Short-eared Owl on a post

A couple of Stonechat images

Great Grey Shrike at Deeping High Bank, Lincolnshire

A couple of distant, ropey images of the Great Grey Shrike that was found by Ian Gordon on the Deeping High Bank on Monday of this week. The bird was frequenting a scrubby field by the river itself and was seen on numerous occasions making forays on to the ground in an attempt to capture some poor unsuspecting beastie. A great addition to my local year list.

Slavonian Grebe at Deeping High Bank, Lincolnshire

This winter plumaged bird was present at the Deeping High Bank last weekend and represents my 223rd bird species seen in the recording area of the Peterborough Bird Club (PBC). Seen fishing on several occasions and being successful in those attempts probably around a third of the time. The bird was gone on Tuesday morning.

Great White Egret at Deeping High Bank, Lincolnshire

Long-tailed Duck, again

Long-tailed Duck at Deeping High Bank in Lincolnshire

This female/1st winter type Long-tailed Duck was first spotted on the River Welland at Deeping High Bank yesterday morning by local birder Tony Rowe. It was still present today in the fog and murk when myself, Paul Taylor and Mike Weedon paid a visit and showed quite well. This is the first time in around 9 years that a Long-tailed Duck has been seen locally and so was a very welcome life tick, in fact, it was the 219th bird species that I have seen in the area of the Peterborough Bird Club (PBC).

I crave forgiveness, dear reader for the poor quality in the above photos, but I had the ISO settings extremely high in order to get any sort of shutter speed due to the foggy conditions, which explains the amount of 'noise' present.

Grey Partridge

Not a great photo, but pleasing to see a Grey Partridge pair the other day just past Deeping High Bank in south Lincs. This bird really seems to be vanishing quickly and these two represent my first sighting of the year, a sad state of affairs considering it is April!

Barn Owl

The Barn Owl is thought of by many to be Britains' favourite bird, with the heart shaped face, it is certainly endearing to us. I love seeing this bird, not very easy to do any more with their population in freefall and after the disastrous 'summer' that we had last year leading to poor breeding, but at a site not far from my house in south Lincolnshire sightings are reliably had.

On the last occasion I noted at least five individuals, differing by colouration and also handy leg rings enabling me to tell that I had a different bird in my binoculars. The photos below show three individuals and also a short video of one of these hunting.

Winter is here

The year is starting to wind itself up, the evenings are getting darker earlier, there is a distinct nip in the air, the leaves are turning and falling from the trees and the Whooper Swans have started to arrive.

The 'swaniest' of swans has just started to make an appearance on the local patch, not in any great numbers as of yet, but there were 19 of these lovely creatures on the River Welland today.

Just two of the nineteen on show before they all took to the air as one and disappeared into the sunset.

Whooper and Bewick`s

Whooper

Whooper

Bewick`s

Some close digiscoped shots of some beautiful wild swans at Deeping High Bank. Note the differing colouration on the bill(s).

More Sawbills

Mr and Mrs Goosander

Male Goosander

Female Goosander

Male Goosander

Female Goosander

Redhead Smew

Redhead Smew with Male Goosander

A few more digiscoped efforts of the Sawbills present at Deeping High Bank, Lincolnshire on Friday. The flock of Goosander peaked at 70 on Saturday, but with the milder weather now setting in most of these birds have moved on, leaving `only` 20 or so. The Redhead Smew was present on Friday, but was not seen Saturday or yesterday, so has perhaps moved off with the Goosander. Who knows?

Flat out!

An unusual sight of a Whooper Swan just `chilling` (quite literally!) on the ice at Deeping High Bank yesterday. The river is now almost completely frozen, but the build up of birds continues.

Goosanders galore

The cold weather we are experiencing in the U.K. is causing a build up of water birds on the stretch of the River Welland known as Deeping High Bank. Clear water is at a premium and this means that the birds tend to be grouped together in fairly large flocks. Yesterday, there was a flock of 33 Goosander ( I believe our American friends call this bird the Common Merganser, forgive me if I am incorrect in this ), today this flock had grown to 41.

With the cold snap forecast to continue for a while more birds may appear, one can hope.