Whoopers, c.1000 Greylags and c.200 Canadas there are 5 Tundra Beans, a Snow Goose, 3 Barnacles, 6 Pinkfeet and 2 (probably European) Whitefronts. Elsewhere on Lough Swilly is the resident wintering flock of c.500 Greenland Whitefronts and c.300 Brents
Chris
Fantastic numbers. I’m envious! Do you get many European Whitefronts? Have you considered that your two could be one of the vagrant races American/Asian/Pacific Rim ? Have a look at today’s post by Martin Garner http://tinyurl.com/ctrj7a8
As you seemed to be happy for people to contact you, I followed you on Twitter, but you don’t seem to respond to tweets from people you are not following, so I have now unfollowed you.
if someone emails or tweets me I will always respond (but not if it is spam which, like most of us, I ignore of course) unless for some reason I have overlooked the initial contact. As you know, when a subscriber to Twitter is either mentioned in a tweet, or is messaged directly or openly via another subscriber, Twitter sends a message to the recipient, who receives it either in the form of an email or a text on a mobile phone. I receive messages from Twitter in both formats. In this instance I received no communications in any form from yourself (I would have responded!). What’s worrying is that yesterday I discovered quite by chance that someone else had sent me a tweet which I did not receive – so that makes two missed contacts. I have no explanation for why this has (not) happened! Apart from monitoring Twitter 24/7 I can’t see a way around it. Hopefully it was just a glitch and it won’t happen again. Do feel free to contact me on northantsbirds@ntlworld.com – which appears (at present)to be more reliable! Sorry I can’t be more helpful at this stage!
Regards
Mike
I recently came across your site during a search on bird information in Northants. It’s very useful and I’ve started following you. I’m not specifically a birder though I do enjoy watching them and have a research interest in birds as pollinators. I thought you might be interested in a couple of my blog posts about the Nene Valley Nature Improvement Area, which you may be aware of. We are working with the Wildlife Trust, RSPB, etc. on this large project and our focus at the University of Northampton is on the ecosystem services that the Nene Valley is providing, one of which is cultural services via birding and other nature-focused hobbies. Here are the links:
Many thanks for your comments. I followed the two links, above, and read with interest. The biggest problem facing the NIA scheme is man. Public access to the sites within the area is at an all time high and pressure on habitats continues to increase as a high proportion of ‘visitors’ have no regard for wildlife and are woefully ignorant of the disturbance they cause. Limiting access – or at least providing more on site restrictions – to the ‘Nene Washlands’ (by which I believe you mean ‘Clifford Hill Gravel Pits’, or the ‘Nene Barrage’) must surely be high on the agenda of such an initiative and I would be interested to learn how this will be achieved within the framework of the scheme.
People are certainly a big issue, but then the Nene Valley is a very human-dominated landscape in all sorts of ways. Hopefully the scope of the NIA means that we can think about these issues across the whole system and look at where conservation gains can be made. The recent Irthlingborough reserve purchased by the Wildlife Trust is a good example, as are the meadow restoration projects that some farmers are involved in .
In relation to visitor access to reserves. one of the NIA partners is the RSPB which is looking at visitor pressure across the region and with a view to developing ideas for reducing their impact. It’s still early days and we’ll see what they come up with.
Just to clarify, that was indeed the area I was referring to though I didn’t call it the “Nene Washlands” rather the Northampton Washlands which I think is the accepted name for the whole area of which Clifford Hill and the Barrage are a part.
I went up to Storton’s Pits earlier in the week to look for the waxwings but they had gone, which was a shame. I’m hoping more will come through.
Please spread the word either way and get in touch if you or anyone has any info 07745548198 adds/posts re her all over the net. She also has her own Facebook and Twitter account , her twitter is @FINDPEPPA, she may of made her way back to grange park
Ring-necked Parakeets breed in Northamptonshire but they are scarce. We have no way of knowing if the Grange Park bird was form the wild (= feral) UK population of if it is an escape. If you have lost one in the Grange Park area then the record on 13th December is likely to relate to your bird.
