Mixed Fortunes

 My brother and I ventured out this morning to Northampton to begin our day at Sixfields Lake where a Common Scoter has been present for a couple of days. In rather drab and drizzly conditions we completely failed to find it and had to content ourselves with several Cetti's Warblers.

Great White Egret

Next stop on the agenda was Lings Wood where in common with four other observers we searched for the Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers for which the site is known. Although it took a little while we managed to see a male and female as well as hearing both calls and drumming. At one stage the male seemed to be following a Great Spotted around and the two were within a foot of each other for a brief moment. Once we had enjoyed satisfactory views we moved on to Stanwick where a range of species appeared to be on offer. Sadly for us we failed to see any off them and managed to dip on the Glossy Ibis, the White-fronted Geese as well as the Cattle Egrets. Scant compensation came in the form of a fine male Stonechat, my first county Oystercatchers of the year and a solitary drake Goosander along with two Great White Egrets. Encouraging news from Sixfields regarding the scoter suggested that a return might be in order...

Common Scoter.

On our return to the lake we changed our route and walked up the opposite side though the initial results were not impressive. We strolled up the western side without luck before a scope scan of the shore which had been obscured from us by trees revealed the bird. With the sun now shining we were treated to decent views of the drake as he fed actively. This was probably my first in the county and was a good note on which to finish our county explorations for the day.