King Pins

A return to Oundle today where I began with a look at the church to see if the Peregrine was present. My luck was in as it was perched near the top of the spire sitting out the drizzly start to the day. It also looked as if my timing was perfect for a change as the bird flew off after about ten minutes of watching it.

Peregrine and river view.

From here I walked along towards the A605 floods hearing a singing Chiffchaff as I went. This turned out to be the first of at least five singing birds along the Nene and also at nearby Barnwell CP suggesting an arrival over the last couple of days. Still plenty of water around at the floods and they're attracting good quantities of wildfowl at the minute. Wigeon remain the commonest species with about a hundred birds present. Both Shoveller and Teal seemed to have increased since my last visit with perhaps as many as fifty of each noted. A couple of Gadwall helped to up the species count though  were somewhat eclipsed by the presence of a dozen Pintails. These elegant ducks are fairly scarce and this is probably my highest count in Northants for quite a few years. Joining the ducks on the floods today were a flock of Lapwings, hopefully it won't be too long before other waders start to pop in.

Pintails.

A female Kingfisher showed distantly at Barnwell Mill while at the nearby park there was a reasonable selection of birds. Apart from the Chiffchaffs mentioned earlier the highlight was a pair of Redpolls picking seeds from the water's edge. Unfortunately for me there were always sticks and twigs between me and them so I couldn't manage yo get any pictures. While Spring is gradually making its presence felt Winter has not yet released its grip and a flock of over a hundred Fieldfares mixed in with a few Redwings was proof of this. Other birds noted included a Grey Wagtail and there was also several singing Reed Buntings. Not much else to report, it's really a case of making the best of it for now until Spring migration kicks in.

Kingfisher, Reed Bunting and Robin.