If you / anyone saw it you could , as mutations such as blues/ lavenders etc are not known to be loose in northants apart from escaped pets which peppa is the only blue from that area we know of . She is my nephews parakeet and there’s photos of her on there . Only greens and olives breed loose in surrounding areas
Hi – I have found a small pocket notebook of bird records at Stourton’s Pits Northampton today (07/03/2014). Looks like it had been accidentally dropped. Please contact me if you are missing a notebook and would like to retrieve it! : minneyjohn@hotmail.com
Further to the sighting of a Great White Egret at Summer Leys, I have seen one this morning at Emerson Valley Park in Milton Keynes. I wonder if it is the same one.
we are three business administration students from the University of applied Sciences Neu-Ulm.
For our last semester we have been given the opportunity to work on an exciting research project with the task of redefining the marketing and sales strategy for a leading, international producer of sports optics.
With your help, we hope to improve the usage of nature observation equipment.
In our research we have identified you as a person of the potential target audience. We allowed ourselves to contact you because of your of affiliation with the research topic.
This is a non-profit project and we just receive a mark which is important for our further studies.
We have developed a short questionnaire – which is not longer than 11 minutes.
The answers are mainly multiple choice answers.
All your data and information will naturally be used strictly confidential! You will not receive any commercial emails or other spam.
If you take part in this survey, you have the chance to win a £50 amazon voucher!
Any news on the Red necked grebe, I’m not familiar with daventry cp , if it’s still there would I be likely to be able to spot it with just a pair of bins?
Sorry for late response. Best to use direct email. R-n Grebes – no reports in last 24 hours. You would need a ‘scope to see them from dam if they are at the far (southern) end.
Mike – just seen a pair of Wood Ducks at Blisworth Arm canal junction ( by the Marina ). The one I could see properly had a yellow tag on his leg. Does this signify a migrant or an escapee ?
See Clifford Hill GP on the maps page https://northantsbirds.com/birding-locations-map/#CliffordHill and there are 3 access points on the map. There are options to enter from north-east, south-west or south-east sides. If you’re up to climbing over the fence, then park in, or near, the Hungry Horse pub car park on the Bedford Road, walk across the small car park of the adjacent office building and hop over the fence and ditch at the bottom of it.
Wondered if you could identify a bird I saw yesterday. I was swimming at the holiday Inn crick and the bird was on the grass outside the glass wall. Quite tall black body and beak with a red and white head. I haven’t seen a biRd like it before. Similar in stature to a heron.
Mike,
I went to see the Cattle Egret at Summerleys this morning. While watching it, a guy who I didn’t recognize, showed me back-of-the-camera pictures of a juvenile Gannet, which had dropped on to the main lake, right in front of the main hide. He said it then moved off down towards the feeding station, but I couldn’t find it. He did not see it depart from the area. The time he saw it would have been about 10am or so.
Cheers, Richard Eden
You can contact me directly via:
Channel
Northants birds 
Excellent job on the new site Mike. Your hard work maintaining the old one was much appreciated, as is your work on this one.
Thanks, Paul!
love the site set up well done mike much improved, well done ian….
ps do you know whether the rspb are having another birding fayre this year at rutland water?
Thanks, Ian. Glad you approve!
If you are referring to the annually-held British Birdwatching Fair, yes it’s on 19th-21st August http://www.birdfair.org.uk
thanks very much mike, i were worried i might have missed it already.
well done!! like the graphics & photos..
Thanks for the positive feedback!
Just want to say what a brilliant site…well done! Thank you also for all the hard work that obviously went into keeping the old one up to date…even though Waxwings in south Northants managed to evade me all winter!! Am I the only person not to have found them?
