Saving Grace

 It was a grey and drizzly morning and one when I might well have stayed at home if it wasn't my only day off this weekend. Instead of a relaxing and dry day at home I opted to visit Blatherwycke Lake in the company of Alan Shorrock. Although it started off dry drizzle soon began to fall and my camera did not leave the bag. 

Hawfinch

The lake held a selection of the commoner wildfowl but there were very few Wigeon here, I'd hoped that the Eyebrook American might have moved on to here but that was sadly not to be. Once again there were no Mandarin ducks which is quite a surprise given that this used to be their county stronghold. A Great White Egret was fishing in the shallows but there was little else to report. We moved on to the churchyard where we held a drizzly vigil in the hope of seeing Hawfinches. After a bit Alan went for a wander and as he returned I saw a bird land in the top of one of the bare trees. A squint through the bins was promising while a look through the scope confirmed my suspicion - Hawfinch! The bird paused to wipe its bill on a twig but was gone before Shozzer got a good look. As it flew it was joined by a second bird and both flew further into the estate. Despite hanging around for a further rather damp hour the birds did not return though a future visit has been pencilled in. On the way home we stopped at Deene but there was nothing of interest to report, the lake there remains strangely bird free. Today's blog pic comes from the same location and was taken on the third of January 2022.

Otter, Diver and a Goose

This week is yet another back shift one which means that i get a lieu day off to replace my Saturday and today was that day, Shozzer though suffering from a cold joined me on my excursion to the dam at Rutland Water. and we had a decent session before moving on to the North Arm.

Otter

Fog blighted our initial efforts to find stuff from the shoreline near Syke' s Lane car park but the first bird that I saw once it had begun to lift was a juvenile Great Northern Diver midway between the north and south shore. Attempting to find the diver again revealed an Otter feeding just off the shore, it  later came out on to the shoreline and treated us to some good views. Our attempt to find the reported Slavonian Grebe came to naught and having enjoyed further views of the diver we moved on to the north arm.

Great Northern Diver

The north arm produced sightings of five Curlews, a Pink-footed Goose and three Redshanks. I thought that I 'd  seen a Black-tailed Godwit too though none of the other birders present could verify it. Last bird before we moved on was an adult Caspian Gull found by another birder. Having checked Eyevrook on our way home where there was little of note other than five Red Crested Pochards we moved on to the 'spoons in Corby or a pint.

Pink-footed Goose.

That Damn Yankee

 Last Sunday a drake American Wigeon was found at Eyebrook Reservoir but it was a little too late in the day for me to do anything about it. Since then I've been crossing my fingers and hoping against hope that it might stay until this weekend. Yesterday I played the fair weather birdwatcher card and opted to stay at home rather than brave the rain but the wigeon was reported and things looked set fine for today's visit.  This morning was dry and sunny but that proved to be rather a big problem when Shozzer and I arrived to look for it. Most of the wigeon were gathered on the Leics bank southwest of the island and were backlit by the strong sunshine and thus were silhouettes ,we in addition to all of the other hopeful birders failed to connect with the bird. Though the dip was undoubtably a disappointment it didn't ruin our day as there was other stuff to entertain us.

Whooper Swan and Pintail

On arrival we looked from Sam's Dyke and were pleased to see a juvenile Whooper Swan drop in from neighbouring fields and stop to preen in the shallows, it didn't loiter for long but was a welcome sight nonetheless. A look from the island bunker was unproductive but from north of the island we saw at least eight Red Crested Pochards, five were off the plantation shore while three were on the Leics side. Two Great White Egrets were present around the res and there were over twenty Pintails at the inflow. Several Stonechats were flitting around the vegetation at the sharp end and there were Siskins present in the trees around the bridge.

Red Crested Pochards

On the way back around the res to give the wigeon another try I was happy to find ten RCP's snoozing in the shallows on the Leics bank and was able to get several pics of them. A return visit to the island bunker produced my bird of the day as a scan of the surrounding area produced sightings of a young dark-bellied Brent Goose, this was my first site record. Its stay was brief unfortunately and it flew off soon after its discovery landing briefly on the water before being lost to view. Last bird of note was a female Scaup seen from Sam's Dyke before we moved on to the Samuel Lloyd for a pint.

Brent Goose

Dry, Dry Dry

 The weather guessers suggested that today was going to be a wet one according to the advanced forecasts that I'd seen. I'd even got my waterproofs ready in preparation for this morning's stroll but was delighted to find that I didn't need them. Instead of rain there was blue sky and sunshine and it turned out to be a lovely late Autumn day for taking a walk.

