The week’s weather, being somewhat bland, appeared to have little influence on the birds turning up during the period but that’s not to say it was uneventful. Quite the contrary, in fact, with the first Red-throated Diver for sixteen years stealing the show, one or two more Yellow-browed Warblers – now seemingly attracting scant attention – and a trickle of Hawfinches beginning to elicit interest as a national ‘invasion’ appears to be well underway …
There was little new on the wildfowl front, however, with the Pink-footed Goose continuing to visit Stanford Res, where it was seen on 26th-27th and again on 30th. Last week’s adult Whooper Swan also remained there, visiting surrounding farmland, until 30th, while two more dropped in briefly on 27th. Pitsford Res also got in on the act, producing a single bird north of the causeway on 28th, followed by four flying north on 1st.
The Ruddy Shelduck also reappeared at Stanford on 26th before moving back to Winwick Pools on 28th-29th.
Stanford continued to produce the largest share of the period’s Red-crested Pochards, the week opening with seven and closing on six, while the first-winter drake remained at Boddington Res until at least 31st and two were found at Pitsford the next day, on 1st.
In the absence of any notable waders, numbers of the scarcer gulls were about par for the course, with an adult Mediterranean Gull in the roost at Boddington on 31st and a first-winter joining the Stanford roost on 1st. Caspian Gulls widened their reach to four reservoirs, the roost at Boddington holding an adult on 31st and two adults the following evening. Two adults were again at Hollowell on 31st, while single adults were found at both Pitsford and Stanford on 1st. Once again, Boddington produced the week’s highest numbers of Yellow-legged Gulls in its roost, seven on 31st rising to nine the following evening. Elsewhere, singles visited Clifford Hill GP and Summer Leys LNR on 26th and 27th, respectively, two were found at Winwick Pools on 29th, one was at Pitsford on 31st-1st and Stanford held one on 31st and two on 1st.
And just to prove that autumn is far from running out of steam, a smart juvenile Red-throated Diver surfaced at Boddington on the last day of October. It remained for barely five hours following its discovery, having upped sticks and left well before the afternoon was out. Being the first one in Northamptonshire for sixteen years, this species is now verging on mega status in the county, following a short-term run of records in 2002, 2005, 2006-07 and 2008.
Looking like it’s in for the long haul and continuing to offer interest and delight, the Summer Leys Glossy Ibis had notched up six full weeks by the end of the period.
Thrapston GP’s Titchmarsh LNR produced the week’s only Bittern on 26th and Stanwick GP the only Cattle Egrets, with eight there on 1st.
While single Marsh Harriers continued to be seen in the Nene Valley – at Titchmarsh LNR on 26th and at Earls Barton GP’s New Workings (South) on 30th, it was the latter locality that delivered a ‘ringtail’ Hen Harrier, seemingly having taken a liking to the area, being seen there on the afternoons of 28th, 30th and 1st. An adult male Hen Harrier was present briefly in the Brampton Valley, between Brixworth and Cottesbrooke, before flying north-west on 1st.
A Short-eared Owl was found at Blueberry Farm, Maidwell on 30th.
And records continue to be broken as far as Yellow-browed Warblers are concerned, with one reported again at Stanford Res on 26th, while another was found in an area of willows along the Grand Union Canal, between Grafton Regis and Bozenham Mill, on 30th-31st. Perhaps we will be in line for more wintering birds over the next few months …
With no more than two at any one location, Stonechats continued to be seen across the county at Clifford Hill GP, Earls Barton GP, Grafton Regis, Pitsford, Stanford and Thrapston GP.
And as we leave October behind and thoughts turn to what the last month of autumn and the forthcoming winter may bring, it has been widely recognised that we are now well into an invasion of Hawfinches at a national level. Events now unfolding show a marked similarity to the historic influx of 2017-18, with records during the last half of October coming from nudging two hundred sites across England. Following one at Dallington Cemetery, Northampton on 5th October, the week just gone saw a trickle of birds with one flying over Byfield on 30th and, on 1st, five over Harrington AF, three in Thenford churchyard and two or three at Cottesbrooke. These last two sites proved reliable for connecting with long-stayers during the last influx.
So, when will the trickle develop into a torrent? Checking out a churchyard or two could prove fruitful if, as they so often are, planted with Yew trees, a favoured food source. As a heads up, here’s a list of locations they were seen at during the last autumn/winter invasion in 2017-18.
Not quite falling into the same iconic category as the above, but a smart finch, nonetheless, is Crossbill – some twenty of which flew over Brackmills Industrial Estate, Northampton on 30th, while three briefly visited Cottesbrooke churchyard on 1st.
A Corn Bunting – only the second of the year, following one in the Brampton Valley in August – was seen between Grafton Regis and Bozenham Mill on 30th.
Northants birds 