Northants birds

Nineteen consecutive days of temperatures exceeding 28°C (recorded somewhere in the UK) made this the hottest summer so far this century and up to 34°C was recorded locally on 22nd. Subsequent to this, the weather broke down somewhat with isolated heavy showers and thunderstorms during the latter part of the week. Reservoir water levels remain disappointingly high, providing little in the way of attractive habitat for the migrant waders which have recently started to come through the county.

An eclipse drake Mandarin Duck visited Ravensthorpe Res on 23rd, the summering drake Wigeon remained at Hollowell Res until at least 25th, single Garganeys were at Stanwick GP on 20th and Summer Leys LNR on 21st and an eclipse drake Red-crested Pochard remained at Stanwick GP between 24th and 26th. For the second week running Daventry CP produced a flock of Common Scoters with five, including four drakes, there on 22nd.

The only raptors of note this week were single Ospreys at Stanford Res on 20th and in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton the following day, while a female Peregrine visited Summer Leys, also on 21st.

Little Ringed Plovers were recorded from Hollowell Res, Stanwick GP and Summer Leys, a migrant Ringed Plover was found at Stanwick GP on 26th and a Dunlin also at Stanwick GP on 20th. The first Common Snipe of the autumn – four – were at Summer Leys on 23rd and 24th, a Black-tailed Godwit visited nearby Earls Barton GP on 21st and twelve were at Summer Leys on 26th, while Common Sandpipers were recorded from Ditchford GP (Broadholme STW), Stanwick GP, Summer Leys, Hollowell Res, Stanford Res and Pitsford Res with a maximum of six at the latter site on 26th. Green Sandpipers, too, were found at more localities than last week with Pitsford Res, Ditchford GP, Summer Leys, Earls Barton GP and Stanwick GP all producing this species with a maximum of four at the last named of these sites on 26th. Single Greenshanks visited both Thrapston GP and Daventry CP on 20th, Hollowell Res on 23rd and Stanwick GP on 24th.

Stanwick also produced an adult Caspian Gull on the evening of 23rd, along with 26 Yellow-legged Gulls on the same date and eleven there on 26th. Another Yellow-legged Gull visited Hollowell Res on 23rd and three more were in the Pitsford Res gull roost on 26th. Last week’s adult Black Tern began to moult into winter plumage before it was last

seen on 21st. The national Crossbill influx became more evident this week with at least twelve at Sulby on 20th, six at Summer Leys and five west over Langlands, Northampton – all on 20th – and up to six at Harlestone Heath and four south over Pitsford Res on 22nd.

The virtually stationary high pressure system remained over the UK throughout the week, temperatures rose to above 30°C and migrants became more in evidence as the week progressed.

Summering Wigeon were found at Pitsford Res on 14th, Summer Leys (four) on 15th and at Blatherwycke Lake on 17th while a Garganey was again at Summer Leys LNR on 14th with two eclipse drakes there on 19th, and a female Red-crested Pochard was at Pitsford Res on 14th. Thirteen Common Scoters, including eight drakes, visited Daventry CP on 15th, being rather mobile around the site during their brief stay. The autumn’s first Dunlin was at Thrapston GP on 13th and an islandica Black-tailed Godwit visited Boddington Res the following day, up to four Green Sandpipers were at Daventry CP during the week, a Common Sandpiper was there on 15th and the same site hosted a Greenshank at the same time and a first-summer Yellow-legged Gull on 19th; another first-summer was also off the dam at Pitsford Res on the same date, while another Greenshank was found at Thrapston GP on 13th. Last week’s adult Black Tern continued its stay at Summer Leys throughout the period and two juvenile Common Redstarts were at the same site on 14th and another visited Harrington AF on 18th. A Siskin was at Fermyn Wood on 17th, where there was also a Crossbill on the same date, when several were also in nearby Souther Wood and twelve were at Denton Wood on 19th.

A high pressure system remained in position over the UK throughout the week, ensuring the continuing run of warm, dry conditions. A trickle of migrants hinted that autumn was underway … just.