Lapwings and Stonechat

My stepson dropped me off at Deene just after nine and almost immediately I heard a Kingfisher call as if flew along the Willowbrook. Nearby I had brief views of a Stonechat though that wasn't much of a surprise as I'd read that they were here on the Northamptonshire Birding blog. The churchyard was rather birdy with a decent selection of the commoner species on view. A Nuthatch was calling and I could hear the thin calls of Redwings while several Song Thrushes serenaded me. Yew trees attracted at least two Mistle Thrushes and several Siskins called as they passed overhead. Deene Lake was mainly bird free for some reason and high water levels meant that water was seeping over the dam. There was a Grey Wagtail briefly on the water's edge while a pair of Stonechats were using a barbed wire fence from which they sallied out on to the nearby ground in search of food.

Egyptian Geese and Red Kite

Deenethorpe village hosted another Mistle Thrush while in a field on the outskirts I saw two Egyptian Geese. The airfield was fairly busy too with the usual Skylarks, Meadow Pipits and Linnets flitting about. A party of Long-tailed Tits were foraging and I also saw my only Fieldfare of the day. Now I don't know how others feel but I sometimes suffer from Kite fatigue in that I get tired of checking out raptors only to find that they're yet another Red Kite and consequently don't always bother. Today I saw a large raptor and almost ignored it but it seemed darker than normal and a check through the bins revealed it to be a Marsh Harrier, my first at this site. Knowing that Neil McMahon had seen one at relatively nearby Blatherwycke in the week I checked with him to see whether it could have been the same bird. Turns out that his was a young bird whereas mine looked like an adult female, disappointingly I didn't manage to get any pics. Last birds of note before I began my walk towards Weldon were Marsh Tit and Nuthatch on the edge of Weldon Park Wood.

Wet, Wet Wet

 Yesterday's dry but sunny conditions gave way this morning to a greyer and damper vista and for that reason Shozzer and I sought the relative shelter of the hides at Summer Leys instead of the dam at Rutland Water where  we had originally hoped to visit. Good birds were few and rather far between but we saw enough to make our visit worthwhile.

Snipe and Marsh Harrier

I've  only just returned from a rather good Blondie tribute gig so if this post makes even less sense than usual I apologise right now! From Rotary Hide we saw a reasonable selection of wildfowl but not much else, Alan picked out a distant female Marsh Harrier but she moved on pretty quickly. We saw her again on several further occasions though trying to get a decent picture proved  almost beyond my meagre abilities.  Little else of interest was noted on our walk around apart from three Snipe. Having decided to bale out we found ourselves at Little Irchester from where we saw three Glossy Ibis feeding in a flooded field next to the electricity substation. In worsening rain we opted to visit the Coach and Horses in Welly where several very good pints were duly sunk.

Glossy Ibis.

Back In The Cold

 After the mild climate of Iberia it was a bit of a shock to get back out into the English countryside. Cold it may well have been but importantly for me it stayed dry too as Alan Shorrock and I popped over to Eyebrook for a gentle reintroduction into local birding.

Common Scoter...

We began at Sam's Dyke where it was immediately obvious that recent rainfall has raised the water level to pre summer levels. Sadly there was no sign of the redhead Smew that had been present earlier in the week either south or north of the island. A Great White Egret was perhaps the best bird before we moved on to the island bunker. My search through the large aythya flock off the plantation shore was soon stopped when Shozzer picked out a distant female Common Scoter southeast of the island. We watched it briefly before it flew north and joined the flock that I'd been looking through moments earlier. Leaving the bunker we moved along the road and tried to find it again.

...and another rubbish picture of Common Scoter!

Surprisingly we found it rather easily feeding on the edges of the flock, it was always distant but I did get a couple of very dodgy record shots and I apologise for them in advance. Also present within the flock was an impressive total of thirteen Red Crested Pochard including eight drakes, nowadays I treat them like White Storks in that they look great but I never know if they're truly wild or not. The rest of the res was quiet and a look at Blatherwycke didn't produce anything memorable either. The Cross Keys in King's Cliffe provided me with a welcome chance to reacquaint myself with British beer, it was more agreeable than the British weather!

Fuengirola Break

 I've just returned from a week's break in Spain with my wife Sandra where we were celebrating her birthday. It was by no means a birding trip though I went for a walk every day and on my strolls managed to see a few things of interest. Visitors to the Costa del Sol will know that green space is at a premium amongst all the development but Fuengirola does have a few areas worth visiting.

