Limited Rail Service

 It was another gloriously sunny early spring day and I chose to head over to Oundle to try and find the Barnwell CP Water Rail. Frost whitened grass greeted me on my arrival but the sunshine soon put paid to this and the rest of the morning spoke more of the coming spring rather than the departing winter. My wander did not produce any rarities but I saw more than enough to justify the trip.

Teal and Mandarins

A singing Chiffchaff was my first of the spring and as always was a welcome reminder of better days to come. I sat myself down in Lowlands Hide and waited to see what might appear. I saw the Water Rail swim across at the back of the pond and looked forward to better and more prolonged sightings. My optimism was sadly misplaced however as I did not catch even a glimpse of it again, looks like I may have to return. Some compensation came in the shape of a pair of Teal, they're quite scarce here and it's always good to get a good view of this attractive duck. No food had been put out for the birds here but a small trickle of passerines did come down on the off chance and these included a Nuthatch in their number. Rebecca from work, a keen wildlife photographer, joined me at this point and we headed towards Kingfisher Hide.

Robin and Moorhen

The regular pair of Mandarins were sitting on their favourite log but the Kingfishers did not show at all. On North Lake a Great Crested Grebe was new in and showed well, with a bit of luck it will attract a mate. Another drake Mandarin was noted on our travels and we also noted a good selection of passerines. I left my work buddy to continue with her photography and set off along the river.

Great Crested Grebe and Red Kite

Things were fairly quiet at first though the local Red Kites put on a pretty good show as they circled overhead. At the A605 floods it was obvious that the wildfowl numbers are dropping, Shovellers in particular seem to have moved on with just a low double figure count remaining. I looked for an early Garganey but my efforts came to nothing. More encouraging were sightings of a Redshank and an Oystercatcher which were my first waders other than Lapwings here this year, hopefully more will follow. I had hoped to see a butterfly on my way back to town but failed though I did see a few bees buzzing around the churchyard. With chores, shopping and a family meal on today's agenda I couldn't hang around any longer and caught my bus home.

Oystercatcher, Redshank and bee.