A drake Wigeon was unusual at Hollowell Res on 11th and a Mandarin Duck visited nearby Ravensthorpe Res on 10th, the same day that a Garganey was found at Summer Leys LNR, where there was also a Goldeneye on 7th. An Osprey flew west at Pitsford Res on 6th and it, or another, flew east over Blueberry Farm, Maidwell on 8th  but the only other raptor of note was a Peregrine in Northampton on 10th. Summer Leys played host to a number of transient Black-tailed Godwits with singles on 7th and 12th, 7 on 8th

Six Icelandic Black-tailed Godwits Limosa limosa islandica, Summer Leys LNR, 10th July 2013 (Mike Alibone). Present in the wader bay and videoscoped from Pioneer Hide. The individual spending most of its time at the right hand end of the group is a female. Larger, longer billed, less extensively coloured underparts and less boldly patterned upperparts may invite confusion with Continental Black-tailed Godwit L. l. limosa, which is much less frequently encountered in Northamptonshire.

and 6 on 10th and a Green Sandpiper visited Daventry CP on 9th, the same site hosting a Greenshank on 10th and 11th while another was at Summer Leys on 7th. Loafing summer larids at Stanwick GP on 11th included a Common Gull and seventeen Yellow-legged Gulls while a first-summer Little Gull visited Daventry CP on 9th and the first Black Tern of the ‘autumn’ was at Summer Leys on 12th. Several Crossbills were mobile around Bucknell Wood on 6th.

A largely dry and settled week with the highest temperatures of the year to date brought little in the way of new birds to the County, apart from a last-minute flyover White Stork …

A White Stork flying high over Sywell Airfield at 16.30 on 5th was seen by just one lucky observer. Otherwise, a Peregrine drifted over Geddington on 29th, four Black-tailed Godwits visited Summer Leys on the same day and another was there on 4th while a Greenshank – the first of the autumn – was at Thrapston GP on 29th.  The only other passage waders were species only to be expected with a Green Sandpiper at Thrapston GP on 30th and two at Stanwick GP on 2nd and a Common Sandpiper there on the same date along with four Yellow-legged Gulls.

An unseasonally blustery start to the week gave way to a mixed bag of weather including sunshine and showers, the latter from moisture-heavy air emanating from the western Atlantic at the week’s end. Local birding was unsurprisingly slow.

A male Marsh Harrier flying east over the A14/A6 Junction at Rothwell on 27th, an Osprey fishing at Welford Res on 24th and two Peregrines at a site in the north of the County were the only raptors of note this week. Single Black-tailed Godwits visited Stanwick GP on 22nd, Hollowell Res on 23rd, Clifford Hill GP on 25th and Summer Leys LNR on 28th and the only other passage waders during the period were a Curlew at Stanwick GP on 28th and two Green Sandpipers there on 22nd with one there again on 24th. Between three hundred and four hundred loafing large gulls were at the latter site in the early part of the week, being joined there by a near-adult Caspian Gull, up to eight Yellow-legged Gulls and an out of season Common Gull on 24th-25th with four Yellow-legged Gulls there again on 28th. Similarly unseasonal was a Siskin, again at Stanwick, on 25th and two juveniles – perhaps indicative of local breeding – on a garden feeder at Old Stratford on 26th.

The weather was mixed with variable light winds as we entered a lean week in which potential headline birds came no closer than being possibles or near misses.

Two Garganeys were present at Summer Leys LNR on 18th while the drake Red-crested Pochard remained there until at least 16th. A Black Kite drifting west over Peterborough early in the evening of 16th was clearly destined not to be found in Northants, or was it? A report of a ‘possible’ over Broughton early the next day was not positively identified by the observer and a ‘ninety-nine percenter’ was (back?) in the Peterborough area, at Norman Cross – just 5 km east of the Northants county border – early on 18th. While hopeful of connecting with the Peterborough Black Kite over Irthlingborough on 16th, one optimistic sky-scanner picked up what was most likely a female Red-footed Falcon heading high north-west but this, too, looks like being another one that got away …  A reminder that autumn is just around the corner came in the shape of Green Sandpipers at Summer Leys on 18th and at Stanwick GP on 19th, while single Curlews visited Clifford Hill GP on 17th and Chacombe on 18th and four were found at a suitable breeding site on the first of these two dates.