Blue Rock Thrush and Black Redstart

The castle at the western end of the town is surrounded by a park and this is where most of my walks took me. The pines on the slopes of the castle mound attracted Crested Tits on three separate occasions while the slopes themselves hosted at least three Black Redstarts, others were seen elsewhere along the river. A juvenile Blue Rock Thrush paid the briefest of visits to the castle walls before being moved on by numerous visitors filing past. Other species noted included Sardinian Warbler, Serin, Short-toed Treecreeper, Monk Parrakeets and Crag Martins.

Crag Martin and Spotless Starling

The Fuengirola River has for the most part dried up but the tidal section held fishing parties of both Cormorants and Little Egrets with the odd Grey Heron joining them on occasion. Several Kingfishers helped to make this an even more dangerous place for the unfortunate fish! A juvenile Night Heron was seen on two occasions at the last part of the river proper which still contains some water. The river mouth suffers from plenty of human disturbance but when the sunny weather gave way to rain for the last two days visitor numbers slackened and I noted a single juvenile Ringed Plover and eight Turnstones. The beach is also prone to disturbance but early mornings saw loafing gulls resting and these included a good number of Mediterranean as well as the numerous Yellow-leggeds. Both Gannets and Sandwich Terns were seen flying past though I couldn't find any shearwaters, I have seen them from here before.

Monk Parrakeet and Kingfisher

Other wildlife was in short supply, I saw a single Painted Lady at the castle while a few Monarchs were noted flitting along the seafront. All in all it was a good break which even a massive queue at Malaga Airport passport control before our return flight could not sour. Now its back to work and rain, wonder how long it takes to forget that I ever got away?

Ringed Plover, Turnstone and Med Gulls

AGP Staying Put

 My one day weekend began slightly damp and drizzly before giving way to sunnier and much brighter conditions a little later on. An offer of a lift from my stepson meant that I found myself spending a very pleasant morning walking around Eyebrook reservoir. As I'm off to Spain for my wife's birthday next weekend this will be my last report for a fortnight.

One of four Red Kites circling a goose carcass

My watching began at Stoke Dry car park before I took a stroll along the road on the Rutland side of the res. A reasonable haul of wildfowl included Pintail within their number as well as a juvenile Shelduck. From trees next to the road the calls of my first Fieldfares of the autumn were heard, several Redwings were present too. A Brummie birder put me on to the now long staying American Golden Plover which is still showing good site fidelity. I had rather distant views but decided to continue walking rather than wait around hoping that it might come closer. At the bridge Siskin and Grey Wagtail were present though I was probably too early in the day to see any lingering odes basking in the November sunshine.

AGP record shots

From the Leics bank I had slightly better views of the AGP and took several ropey record shots, there were several hundred European Goldies and a couple of Dunlin too. I continued my stroll stopping periodically to look through the occasional gaps in the hedge. Nothing too interesting came to light other than my first Goldeneye here of the autumn, I'd seen two at Titchmarsh earlier in the week. Continued searching through the Tufted Duck flocks failed to find either Red Crested Pochards or Scaups though at least one of the former was seen by others. North of the island a herd of seven Whooper Swans resting on the bank were a definite highlight and I paused to take several pictures. Before my lift came to pick me up I heard but didn't see Ringed Plover south of the island and then it was off to do the weekly shop before heading to the George in Weldon for a family meal.

Whooper Swans

Second Bite Of The Cherry

 Northamptonshire had to wait a long time before logging its first record of Lesser Scaup and that was an eclipse drake at Stanford Res last month. Sadly this was relatively short staying and had gone before I could get over to see it. Yesterday a drake was found at Rushden Lakes which happily coincided with my lieu day off today, Alan Shorrock and I headed over this morning and joined what seems like quite a few other birders looking for this bird.

Lesser Scaup

It was a fine and bright morning and the scaup was relatively close to the path which allowed the gathered admirers some good views. It was actively feeding for much of the time but we could see most of its salient features except for the wing bar. Roughly Tufted Duck sized it had the peak at the back of the crown while the black "nail" on the bill was small and the vermiculation's on the back were courser and darker than on Greater. Many record shots were taken before we decided to move on, I'm guessing that social media will be awash with pictures later!

After Rushden we headed to Titchmarsh NR though in truth there was not a lot on view to enjoy. One noticeable exception to this was a mature female Marsh Harrier which we saw several times from North Hide, I managed a couple of distant and pretty poor record shots. Both Common Darter and a Red Admiral were seen during sunny spells but I didn't find any other interesting insects. We finished our day at a very busy Dukes in Woodford where a pint of Cleopatra went down very well indeed!

