Road Trip

With the easing of lockdown measures a bit more today I decided to take a trip on the bus and travel a little further afield. My choice was between Oundle and Summer Leys  and I opted for the former because I wanted to get the Northants bird report from the book shop there. Today began with a beautiful sunrise which showed up last night's snow to good effect and the morning turned out to be sunny and clear.

Chiffchaff and Reed Bunting

While waiting for my bus a Grey Wagtail flew over the queue of gents waiting outside the barber shop in the village. I'll have to get mine done too but I'm not wasting good birding time in order to do so! After a drive through the snowy countryside I arrived in Oundle and headed out along the River Nene. A drake Mandarin was seen near to Ashton footbridge where a Willow Warbler was singing. Nearby a Cetti's Warbler was heard near the weir and a Snipe flushed from the riverside was the first of several seen today. Not too many birds on the floods near Barnwell lock though a Yellow Wagtail was my first of the year. Also present were a couple of Redshanks, more Snipes and about ten Lapwings. Several swallows and Sand Martins were hawking insects near the marina.

Record shot time, Redshank and Yellow Wagtail

I ended my day at Barnwell CP where two more drake Mandarins were the highlight. There seemed to be a lot of Blackcaps around too though not a great deal else. Deciding that I wasn't going to see much more I headed into town to buy that report and jolly good it turned out to be too.

Snowy scenes and Mandarin.