Kind of you, Nigel
Hello there Mike,
I’ve been in touch with Ebernezer Coles recently and he mentioned that there was some good stuff on County birds on the net. Great site, one of these days i’ll maybe find something else to contribute in the sightings section. I’m still in the County for a couple of days a week at Charwelton but mainly back on the Island. Still waiting for one of you old timers to find me a 2RS!
Good to hear from you Pete! Thanks for the kind words. Gary’s your man for the 2RS. Give us a shout and we’ll do a mid-week beer sometime.
Hi Mike,
I thought you might like to know that Seatrack, the Irish seabird survey, starts again next weekend and continues every other weekend until early November. I will be covering Bloody Foreland, a headland in North Donegal, again this year. The principal aim of the survey is to track Balearics around the Irish coast. We dont get many this far North, only two sightings last year, but we get good numbers of Sooties, petrels and skuas, including the occasional Long-tailed, and also sometimes Sabines Gulls. Can’t wait!
All the best
Chris
Hi Chris,
Good to hear from you. Exciting part of the world these days. It’s been a long time since I did any seawatching – I’ll have to remedy that soon! Cheers Mike
Thanks for your work on this site, Mike and also the old site over the years. I don’t get as much time for birding as I’d like, but when I have half a day to spare my starting point is invariably “Northants Birds” to see what is passing through. The trends you identify over time are fascinating too.
Thanks for your kind comments, Quentin!
Mike when’s the next Northants Bird Report coming out?
Nice site Mike, am really having a good time with the SEOs at Blueberry, just need some decent light for the camera.
Izzy
Hi Mike,
Thought you would like to hear of the geese we have in Donegal at present. 7 goose species in one stubble field! As well as c.1800 Whoopers, c.1000 Greylags and c.200 Canadas there are 5 Tundra Beans, a Snow Goose, 3 Barnacles, 6 Pinkfeet and 2 (probably European) Whitefronts. Elsewhere on Lough Swilly is the resident wintering flock of c.500 Greenland Whitefronts and c.300 Brents
Chris
Hi Chris,
Fantastic numbers. I’m envious! Do you get many European Whitefronts? Have you considered that your two could be one of the vagrant races American/Asian/Pacific Rim ? Have a look at today’s post by Martin Garner http://tinyurl.com/ctrj7a8
All the best
Mike
As you seemed to be happy for people to contact you, I followed you on Twitter, but you don’t seem to respond to tweets from people you are not following, so I have now unfollowed you.
Hi Sarah,
if someone emails or tweets me I will always respond (but not if it is spam which, like most of us, I ignore of course) unless for some reason I have overlooked the initial contact. As you know, when a subscriber to Twitter is either mentioned in a tweet, or is messaged directly or openly via another subscriber, Twitter sends a message to the recipient, who receives it either in the form of an email or a text on a mobile phone. I receive messages from Twitter in both formats. In this instance I received no communications in any form from yourself (I would have responded!). What’s worrying is that yesterday I discovered quite by chance that someone else had sent me a tweet which I did not receive – so that makes two missed contacts. I have no explanation for why this has (not) happened! Apart from monitoring Twitter 24/7 I can’t see a way around it. Hopefully it was just a glitch and it won’t happen again. Do feel free to contact me on northantsbirds@ntlworld.com – which appears (at present)to be more reliable! Sorry I can’t be more helpful at this stage!
Regards
Mike
Who is your comment aimed at
Hope you enjoyed Coldplay, lucky sod!
I certainly did!
Mike has anyone seen waxwings in housing estate at the back of wye vale garden centre on Newport pagnell road yet last two years there have been lots.
No. If I knew of any they would be on the news page. The area was searched on Friday, though.
