Long Buckby Wildlife

That'll Do For A Start

(An article for Northamptonshire Bird Club by Nick Roberts of Long Buckby)

Birding for me these days usually consists of a foray into the fields behind my garden. I slip quietly out the back gate and stagger about for two or three hours on a Sunday morning. (Sound familiar?).

A young family and self-employment have steadily pushed birding down the list of activities possible in the ever-decreasing zone known as free time. My weekly birding has gone from country-wide to county-wide to half a dozen fields, a small wood, a couple of skinny plantations, the church yard and allotments, all within shouting distance of my kitchen window.

But do not be concerned, I’ve merely down sized. It is not really viable to pursue my UK list, I never have bothered about a Midlands list, I do get a bit, well let’s admit it, 'twitchy' about the county still, but that is somewhat satisfied for my new political boundary is my parish! And I do what’s known as local birding.

As you would expect though, my pleasure threshold has had to be significantly lowered to suit, so to help I laid down some rules to ease the way. Firstly, don’t go out with any expectations, you normally end up seeing something, so that’s a plus. Secondly, look at, listen to, and record everything, it’s a real treat to test yourself, and thirdly add a bit of sport by obeying the boundaries. This last one might seem odd, but if a bird is sitting in a field on the wrong side of the boundary it becomes a record for somewhere else, and somewhere else is somewhere else.

So now I’m comfortably within my patch and I’m getting used to it. Time has drifted on and notes have accumulated, and here’s the good bit, the records for birds and other wildlife for the last few years are certainly comparable to any ‘reserve’ or traditional birding site elsewhere in the county! I’m having great fun, not just compiling my own list, but gathering records from other local birders and wildlife enthusiasts, also realizing historic records by talking to neighbours, land-owners, farmers, horse-riders, and particularly the hunting and shooting fraternity.

It turns out we have a surprisingly knowledgeable set of villagers keen on their birds and wildlife.

Putting it all together, looking at maps, working out the lie of the land has helped me, for example, in sussing out passage migrant routes, particularly Redstart’s (one of my favourite birds) and the way they move through the parish.

I got to a point where I had several records and wondered whether there was any pattern to their occurrences. A minute or two later I had averaged the record dates, the routes they followed, the general direction of movement, or places they’d been seen, and come up with a formula. Last spring, with an intimate knowledge of the area, I went out at the right time, date and stared at the right bit a hedge and by 0830hrs I was watching a cracking male Redstart, fly-catching from a sun-bathed Hawthorn.

You can’t beat it!

Long Buckby’s bird list includes, Shag, Little Egret, White Stork, Bewick’s Swan, Black Kite, several Red Kite, Marsh & Hen Harrier, 4/5 pairs of Common Buzzard, Merlin, Peregrine, Quail, Corncrake, Med’ gull, Razorbill, Little Auk, Long & Short-eared Owls, Shore Lark, Waxwing, Black and Common Redstart, Wheatear, Wood Warbler, Pied Fly, Nuthatch, Southern Grey Shrike, Raven, Brambling, Siskin, Twite, and Snow Bunting. Remember this is just a village and a load of fields.

We may have 200 Tree Sparrows in winter at least, and Bullfinch, Yellowhammer, Skylark etc ( the list goes on) are all seen regularly. Every bird becomes important for the overall picture to be complete, and the total to date is approx’ 140 species.

The odonata list, by the way, is currently 19, only 1 or 2 species behind Pitsford Res' and I bet the butterfly list is not far behind.

There’s so much to do, and I aim to gather and collate other wildlife information from the parish, just local stuff, just a couple of hours on a Sunday, and all just outside the garden gate...