Work was kind enough to give me the day off today so I boarded the trusty X4 and headed over to Oundle while it was still dark. As I arrived it was just beginning to get light though sadly there was no spectacular sunrise due to complete cloud cover. Daylight sort of seeped in revealing a grey though mild sort of early morning.
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| Lake view and farmer leading his cows to pastures new. |
I had hoped to see some Otters along the river but unfortunately they did not cooperate and the only mammals that I did see were a couple of Grey Squirrels. Plenty of Wrens were singing which suggests that they had a good breeding season and their song and the calls of winter thrushes provided most of the soundtrack for my walk. A brace of Dabchicks and a Teal were notable as both species are quite scarce along this bit of the Nene and a pair of Shoveller were seen on a pool close to the A605. As I reached Lower Barnwell lock the sun began to shine and conditions became very pleasant indeed.
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| King or should that be Queenfisher? |
Oundle Mill still had its Egyptian Goose while three Mandarins were seen at nearby Barnwell CP. Avian star here was a female Kingfisher that showed well from Lowlands Hide but otherwise the birds were pretty much the same as usual. A few Siskins and several Redpolls were perhaps the best of the rest while Shoveller numbers are slowly rising.
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| Shoveller, Coal Tit and Robin. |
Sunny spells were warm enough to tempt a few Common Darters out and three males and two females were seen. Hopefully the weather may stay just mild enough to keep at least one on the wing into December but then it looked quite promising last year too and I remember how well that went!
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| Common Darters. |
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