Restorative Ramble

 Last night I had a red wine fuelled catch up with some ex work mates (and I'm still not sure how I managed to knock out last night's blog post!) so woke up feeling more than a little delicate to say the least. My self prescribed cure was to take a stroll around the Oundle area for what seems like the first time in months. Bright and breezy conditions aided my recovery and by the time that my medicinal meander had ended I felt pretty much normal again.

Shoveller and Grey Wagtail

Happily the X4 behaved itself and I arrived in Oundle pretty much on schedule. My first stop was at Barnwell CP where I had a quick look around before the squealing brats became too annoying. The park hosted a good selection of the more common species with both Redwings and Fieldfares being noted near the entrance. A Chiffchaff called from bushes next to the Nene while Siskins were heard on several occasions. From Kingfisher Hide I saw quite a gathering of Shovellers which looked resplendent in the sunshine, there were at least half a dozen Gadwall here too. At least one Kingfisher dropped in though I heard it more often than I saw it and those views were fleeting. Lowlands Hide provided brief glimpses of Nuthatch and also a Grey Wagtail. I left soon after the wagtail had departed and made my way towards the river.

Peregrines

Little of note was seen on my riverside trek until I reached the seasonal floods near the A605. Plenty of Wigeon and lesser numbers of Teal were present and I spent some time scoping them to see if any of their American cousins were mingling with them, they weren't! Final stop was at the church where two Peregrines were perched on the spire. The drowsy falcons spent a lot of their time snoozing and even the chimes of the clock didn't appear to disturb them. Whilst watching the Peregrines I heard a male Tawny Owl hoot twice from trees adjacent to the churchyard and that was the final act before I caught my bus home.

Peregrine stack.

Smews

 A beautiful winter morning saw Shozzer and I head over to Eyebrook where a glorious sunrise was as good a way as any to start our day. The light meant that viewing conditions from south of the island were challenging to say the least but things were decidedly better from north of here.

Smews

In the bay north of the island I managed to pick out a redhead Smew which though distant showed well enough through the scope. Alan then picked out a splendid drake Smew which again was similarly distant but I enjoyed my views nonetheless Even further away was a drake Red crested Pochard off the plantation shore, it seems as if the post eclipse flock has all but moved on. Shozzer had a fleeting glimpse of a female Scaup but I was unable to catch up with it. A male Stonechat showed well enough at the inflow where a minimum of ten Dunlin had joined the many Golden Plovers which had gathered there. Last birds of note here were a minimum of twenty Pintails feeding around the tern rafts.

Goldeneye and Shovellers

Blatherwycke was our next port of call but both the lake and the churchyard failed to produce any sightings of note. We opted to then head for the Cross Keys in King's Cliffe where I enjoyed a couple of pints of decent beer.

Pintail, Plovers and Fieldfare

Saving Grace

 It was a grey and drizzly morning and one when I might well have stayed at home if it wasn't my only day off this weekend. Instead of a relaxing and dry day at home I opted to visit Blatherwycke Lake in the company of Alan Shorrock. Although it started off dry drizzle soon began to fall and my camera did not leave the bag. 

Hawfinch

The lake held a selection of the commoner wildfowl but there were very few Wigeon here, I'd hoped that the Eyebrook American might have moved on to here but that was sadly not to be. Once again there were no Mandarin ducks which is quite a surprise given that this used to be their county stronghold. A Great White Egret was fishing in the shallows but there was little else to report. We moved on to the churchyard where we held a drizzly vigil in the hope of seeing Hawfinches. After a bit Alan went for a wander and as he returned I saw a bird land in the top of one of the bare trees. A squint through the bins was promising while a look through the scope confirmed my suspicion - Hawfinch! The bird paused to wipe its bill on a twig but was gone before Shozzer got a good look. As it flew it was joined by a second bird and both flew further into the estate. Despite hanging around for a further rather damp hour the birds did not return though a future visit has been pencilled in. On the way home we stopped at Deene but there was nothing of interest to report, the lake there remains strangely bird free. Today's blog pic comes from the same location and was taken on the third of January 2022.

Otter, Diver and a Goose

This week is yet another back shift one which means that i get a lieu day off to replace my Saturday and today was that day, Shozzer though suffering from a cold joined me on my excursion to the dam at Rutland Water. and we had a decent session before moving on to the North Arm.

Otter

Fog blighted our initial efforts to find stuff from the shoreline near Syke' s Lane car park but the first bird that I saw once it had begun to lift was a juvenile Great Northern Diver midway between the north and south shore. Attempting to find the diver again revealed an Otter feeding just off the shore, it  later came out on to the shoreline and treated us to some good views. Our attempt to find the reported Slavonian Grebe came to naught and having enjoyed further views of the diver we moved on to the north arm.

Great Northern Diver

The north arm produced sightings of five Curlews, a Pink-footed Goose and three Redshanks. I thought that I 'd  seen a Black-tailed Godwit too though none of the other birders present could verify it. Last bird before we moved on was an adult Caspian Gull found by another birder. Having checked Eyevrook on our way home where there was little of note other than five Red Crested Pochards we moved on to the 'spoons in Corby or a pint.

