A high pressure system over the country in the latter part of the week gave rise to above average temperatures and saw the wind direction change from south westerlies to an airflow with an easterly bias. Four new species were added to the county yearlist, only two of which were summer visitors …
And while there were no early birds, both Osprey and Northern Wheatear clocked on in an expectedly timely fashion.
Numbers of wildfowl took a tumble, the only birds of note being eleven White-fronted Geese which dropped in, briefly, at Ringstead GP on the last day of the week.
Barely had we passed mid-March and the second Common Crane of the year was notched up – another flyover and again at the eastern end of the county – this time at Lyveden New Bield, between Brigstock and Stoke Doyle, on 20th.
And Ravensthorpe’s Slavonian Grebe completed a 26-day stay on 17th, after which there were no further reports.
On the wader front, the second and third Avocet records for the year were not totally unexpected and included one at Pitsford Res on 15th, followed by one at Earls Barton GP on 18th being joined there by another the next day.
Summer Leys produced all the period’s Black-tailed Godwits, with one on 14th, sixteen on 17th and at least one on 19th.
Further down the Nene Valley, five Ruffs at Ditchford GP’s Townholme Meadows constituted another first for the year on 20th, while single Jack Snipes were seen at Hollowell Res between 15th and 20th and at Pitsford on the latter date. Pitsford also continued to hold on to its wintering Common Sandpiper, seen only sporadically but still present on the causeway there on 19th.
And just over two weeks after the first Kittiwake of the year came six together, at Pitsford, on 16th, while the period’s only Mediterranean Gull – a first-winter – visited Stanford Res on three consecutive days from 14th. Other gulls were available, of course, including two second-winter Caspian Gulls at Clifford Hill GP on 15th, two adults at Hollowell on 18th and a single adult at Ravensthorpe on the same date. An adult Yellow-legged Gull was present at Pitsford on 16th-17th and two visited Ravensthorpe on 18th.
The Red-throated Diver at Hollowell extended its stay there by another week.
And the Summer Leys Glossy Ibis similarly saw another week out on site.
The latter location also produced sightings of Bittern on 14th and 19th, while a Cattle Egret scraped into the period, appearing at Kislingbury GP on the first of these two dates.
Flying high north over Harrington AF on 18th, the year’s first Osprey was quickly followed by another over Hollowell two days later, on 20th. No doubt there’ll be many more to come … And now part of the furniture, it seems, Marsh Harriers were still around at Summer Leys, where single birds were seen on 14th, 16th and 18th, with two present on 17th. Nearby, in the wider reaches of Earls Barton GP, singles were at Quarry Walk on 14th and at New Workings (South) on 20th. A ‘ringtail’ Hen Harrier flew west over Harrington AF on 16th.
And the week’s other first summer visitor arrived on 17th in the shape of a smart male Northern Wheatear at Clifford Hill GP, hot on the tail of which were three more – all males – the following day, at Blueberry Hill Maidwell, in the Brampton Valley between Cottesbrooke and Hanging Houghton, and at Harrington AF.
An early spring White Wagtail was found on a manure heap between Earls Barton and Ecton on 20th and the only Water Pipit so far this year flew over, calling, at Pitsford on the same date.
It’s been a tremendous winter – and indeed last year – for Crossbills and they are still with us, one being seen at Gamboro Plantation, east of Cottesbrooke, on 14th, five over Denton Wood, Yardley Chase on 16th and several at Pitsford Res on 20th.
Northants birds 