Rain Drops Keep Falling On My Head

Even the threatened near biblical amounts of rain could not keep me in today, with only two days off there was no way I was going to stay at home watching repeats of Shrek on the telly. So it was that I donned my waterproofs and set out for Oundle. I'd heard that someone had seen Black-tailed Godwit and a few other species on the A605 floodwater and I wanted a piece of that godwit pie (not literally, I can't afford such a big bill on my wages!).

Plenty of water around.

Water levels were very high around the town and parts of the area looked more like the Ouse Washes. The normally rather languid Nene was flowing fast and had the colour of gravy though it wasn't always easy to work out where the river stopped and the floodwater began. No chance of any waders today, the water was probably too deep and even the Teal had moved on. Numbers of all wildfowl had dropped though whether it was due to birds dispersing over a much wider area or perhaps due to migration I can't say.

Egyptian Goose and gosling.

At this point I would like to direct a question to some of the Oundle dog walking community and that query is, why don't you pick up your dog's poop? It's fairly bad in some other places but around here it's terrible. Does doggy do serve some sort of decorative function for you or is it the distinct aroma that appeals. Either way innocent birders really do have to concentrate if they don't want to have to clean their boots. Come on folks nobody is too posh to stoop and scoop and nobody forced you to buy that mutt.

Lowlands Hide goodies.

At Oundle Marina there was a pair of Egyptian Geese who were the proud parents of two goslings, while one seemed happy to sit next to mum at first it soon sought shelter with its sibling under her wing once the rain began again. From here it was on to Barnwell CP where the duff weather had at least kept the crowds away. Still some Redwings lingering though the next shift in the form of several Chiffchaffs seem to be taking over. Plenty of common stuff on view from Lowlands Hide and I also enjoyed watching a pair of Great Crested Grebes going through some of their elaborate courtship display. Deciding that there was unlikely to be much else on offer I headed off to the Rose and Crown for a couple of pints.

Great Crested Grebes.