Birds 2017 (Britain)

2017 was by no means a vintage year in birding terms, I made very few trips beyond the county border while birding within the county was steady if not spectacular.

White-billed Diver.

A first highlight of the year was a flock of Waxwings in Kettering town centre, 24 in all but they did not pose for any photographs. These were part of a large nationwide invasion and although they first reached Northants in the Autumn I did not catch up with any local ones until these birds. Next up was the very obliging inland White-billed Diver in Lincolnshire which turned out to be my only life tick in Britain this year. Decent back up to this bird came in the form of a Ring-necked Duck at Kirby GP.

Waxwings were seen at two sites in the county during 2017.

More Waxwings featured on the 19th of February when a large flock of about fifty were seen at Wootton in Northampton, this was far and away my largest ever county flock. A visit to Pitsford on the same date provided some good views of both Red-necked and Slavonian Grebes. Another local twitch to Sywell CP got me my first county Whooper Swan for years on the fifth of March. Other local highlights at this time included Bramblings at several sites and also a nice flooded area near Oundle which attracted several species of waders during the Spring.

Red-necked and Slavonian Grebes were both seen at Pitsford Reservoir.

Another local twitch over to Stanford Reservoir for three Black-winged Stilts on the 20th of April was successful and were my first in the county, with an increasing number of records in the UK this may become more regular event in Northants.

The Stanford Stilts and one of the East Leake Bee-eaters.

Things then went a bit quiet as I spent most of the Summer looking at insects though I managed to make my annual visit to Norfolk for good views of Nightjar, always a highlight of any year. A further Summer jaunt, this time to East Leake in Nottinghamshire gave me the chance to see four Bee-eaters, a rare treat in Britain.

Not a bad day, Red-necked and Grey Phalaropes.

It was not until the 8th of October that I went on another out of county birding trip, this time to North Norfolk where the headline acts were A Red-necked Phalarope at Kelling and a Grey Phalarope at Cley. This was the first time that I've seen two species of Phalarope on the same day, shame that there had been no Wilson's a little closer than Kent! November saw me return to Norfolk for a short break with my wife. While not a birding trip I did see a couple of Twites at Wells, a Great White Egret at Holkham and two Cattle Egrets at Stiffkey. Great Whites continue to do well in Northants too, I saw birds at both Summer Leys and Pitsford during the year.

Egrets, I've had a few, Cattle and Great White.

The late Autumn and early winter period were spent looking for Hawfinches as large numbers of them had arrived in Britain as part of an unprecedented arrival. Initially I managed to avoid them totally at first though sightings of further county Whooper Swans, a Jack Snipe and Bramblings were as welcome as always. I finally managed to catch up with a couple of Hawfinches at East Carlton Park on the 9th of December and they barring anything spectacular turning up during the final ten days were the last highlight of 2017.

Not a great picture but a good bird, Hawfinch at East Carlton CP.