Garganey

 A frosty though sunny start to proceedings this morning which saw Alan Shorrock and I heading off to Irthlingborough Lakes and Meadows where we hoped to catch up with the reported drake Garganey. This is a very early individual which arrived at the end of February and set a new record for Northants. Initially we and other would be observers struggled to find him and it was several hours before the first sighting was made.

Pintail

Until the star turn chose to perform we had to settle for a pair of Oystercatchers and a trio of Pintails to keep us entertained. Once the Garganey was finally discovered by other birders after several hours of looking we settled at a spot overlooking Dragonfly Lake hoping to get a view of it. The bird was sleeping out of view behind a clump of sedge with a group of other dozing dabblers and we got just the occasional brief views of its head whenever it woke up. It was beginning to look as if we might have to settle for these frustratingly brief glimpses until a couple of passing pooches intervened. Two hounds which were running off the lead scared a Muntjac which headed off in the direction of the sleeping ducks. Somewhat alarmed by the deer the ducks woke up and the Garganey moved into a position where we could see more of him. A few record shots were taken before he settled down once more. Shozzer and I decided at this point that this was probably as good as it was going to get and moved on.

Garganey

Our next and final birding stop was at Ditchford Lane where a brace of Cattle Egrets had been seen earlier that morning. We found the birds easily as they fed in a field of Alpacas though they were quite distant. Somewhat later on they were joined by a third bird and we watched the trio for a quite a while before we moved on. The nearby pits did not produce much though a Sparrowhawk and a Peregrine were both noted in the wider area. Our day ended in Wellingborough where we enjoyed a pint in the Little Ale House, a small but perfectly formed purveyor of proper beer - who knew that Wellie was such a hotbed for good ale?

Cattle Egrets