Hi Mike,
I recently came across your site during a search on bird information in Northants. It’s very useful and I’ve started following you. I’m not specifically a birder though I do enjoy watching them and have a research interest in birds as pollinators. I thought you might be interested in a couple of my blog posts about the Nene Valley Nature Improvement Area, which you may be aware of. We are working with the Wildlife Trust, RSPB, etc. on this large project and our focus at the University of Northampton is on the ecosystem services that the Nene Valley is providing, one of which is cultural services via birding and other nature-focused hobbies. Here are the links:
http://jeffollerton.wordpress.com/2012/08/03/to-dream-a-river/
http://jeffollerton.wordpress.com/2012/03/31/angry-birds/
All the best,
Jeff
Jeff Ollerton
Professor of Biodiversity
University of Northampton
Jeff,
Many thanks for your comments. I followed the two links, above, and read with interest. The biggest problem facing the NIA scheme is man. Public access to the sites within the area is at an all time high and pressure on habitats continues to increase as a high proportion of ‘visitors’ have no regard for wildlife and are woefully ignorant of the disturbance they cause. Limiting access – or at least providing more on site restrictions – to the ‘Nene Washlands’ (by which I believe you mean ‘Clifford Hill Gravel Pits’, or the ‘Nene Barrage’) must surely be high on the agenda of such an initiative and I would be interested to learn how this will be achieved within the framework of the scheme.
Regards, Mike.
Hi Mike,
People are certainly a big issue, but then the Nene Valley is a very human-dominated landscape in all sorts of ways. Hopefully the scope of the NIA means that we can think about these issues across the whole system and look at where conservation gains can be made. The recent Irthlingborough reserve purchased by the Wildlife Trust is a good example, as are the meadow restoration projects that some farmers are involved in .
In relation to visitor access to reserves. one of the NIA partners is the RSPB which is looking at visitor pressure across the region and with a view to developing ideas for reducing their impact. It’s still early days and we’ll see what they come up with.
Just to clarify, that was indeed the area I was referring to though I didn’t call it the “Nene Washlands” rather the Northampton Washlands which I think is the accepted name for the whole area of which Clifford Hill and the Barrage are a part.
I went up to Storton’s Pits earlier in the week to look for the waxwings but they had gone, which was a shame. I’m hoping more will come through.
Regards,
Jeff
hi could you give me details on where to find blueberry farm in maidwell, as im only
down the road and never been
regards andy.moss123@virginmedia.com
On the 13.12.2013 on this site I see you mention a ringneck , could it of been my nephews parakeet
http://www.nationalpetregister.org/mp/52845.htm
Please spread the word either way and get in touch if you or anyone has any info 07745548198 adds/posts re her all over the net. She also has her own Facebook and Twitter account , her twitter is @FINDPEPPA, she may of made her way back to grange park
Ring-necked Parakeets breed in Northamptonshire but they are scarce. We have no way of knowing if the Grange Park bird was form the wild (= feral) UK population of if it is an escape. If you have lost one in the Grange Park area then the record on 13th December is likely to relate to your bird.
If you / anyone saw it you could , as mutations such as blues/ lavenders etc are not known to be loose in northants apart from escaped pets which peppa is the only blue from that area we know of . She is my nephews parakeet and there’s photos of her on there . Only greens and olives breed loose in surrounding areas
Hi Mike – This post might interest you, about a great nature reserve for urban birding. Well worth a visit if you are in Ireland. http://jeffollerton.wordpress.com/2014/09/08/is-booterstown-marsh-the-best-small-urban-nature-reserve-in-europe/
All the best,
Jeff
Parakeet spotted in Abington park along with a kingfisher at 12:05 and was waiting there for around 10/15 minutes
Thanks, Edwin
Ringed neck parakeet spotted 30th Dec 2014 flying over Balfour Rd Northampton 9am.
Thanks, Graham
Hi – I have found a small pocket notebook of bird records at Stourton’s Pits Northampton today (07/03/2014). Looks like it had been accidentally dropped. Please contact me if you are missing a notebook and would like to retrieve it! : minneyjohn@hotmail.com
3 Little Ringed Plovers, Upton Valley North tonight 7.30
I am sure that I sighted an osprey at 3.15 pm today flying near weedon/dodford along a45
Thanks Debbie
Little egret and a Wheatear in the duston mill area about 20:00
Thanks Edwin
Further to the sighting of a Great White Egret at Summer Leys, I have seen one this morning at Emerson Valley Park in Milton Keynes. I wonder if it is the same one.
