Mid-July is not renowned for its delivery of the rare and the scarce – this is, after all, Northamptonshire … But as the weather warmed up so, to some extent, did the birds with the county’s two scarcest – though regular – migrant terns appearing on the same day.
Now looking like a fixed feature of forthcoming weekly Newsrounds, the female Ruddy Shelduck took a break from its favoured location of Winwick Pools to visit Stanford Res on 15th but it was back at Winwick three days later.
The only other duck of note, though, was a female Common Scoter, which dropped into Thrapston GP’s Titchmarsh LNR on 16th.
This week’s passage of notable waders was again limited to the same three species as the week prior, with lower numbers of Black-tailed Godwits restricted to Stanwick GP, where there were eight on 16th and two on 17th. Stanwick also produced a Wood Sandpiper on 16th, while a single Greenshank remained at Lilbourne Meadows NR until at least 18th.
Pitsford Res held on to its regular adult Yellow-legged Gull all week, while 17th saw a Sandwich Tern pay the briefest of visits to Stanford and, following last week’s Clifford Hill duo, yet another Little Tern appeared fleetingly at Earls Barton GP’s Mary’s Lake on the same day. The largest of the two is only the fourth this year, while its diminutive cousin has six previous records in 2024 to date.
In the Nene Valley, the number of juvenile Cattle Egrets jumped from two to four at this year’s new breeding site on 13th.
Following a week with, surprisingly, no reports, Ospreys staged a bid for a comeback, with the reservoirs of Pitsford and Stanford producing the most sightings. Two were at the first of these localities on 14th, followed by singles there on 15th, 16th and 19th, while one visited the latter site on multiple occasions between 15th and 18th. Elsewhere, one was found at Ravensthorpe Res on 14th and one flew high east over Summer Leys LNR on 19th.
And on the passerine front, Common Redstarts continued to be seen in the usual hotspots for this species. Up to two were at Blueberry Farm, Maidwell between 13th and 18th, a male remained at Woodford Halse NR, where it was seen on 14th-15th, Lilbourne Meadows held on to a male between 14th and 19th and single females were found at Stanford on 14th and at Ramsden Corner Plantation NR near Upper Stowe on 17th.
The second Whinchat of the autumn put in an appearance at Pitsford Res on 15th.
Northants birds 