Raining passerines

We did not get our timings right at the pond this morning as we arrived at the hide in toft shallows soaked and chilled after a downpour, stayed there to dry out while it had stopped then retraced our footsteps just as it started again. We looked a right pair of drowned rats when we turned up at the Diner in Long Itchington for breakfast. Luckily the birding was pretty good with female Wheatear, 3 juvenile Grey Wagtail, 6 Yellow Wagtail, 2 Song Thrush and 40/50 Greenfinch all on Farnborough bank. Toft shallows had 3 Bullfinch, Treecreeper, Sparrowhawk, 2 Goldcrest plus a few Chiff/Willows while from the hide we had adult and juvenile Sedge Warbler, Whitethroat and 3 of the 4 Teal present. On the reservoir there were still a few Common Tern with 10 at least plus a couple of hundred Sand Martin, 10 Swift while the shore line held 7 Little Egret which is a site record count for me and a single Common Sandpiper flew past.


lovely views after the rain had cleared with Napton Reservoir clearly visible from Napton on the Hill with Rugby and Cement Factory on the horizon.

Napton on the Hill was blustery and all we saw were adult Lesser Whitethroat, single Raven, 3 Buzzards, lone Swift and 2 Redstart which included one of this week’s females and an adult male which is new and makes it the 4^th Redstart for the autumn so far but no Spotted Flycatcher sightings. Also of interest was 2 Vapourer Moth and a Hummingbird Hawk-moth which flew through the churchyard. Two Sparrowhawk were over my garden when Bob came round to chat this afternoon and helped me check out my moth trap giving him a couple of photo opportunities.

Orange Swift

Poplar Hawk-moth

Setaceous Hebrew Character
all pics of moths by Bob Hazell

An evening look at Napton Reservoir produced juvenile Shelduck, Kingfisher, 2 Reed Warbler, Grey Wagtail adult and a Barn Owl.