Quite possibly but also one is being seen further down the Nene at Thrapston GP so probably 2 birds at least
Two green parakeets spotted by Weston favell centre today the 4th may 2016 about 11am
Thanks. Any idea which species?
SPORTS OPTICS – UNIVERSITY RESEARCH !!!
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Hello together,
we are three business administration students from the University of applied Sciences Neu-Ulm.
For our last semester we have been given the opportunity to work on an exciting research project with the task of redefining the marketing and sales strategy for a leading, international producer of sports optics.
With your help, we hope to improve the usage of nature observation equipment.
In our research we have identified you as a person of the potential target audience. We allowed ourselves to contact you because of your of affiliation with the research topic.
This is a non-profit project and we just receive a mark which is important for our further studies.
We have developed a short questionnaire – which is not longer than 11 minutes.
The answers are mainly multiple choice answers.
All your data and information will naturally be used strictly confidential! You will not receive any commercial emails or other spam.
If you take part in this survey, you have the chance to win a £50 amazon voucher!
Thank you very much in advance for your support.
Daniel – Niklas – Monika
Thanks for making contact. I’m happy to take part. Please send the questionnaire.
Mike
Pair of golden eye at summer leys today at 14.45
Great piece on Look East! Let’s hope you are flooded with applicants.
Thanks, Sarah!
Any news on the Red necked grebe, I’m not familiar with daventry cp , if it’s still there would I be likely to be able to spot it with just a pair of bins?
Thanks
Peter
Sorry for late response. Best to use direct email. R-n Grebes – no reports in last 24 hours. You would need a ‘scope to see them from dam if they are at the far (southern) end.
Mike
Have there been any reports of a pair of Peregrines near the lift tower?
Saw two on Wednesday. Cheers
Mike – just seen a pair of Wood Ducks at Blisworth Arm canal junction ( by the Marina ). The one I could see properly had a yellow tag on his leg. Does this signify a migrant or an escapee ?
Malcolm Platt
Colour rings on wildfowl are normally indicative of escapes. Wood Duck not even on the British list (yet)!
Bittern flew over pioneers hide into the reeds by the scrape 1200
At about 3.45pm today I saw about 10 parakeets in a conker tree in roade, Northampton
Thanks. I think this is the first double-figure count for the county!
30th January 2018 Summer Leys 11am – 2 Great white Egrets and a Scaup, both photographed.
Can you tell me the best place to park when visiting Clifford Hill GPS?
See Clifford Hill GP on the maps page https://northantsbirds.com/birding-locations-map/#CliffordHill and there are 3 access points on the map. There are options to enter from north-east, south-west or south-east sides. If you’re up to climbing over the fence, then park in, or near, the Hungry Horse pub car park on the Bedford Road, walk across the small car park of the adjacent office building and hop over the fence and ditch at the bottom of it.
Wondered if you could identify a bird I saw yesterday. I was swimming at the holiday Inn crick and the bird was on the grass outside the glass wall. Quite tall black body and beak with a red and white head. I haven’t seen a biRd like it before. Similar in stature to a heron.
Mike,
I went to see the Cattle Egret at Summerleys this morning. While watching it, a guy who I didn’t recognize, showed me back-of-the-camera pictures of a juvenile Gannet, which had dropped on to the main lake, right in front of the main hide. He said it then moved off down towards the feeding station, but I couldn’t find it. He did not see it depart from the area. The time he saw it would have been about 10am or so.
Cheers, Richard Eden
Thanks, Richard. Good to hear from you! You are the only person who has reported it – albeit secondhand!