I've just completed the second of my three survey visits as part of the
Summer Random Square survey organised by the BOS. This year I've been allocated a square just outside the small village of Halse in gently rolling south Northamptonshire countryside, not too far from Brackley. My first visit in late April coincided with the last blast of arctic winds; today was much more pleasant with warm sunshine breaking through after overnight thunderstorms. Nothing remarkable about the habitats within the 1km survey square - some arable, some sheep pasture, small copses, hedgerows, a large pond and a small hamlet with a large farmhouse at the centre.
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| A noisy flock of Starlings - adults and newly fledged young finding food in a freshly cut silage field |
Nice to be able to report good numbers of House Martins nesting, and extremely busy building their mud-cup nests from the fresh supply of mud collected from around the farmyard puddle that had been filled overnight.
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| House Martin and Swallow collecting mud |
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| House Martin with mouthful of mud |
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| House martin in part-built nest, several nests had also survived intact from last year. |
Most surprising was a pair of Tufted Ducks that watched me nervously from the small lake next to the farm house, a moorhen was even more furtively peering up at me, half hidden beneath a blanket of weed. Across the rest of the survey area it was nice to see small numbers of Yellowhammers, Linnets, Whitethroats and even a pair of Reed Buntings - the latter looked to be nesting in a field of Oilseed Rape. 42 species of birds seen or heard over the two hours and three mammals seen - Brown Hare, Rabbit and Grey Squirrel.
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| Male Pied Wagtail with food |
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| Pair of Swallows |
Winding the clock back to Thursday, an evening visit to Boddington Reservoir came up trumps with the appearance of a flock of nine gorgeous Black Terns, part of a large influx of these elegant marsh terns across central England. Such a delight to watch, they were constantly on the move, darting up and down as they hunted for food across the reservoir, occasionally stopping for a rest on a buoy.
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| Black Tern |
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| Black Tern |
I stayed to watch them until towards sunset, when, at about 8:30pm the flock rose up and headed higher and higher.... hopefully getting back on course for their breeding grounds somewhere across mainland Europe.
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| Great-crested Grebes |
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| The flock of Black Tern climbed higher and higher up above the reservoir |
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| All nine together (one bird tended to lag behind the others!) |
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