The Panto Villain returns.

As the garden flock of House Sparrows now numbers about 40 birds it was inevitable this chap would catch on and pay us a visit.A Sparrowhawk, like the panto villain we love to hate him, yet you can't help but admire him.

A Kentish in Rutland

The exceptionally rare occurence of a British inland Kentish Plover had Mr M and I nipping up to Eyebrook Reservoir tonight.
The little cutie juvenile bird showed very well at the inlet end, loosely associating with around 10 Ringed Plover.
I have seen many Kentish Plovers abroad but this was a British first for me. Somehow amongst the Eyebrook mud this bird was far more impressive than the ones that scurry along the sand and shingle of some foreign beach.
An added bonus was a Pectoral Sandpiper that fed amongst the small flock of Dunlin. Apparently we had missed out on 5 Curlew Sandpipers that had been there slightly earlier, but Hey who's complaining !
Around a dozen Snipe probed the waters edge and a large flock of Lapwings were present.
Just before dark a flock of 10 or so Yellow Wagtails flew over, surprisingly North.

Red-backed Beauty

A trip out to Biggleswade this afternoon, as a Red-backed Shrike had turned up on the Common, and as I had only seen 2 others before it sounded too good to miss.
I parked at The Lodge and walked across the fields to where I could see a lot of cars parked up. I had obviously parked in the wrong place, but whatever it was only a mile or so.
Just as I arrived at the car parking place Malcolm and Carolyn turned up, so we walked down together.
The bird was showing extremely well, down to about 30yards and at one point flew just over our heads to another part of the hedge. It was an adult female and in superb condition. We watched it catch and eat moths and grasshoppers and at one point it was seen to remove a grasshopper from it's beak with it's claws before coughing up a pellet and then consuming it's prey.
Malcolm and Carolyn were kind enough to let me use one of their photos. Other photos and a short video can be seen on http://malcolmhawkes.blogspot.com/

On the way home I stopped to scan through a 200 strong Gull flock near to the Kempston bypass. This consisted of mainly Lesser-black-backs, but also a few Black-heads, a couple of Herrings and 9 Yellow-legged.

Early Saturday

 Paul and I did another early one today.
       Started off at Manor Farm, firstly to see what was about and secondly to see how the landscaping of the site was coming on.
 I have to say that the place is looking very, erm... nice. A very good site, but I feel it's going to turn into just another pretty Milton Keynes Park and be practically useless for most decent birds.
 Having said that we did have a few goodies today amongst the very few birds that were there.
Three Yellow Wagtails dropped out of the sky to forage around the feet of the cattle. Waders seen were a Green Sandpiper, a flyover Snipe a few Lapwings and what was most certainly a Greenshank that disappeared behind the island before we could get anything on it.
 Best sightings were however a couple of Redstarts that sat on the barbed wire before flying off into the bushes and out of sight. (Chris G did find and photograph one of them later on in the day. See http://manorfarmbirding.blogspot.com/)

       We then stopped briefly at Stony no birds, - sorry, Stony Stratford Nature Reserve, where there was one Green Sandpiper that suddenly became 4 Green Sandpipers- wow!

        As of last week we moved on to Foxcote Reservoir, where Greenshanks had increased to 4, Green Sandpipers 6 and Common Sandpipers 5, Lapwings to a couple of hundred and the Little-ringed Plover was still present.
 Duck highlights were a juvenile Garganey in the small Teal and Shoveler flock and a 'you aint seen me right' Duck.
 Two Hobbies over the reservoir caused panic amongst the Lapwings briefly.

Yet another wet afternoon..

And when I say wet, it was very wet. So that meant I had to check out Gayhurst Quarry.
Not really a lot to show for getting soaked though. Two Common Sandpipers were the only waders on Fishing Pit. It's funny how the only waders that Common Sands don't seem to get on with are.. Common Sands, as these two were having a right old set too. A flock of Gulls  on here included Black-headed and both types of Lesser-black backs.
 Motorway Pit was better, with the first two Snipe of the autumn, 4 Little Grebe, 2 Little Egret, Kingfisher and 31 Lapwing.
 I'm pleased to report the young Swans and Great-crested Grebes  are still  doing well.

Well Wood you believe it

Waking up to heavy rain, it was obvious I wouldn't get any work done today. So I scoured the local groups to see if there was anything worth going to see, that wasn't too far away.
 Pitsford Reservoir sounded a good option as a Wood Sandpiper had been present for the last couple of days and there was a good supporting cast of decent birds.
 As I had all day I decided to walk around the whole of the North side.
 Probably the most numerous bird on the ressie was Coot, with literally thousands of them, followed by Mallard, Gadwall and Great-crested Grebe. Lesser numbers were of Teal, Shoveler, Cormorant and Gulls, including one Yellow-legged.
 Lots of small birds were seen and heard in the surrounding woodlands, including Blackcap, Garden Warbler, Willow Warbler, Goldcrests, Tits and Finches.
 Scaldwell Bay was the most productive place on site for waders, with 3 Black-tailed Godwits, a Ruff, around 8 Green Sandpipers and about 200 Lapwings, but frustratingly no sign of the Wood Sandpiper.
Three Common Sandpipers and four Greenshanks were seen on other parts of the reserve.
 Also in the bay one female type Red-crested Pochard, 1 possibly 2 Black-necked Grebes and one of those ducks we don't mention.
 The area around the the Maytrees Hide feeding station was full of small birds, with 30 or 40 Tree Sparrows and various finches in the bushes, and a Whinchat feeding from the tall sedges.

 I was just making my way back to the car when Paul texted me to say he'd found incredibly a Wood Sandpiper at Linford Reserve.
 After cursing I made my way back to North Bucks.
But on arriving at Near hide, I was met by Nik and another birder, to be told no Wood Sandpiper here mate, but we have found a Ruff.
 O.K. the Ruff was nice as it wandered in and out of the long grass with it's Common Sandpiper friend, but it was the Wood Sandpiper I wanted to see.
 Maybe another day !

Foxcote and The Hills

Chalkhill Blue.

Paul and I took an early morning trip to Foxcote Reservoir and Steps Hill today.

Foxcote is very low at the moment, with lots of exposed mud and looking perfect for wading birds.

Two Greenshank prowled the perimeter along with 5 Green Sandpipers, one Common Sandpiper and a Little-ringed Plover. Ducks present were Mallards, half a dozen Shoveler, a few Teal, several Tufties and about 15 Pochard. A group of 9 Little Grebe was notable.

Moving across the county to Steps Hill, we were hoping to find a few migrants, which we did but only Blackcaps, Garden Warblers, Lesser and Common Whitethroats, no Redstarts, Flycatchers or anything better.

One Red Kite and a couple of Buzzards were seen in the distance.

The lack of birds was made up for though by my first ever Chalkhill Blue Butterfly, along with a few Small Heaths.