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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