Friday 18 January 2019

A day in Northamptonshire & Cambridgeshire - January 17, 2019


David, Malcolm, Roger and I had planned a day out in Northamptonshire and Cambridgeshire today. But hadn’t left too early as there was a forecast of ice and possibly snow.  There had been some overnight rain and an early morning snow flurry but when we left it was bright and sunny, although there was a frost and the north-west wind was rather cold.

Roger picked me up and we then drove to David’s, who then took over the driving for the rest of the day and after picking up Malcolm we headed for Pitsford Reservoir in Northamptonshire.  Malcolm had been on Monday and connected with the long staying Ring-necked Duck, which was to be our first target.

As we headed south, he revealed he had also seen eight Brambling just west of Hanging Houghton and as Roger had missed the bird at Titchwell on Thursday we made a slight detour.  When we arrived at the site there was about thirty birds feeding in front of a barn, but a quick scan revealed that they were all Common Chaffinch.  They then flew off into a hedge and smaller groups of up to twelve then made short visits, but we never saw anything but Common Chaffinch.  A Red Kite and a Common Buzzard were observed just to the east and there was another Red Kite as we made our way back to the main road.

We hadn’t seen anything else of note as we arrived at Pitsford Reservoir and after putting on several layers we walked down the track to the feeding station.  There were still plenty of Eurasian Tree Sparrows around the feeders, but we concentrated our efforts on the Walgrave arm, where the drake Ring-necked had been seen.  We spent over an hour scanning the Walgrave arm and the Scaldwell Arm but there were fewer birds than on last visit, although we did see ten Red-crested Pochard and two Great Egret and I counted forty-five Common Pochard.  With no sign of the Ring-necked we walked back to the car and set off for Holme Fen, where we were hoping to catch up with a wintering Rough-legged Buzzard.

It took us just under an hour to reach Holme Fen, seeing a Red Kite, a Common Buzzard and two Common Kestrel on route.  We made our way to Holme Fen Engine Drain where we had lunch in the car out of the bitter wind.  Malcolm was the first to brave the cold after lunch and after a few minutes he indicated that he had the buzzard.  I got out and scanned the area picking up the juvenile Rough-legged Buzzard hovering some distance away before it dropped down.  David and Roger hadn’t seen it and as I was putting on another layer and setting up my scope, Roger also got out of the car.  When the buzzard took to fight again Roger and David both saw it before it dropped down again. It was soon in flight again and we had some nice, if distant, views over the next thirty minutes.  Whilst on site we had also seen a Little Egret, three Red Kites, a Common Buzzard, a Common Kestrel and forty-four European Golden Plover.

Satisfied with our success we headed for Eldernell, which was only about twenty minutes away, seeing another Common Kestrel on route and two more as we approached the car park at Eldernell.  Malcolm, Roger and I got out and went and stood on the bridge, where it was quite cold in the now fresh wind.  We had seen twenty-three Whooper Swan, two Western Marsh Harriers, three Common Buzzards and four Roe Deer when Malcolm saw a falcon land on a post near a cattle pen.  I got the scope on it and we could see that it was a female Merlin, which was my first sighting at this site.  We managed to get David out of the car for a brief look and it wasn’t long afterwards when we were all back in the car sheltering from the cold.  As I was trying to photograph a Common Kestrel, unsuccessfully, from the car Malcolm picked up two Common Cranes in flight, which was our target bird here.  After some discussion we decided to head back to Stockerston Lane in Leicestershire where we were hoping we would connect with a Short-eared Owl.

The light was fading fast when we reached Stockerston Lane and we wouldn’t have long.  As we drove along the lane, I noticed a Short-eared Owl perched on the hedgerow, which as we stopped and David reversed it flew off and we continued to the viewing area.  There was no sign during our brief stay, and it wasn’t long before we were heading for Market Harborough to drop Malcolm of before heading back to David’s.

Disappointing start to the day, dipping on Brambling and Ring-necked Duck, but improving seeing both the Rough-legged and two Common Cranes, and also Merlin and Short-eared Owl adding quality to the day.

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