Pink-footed Goose.

That Damn Yankee

 Last Sunday a drake American Wigeon was found at Eyebrook Reservoir but it was a little too late in the day for me to do anything about it. Since then I've been crossing my fingers and hoping against hope that it might stay until this weekend. Yesterday I played the fair weather birdwatcher card and opted to stay at home rather than brave the rain but the wigeon was reported and things looked set fine for today's visit.  This morning was dry and sunny but that proved to be rather a big problem when Shozzer and I arrived to look for it. Most of the wigeon were gathered on the Leics bank southwest of the island and were backlit by the strong sunshine and thus were silhouettes ,we in addition to all of the other hopeful birders failed to connect with the bird. Though the dip was undoubtably a disappointment it didn't ruin our day as there was other stuff to entertain us.

Whooper Swan and Pintail

On arrival we looked from Sam's Dyke and were pleased to see a juvenile Whooper Swan drop in from neighbouring fields and stop to preen in the shallows, it didn't loiter for long but was a welcome sight nonetheless. A look from the island bunker was unproductive but from north of the island we saw at least eight Red Crested Pochards, five were off the plantation shore while three were on the Leics side. Two Great White Egrets were present around the res and there were over twenty Pintails at the inflow. Several Stonechats were flitting around the vegetation at the sharp end and there were Siskins present in the trees around the bridge.

Red Crested Pochards

On the way back around the res to give the wigeon another try I was happy to find ten RCP's snoozing in the shallows on the Leics bank and was able to get several pics of them. A return visit to the island bunker produced my bird of the day as a scan of the surrounding area produced sightings of a young dark-bellied Brent Goose, this was my first site record. Its stay was brief unfortunately and it flew off soon after its discovery landing briefly on the water before being lost to view. Last bird of note was a female Scaup seen from Sam's Dyke before we moved on to the Samuel Lloyd for a pint.

Brent Goose

Dry, Dry Dry

 The weather guessers suggested that today was going to be a wet one according to the advanced forecasts that I'd seen. I'd even got my waterproofs ready in preparation for this morning's stroll but was delighted to find that I didn't need them. Instead of rain there was blue sky and sunshine and it turned out to be a lovely late Autumn day for taking a walk.

Lapwings and Stonechat

My stepson dropped me off at Deene just after nine and almost immediately I heard a Kingfisher call as if flew along the Willowbrook. Nearby I had brief views of a Stonechat though that wasn't much of a surprise as I'd read that they were here on the Northamptonshire Birding blog. The churchyard was rather birdy with a decent selection of the commoner species on view. A Nuthatch was calling and I could hear the thin calls of Redwings while several Song Thrushes serenaded me. Yew trees attracted at least two Mistle Thrushes and several Siskins called as they passed overhead. Deene Lake was mainly bird free for some reason and high water levels meant that water was seeping over the dam. There was a Grey Wagtail briefly on the water's edge while a pair of Stonechats were using a barbed wire fence from which they sallied out on to the nearby ground in search of food.

Egyptian Geese and Red Kite

Deenethorpe village hosted another Mistle Thrush while in a field on the outskirts I saw two Egyptian Geese. The airfield was fairly busy too with the usual Skylarks, Meadow Pipits and Linnets flitting about. A party of Long-tailed Tits were foraging and I also saw my only Fieldfare of the day. Now I don't know how others feel but I sometimes suffer from Kite fatigue in that I get tired of checking out raptors only to find that they're yet another Red Kite and consequently don't always bother. Today I saw a large raptor and almost ignored it but it seemed darker than normal and a check through the bins revealed it to be a Marsh Harrier, my first at this site. Knowing that Neil McMahon had seen one at relatively nearby Blatherwycke in the week I checked with him to see whether it could have been the same bird. Turns out that his was a young bird whereas mine looked like an adult female, disappointingly I didn't manage to get any pics. Last birds of note before I began my walk towards Weldon were Marsh Tit and Nuthatch on the edge of Weldon Park Wood.

Wet, Wet Wet

 Yesterday's dry but sunny conditions gave way this morning to a greyer and damper vista and for that reason Shozzer and I sought the relative shelter of the hides at Summer Leys instead of the dam at Rutland Water where  we had originally hoped to visit. Good birds were few and rather far between but we saw enough to make our visit worthwhile.

Snipe and Marsh Harrier

I've  only just returned from a rather good Blondie tribute gig so if this post makes even less sense than usual I apologise right now! From Rotary Hide we saw a reasonable selection of wildfowl but not much else, Alan picked out a distant female Marsh Harrier but she moved on pretty quickly. We saw her again on several further occasions though trying to get a decent picture proved  almost beyond my meagre abilities.  Little else of interest was noted on our walk around apart from three Snipe. Having decided to bale out we found ourselves at Little Irchester from where we saw three Glossy Ibis feeding in a flooded field next to the electricity substation. In worsening rain we opted to visit the Coach and Horses in Welly where several very good pints were duly sunk.

Glossy Ibis.