The prospect of there being a decent amount of flooding in the Welland Valley decided my day for me today. I set off just after eight and headed towards Brookfield Plantation. A check on my local Peregrines initially drew a blank but a bird flew in several minutes later and I was treated to some decent enough views through the bins. Brookfield was fairly quiet, a few Siskins were noted and the wild song of a Mistle Thrush provided an atmospheric soundtrack to my walk but other than that it wasn't great.
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| Peregrine and Red Kite |
Emerging from the wood I took the footpath to the escarpment that overlooks the valley. From here I could see that there was indeed a few flooded areas to investigate and so I wasted no time in heading down towards the road. Hundreds of gulls were milling about, mostly Common and Black-headed which I checked for goodies but couldn't find any Meds or anything else amongst them. Very few Lapwings were drawn to the floods, I wonder if many left the area during the recent snowy weather and have yet to return. Both Starlings and thrushes were feeding on the wet grass, there was one large flock of five hundred plus of the former near Rockingham. Six species of dabbling duck were noted on the floods of which Pintails were the most interesting, at least eleven including seven drakes were observed. I don't see too many of these elegant ducks in Northants so I was happy to catch up with them today. Once I reached Rockingham I began my ascent up the hill and headed for home, not one of my best days but I've had worse.
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| Pintail record shots |
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