Northamptonshire Bird Club

This page complements the articles about my trip to South Africa that are published in the May and June editions of the club newsletter. The newsletter is available only to bird club members. All images are copyright John Showers and should not be published without my permission.

The following are some of the birds mentioned in the article.

Chin-spot Batis in Kruger National Park

Orange-breasted Sunbird on Table Mountain:

Those who attended the February meeting were treated to a superb talk by Jeff Blincow.

Jeff had spent a lot of time & effort putting this talk together & it showed. I know that he has spent many hours over a 5 year period just to obtain all the photograph's he required to demonstrate different aspects of flight such as wing structures, take offs, landings & different type's of flight.

I found the talk very educational but putting this together with the superb quality of the pictures made for a really fantastic evening.

Sightings from Clifford Hill Gravel Pits this morning.

On the main Nene Barrage were the usual Cormorants & Coots, over 40 Great Crested Grebes & 2 Little Grebes.
In amongst the Black-headed Gulls & Lesser Black-backed Gulls were a few Common Terns, 1 juvenile Mediterranean Gull & 1 adult Yellow-legged Gull.
On the shoreline were Lapwings, 2 Little Stints, 1 Dunlin, 1 Ringed Plover & a Yellow Wagtail. Overhead, Swallows, House Martins & Swifts were hawking for insects.

With the breeding season coming to an end & the Common Swifts departing, August could be seen as the quite month before the proper autumn migration begins. However there are still birds to look for....

Bob Bullock continues his review of a recent trip to South America.

Bob Bullock presents a report on a recent trip to the South American birding hotspot.

This column highlights the occurrences of the best birds of the last month, June 2007. All records are subject to acceptance by the Northants Birds (Northamptonshire Bird Report) Records Committee.

Potentially the wettest June on record, last month proved to be a washout for many wetland breeding species as water levels rose dramatically in the Nene valley and elsewhere.

Nick Parker reports on a recent Bird Club Trip to this amazing country.

Friday 6th April

Its always frustrating waking up in a new country. Dawn was just breaking and I could hear birds starting to sing, but I had no idea what they were. A quick look out of the window and I could see that it was still too dark to see anything, so Sheila and I packed and met up with our fellow travellers in the foyer.

Fifteen Northants Bird Club members had made the long journey to Panama and we now had the prospect of seven days birding in one of the most bird-rich regions of the world.

Nick Parker continues his review of a recent Bird Club Trip.

Tuesday 10th April

Today we are due to leave the Tower to move on to the Canopy Lodge, some two hours drive away. Having been up early for an extra visit to the Pipeline Road, many people spent the time sleeping. There were a few birds to see on the journey – the ever present Turkey Vulture and small groups of Frigatebirds.

Up until the 1950's the Med Gull was a real rarity in the UK.
They then became more frequent along the south coast, with the first pair breeding in the UK in 1968.

In Northants the first record was at Pitsford gull roost on the 16th Oct 1983.
Today they are still scarce but can now frequently be seen in the county in small numbers.

The British population is on the increase & pairs now regularly nest at various sites in the south of England.
The nearest breeding site to Northants is probably in Norfolk.