Nene Valley Travels

 My brother David and I had an early start as we headed off for a day's birding along the Nene Valley. Kicking off at Clifford Hill and moving on through Summer Leys, Ringstead and Aldwincle we enjoyed a decent day with several first for the year sightings. While it remains a little on the chilly side it stayed  dry and sunny for the most part.

Whimbrels

I don't visit Clifford Hill very often as it seems to suffer quite a lot of disturbance due to human activity but that is perhaps no surprise given how close it is to Northampton. Today there seemed to be a running race of sorts though in fairness the runners appeared to have little or no effect on the birds. Of far more concern were the idiots walking along the water's edge with their dogs off the lead. Apparently although there are signs telling people to keep those mutts on the lead it evidently does not apply to all. Despite these moronic interventions we had a good spell of birding beginning with a sighting of five Whimbrels. The birds gave good though distant views and while they were disturbed on occasion by those selfish dog walkers they did appear to remain in the area. While I was watching the Whimbrels David found both a female Wheatear and a female White Wagtail. Other species seen or heard were Lesser Whitethroats, Oystercatcher and Sand Martin.

Ruff and Hobby

Our next port of call was Summer Leys where some of the best birds were fairly distant with a Greenshank, Spotted Redshank and a drake Garganey showing on the opposite shore to Rotary Hide. The scrape produced sightings of several Ruff, at least a trio of Snipe and a few Redshanks. Two Hobbies treated us to something of a flying display as they hawked insects over the water. Other decent birds seen included my first Swift over Mary's Lake and we heard a Grasshopper Warbler reeling near the carpark. One of our highlights had to be a family of four Fox cubs being looked after by a vixen while I also saw my first Holly Blue of the year.

Foxes

Ringstead added little to the day's sightings while Aldwincle was a little dull too. At least we did see a Common Sandpiper while my brother enjoyed excellent views of a Cetti's Warbler from North Hide. Other than that there was little else to report but we couldn't complain, while this Spring is proving to be poor for insects it's been a great one for county birds.

Great Crested Grebes and G-V White