Marsh Harrier and Common Darter

Golden Start, Dull Later

 This Sunday's weather was very similar to last week with a sunny start giving way to clouds and eventually rain. My morning involved a bus to Weldon and then a walk to Deene via Deenethorpe Airfield and village. While the weather may have resembled last Sunday the birding did not and overall it was pretty poor.

Golden Plovers

Chaffinches seemed to be on the move this morning, I heard them passing over my garden as I hung the washing out, a Grey Wagtail also flew past though this was probably a wintering bird. My bus was unusually punctual and I reached Weldon before nine and set off on my stroll along the A427. Just beyond the new academy I came across a large flock of Golden Plovers feeding in one of the roadside fields. A quick count suggested a minimum of 106 birds and also gave me a chance to see if any American Golden Plovers were accompanying them, there weren't! Sadly this was the highpoint of my day birdwise and I struggled to see much of interest during the rest of my wander.

Red Admiral

There were small numbers of Redwings feeding in the hedgerow at the entrance to the airfield and I heard at least one Redpoll above the clatter of a stunting biplane's engine. In the lane between Deenethorpe and the A427 I noted a female Common Darter and a Red Admiral making the most of the morning sunshine. At nearby Deene Lake there were a lot of birds but little of interest, I'd hoped to connect with either Whooper Swans or Pink-footed Geese but failed in both respects. The inflow was empty of birds and increasing cloud cover ruled out any further insect sightings. I reached Weldon just as the rain began to fall, a Siskin was my final sighting of the day. Stagecoach then stepped in to end my day on a disagreeable note as the X4 was twenty five minutes late, thank God for bus shelters!

Good, Could Have Been Better

 Alan and I went looking for Rock Pipits again today, there has been quite a few moving through and we wanted a piece of the pie. Sadly our trip to the dam part of Rutland did not deliver the goods pipitwise but there was some compensation on offer to offset this setback. Though it was sunny for quite a large part of the day a stiff north westerly breeze kept temperatures down and on the dam itself it was more than a little uncomfortable.

Dunlin

Our initial efforts did not produce much other than a female Goosander on the dam which disappeared not too long after discovery. We followed the shoreline along towards Normanton Church but didn't manage to find much of note. Our plan then was to head along to the north arm of the reservoir but we decided to have a look along the dam first. A single adult Dunlin was on the little beach at the southern end of the dam and this long billed individual may have been from one of the northern races. As we checked the area I heard Whooper Swans calling and six birds came into view flying in a south easterly direction, I couldn't  get any pics but Shozzer grabbed a couple before they moved out of sight. Several minutes later we heard but didn't see more Whoopers passing through.

Raven

Plans to move on were thwarted when Alan picked out a Raven sitting on the dam, seeing perched ones is something of a rare treat and we wandered along to get better views. The bird was casting hungry eyes towards a dead fish which a Great Black Backed Gull was munching on, the gull was not in the mood for sharing however. Though the Raven kept trying to steal a morsel the overly possessive larid was not inclined to share until, presumably full or perhaps just bored of fish, it moved on. It didn't take long for the Raven to seize this opportunity though it moved on itself too after just a couple of pecks and was replaced by a Yellow-legged Gull. Happy with the views we decided to head back to the car and make our way to the north arm though once again events conspired to hold us up...

Yellow-legged Gull and Goosander

I had a quick scan through the scope before we left and noticed a brownhead Goosander feeding just off the dam. As I watched a probable Red-breasted Merganser surfaced next to it, Alan had a look and agreed with my I.D. For the second time in short order we marched along the dam and were treated to decent views of this scarce inland visitor. Phil Rogers again put the news out for us and although some people seem to have only seen one of the half dozen or so Goosanders present rather than the Merg I gather it was eventually seen by others a little later in the afternoon. We left soon after though rather than heading to the north arm as originally planned we went to the Cross Keys in King's Cliffe for a pint instead. While enjoying my beer Phil sent news that a pale phase adult Pomarine Skua had flown over lagoon four at Rutland Water, oh well you can't win them all!

Red-breasted Marganser

After the pub we had a look at Blatherwycke Lake which was bathed in glorious evening sunshine. Our efforts came to naught unfortunately with only  half a dozen Mandarins, a Black Swan and Egyptian Geese to report. A huge flock of geese came in but they proved to be Greylags and we decided at this point to call it a day and head back towards Corby.

Alan's Whooper shot and the Merg again.