The high pressure system in place over the UK gave way to an Atlantic low, bringing more unsettled conditions and the early summer lull continued throughout the week.

A drake Garganey lingered at Summer Leys LNR from 9th to 14th, being joined there by what is assumed to be last week’s drake Red-crested Pochard from Stanwick GP from

12th to 14th, while the female Goldeneye at adjacent Earls Barton GP’s Mary’s Lake was still present on 8th. News of an adult Night Heron was released toward the end of its two-week stay on a private lake at Stoke Albany, emerging via a convoluted route and not in time for birders to catch up with it before it was last seen on 7th. This is only the ninth Night Heron to be recorded in Northants and it would have proved popular with local birders had it stayed longer, the previous record having been twenty-three years ago in 1990! Raptors of note this week were a Marsh Harrier flying north-east at Long Buckby on 9th and single Ospreys at Thrapston GP on 8th and over Sidegate Landfill on 14th, while passage waders included single Black-tailed Godwits at Summer Leys on 9th and 12th and at Stanwick GP on 10th and a Curlew at the latter locality on 8th. Rooftop breeding of Herring Gulls and Lesser Black-backed Gulls appears to have taken off in the County in recent years and the non-breeding population of immature large gulls is similarly increasing with loafing Nene Valley flocks attracting  a first-summer Caspian Gull to Stanwick GP on 9th and up to seven Yellow-legged Gulls at the same site between 8th and 10th.

With a high pressure system sitting over the UK all week the weather remained warm and dry and conditions calm. One or two new birds were discovered to keep the interest engine running …

This week’s ducks deluxe comprised the drake Red-crested Pochard still present at Stanwick GP on 2nd and 3rd and the female Goldeneye still at Earls Barton GP – reportedly with an injured wing – on 1st. The first of what will hopefully be a Juneful of Quail was heard singing late in the evening at Glapthorn on 5th and two Black-necked Grebes paid a surprise visit to Daventry CP on 7th, showing well close to the overflow there during the afternoon. The only raptor of note was an adult Peregrine over Thrapston GP on 3rd and the only passage wader a Greenshank at Summer Leys on 3rd

and 4th while up to two second-summer Yellow-legged Gulls loitered at Stanwick GP on the same dates. Scarce passerines were restricted to a couple from the chat end of the systematic list, namely a Black Redstart in an Oundle garden briefly on 4th and a

Whinchat at Wollaston on 1st.

 

A warm, dry start to the week again gave way to unsettled conditions with westerly and northerly elements to the airstream bringing few new birds to the County.

A drake Garganey at Clifford Hill GP on 31st and a drake Red-crested Pochard at Stanwick GP on 30th were the only ducks of note but a female Goldeneye at Earls Barton GP on 31st was fashionably late. Bird of the week this week, however, was without doubt an adult Gannet, which was seen in flight twice within fifteen minutes at Summer Leys LNR on 29th and over nearby Wellingborough shortly afterwards. This appears to be the 31st record for Northamptonshire with previous records this century in 2001, 2009, 2010 and 2011. Hardly a week goes by without an Osprey or two being seen and this one was no exception with singles over Thrapston GP on 26th and Summer Leys on 30th, while the only Peregrine reported was one at Desborough on 25th. Waders continued to be thin on the ground, which is only to be expected in late May. Two Ringed Plovers visited Summer Leys on 27th, two Dunlins were there on 29th with one there on 31st and single Common Sandpipers were also at this locality on 25th and at Daventry CP on 28th. Summer Leys also produced a Greenshank on the latter date and another, or the same, was there on 31st with one at Thrapston GP on 30th. The only relatively uncommon gull this week was a second-summer Yellow-legged Gull at Stanwick GP on 27th but a second-summer Common Gull at Summer Leys on 31st was unseasonal while a Black Tern – locally scarce this spring – was at Daventry CP on 28th.