Spoonbill again!

Hugh Wright found this bird at around 6am today and at 7am it was scared off by the bird scare canon in the field next to Deeping Lakes. It flew north and was picked up following the A15 past Baston & Langtoft GP by Josh Jones. Nicolas Watts' scrapes caught it's eye, at Baston Fen, where it remained for the rest of the day. I think this is the younger bird I first found with a sub-adult on the 3rd May and found again at DL by my father on the 13th May. As Hugh saw this arrive from the east, I again presume this bird came from the Wash.

Arctic Terns on the patch

It's been a poor spring on the patch for Arctic Tern passage but today's miserable conditions grounded two at Deeping Lakes LWT. They should be on breeding grounds by now, perhaps they belong to the Blakeney colony?

Little Owl

Been a pair of Little Owls at this small group of willows, on and off, for 20 years or more, along Deeping Highbank in south Lincs.

More Quail

An after work visit produced more amazing views of the less mature male Quail which did more or less exactly the same thing Saturday. It seems like there may only be one bird left.

Wet My Lips!

I've seen very few Quail in Britain, in fact only three times before today. The first photo appears to show a female with a male behind (we didn't spot the male at the time but obviously there was one singing). It seems like the first bird was singing but perhaps not, perhaps it was a female and not a first summer. Either way, it flew off and was replaced by the obvious male behind which eventually also flew off. Not great photos- but a great experience shared with Amy!

Avocets

Not a big deal in the east but still scarce spring visitors in the Deepings. Several have failed to breed on the Nene Washes this year, which has led to several pairs wandering north. I found three on Sunday morning at Deeping Lakes. The pair built two nests and did several courtship displays whilst I was there and the pair were still there today. However, this afternoon they headed north to Baston & Langtoft GP then to Baston Fen and then perhaps North Drove.

Squeaker!

This baby Long-eared Owl is part of two broods I have found this week at a site in south Lincolnshire.

Spoonbills in colour

I found these first summer Spoonbills (one more advanced than the other) visited briefly on the 3rd May but headed south west after an hour in the early morning. This time they arrived in the afternoon and were found by my Dad and stayed until 19.45. Although more distant this time, they were much more settled; feeding well and sleeping regularly (as Spoonbills do) and in sunshine rather than early morning gloom!

Patch Gold

This afternoon my Dad found two Spoonbills and a Greenshank at Deeping Lakes LWT. With only five records or so in the last two decades, seemed a great start to the new decade with two records in two weeks of the first spring! Keen to see if these were new birds or the pair I found two weeks ago and also wanted to see a wader that wasn't a Common Sandpiper, Oystercatcher or Little Ringed Plover, I hot footed it to the reserve after work.

The Spoonbills were busy feeding on my arrival but there was no sign of the Greenshank- typical! So I settled into prolonged views of the Spoons in colour this time. A small wader roosting immediately behind the Spoonbills caught my eye and at first I assumed it to be a Common Sandpiper and thought nothing of it but scanning right then saw a Common Sandpiper which seemed huge- I had a Stint!

A quick call to Josh for reassurance and he was on his way. The bird woke up a bit more and was obvious that it was indeed a Temminck's Stint as suspected.

Terrible record shots- taken at extreme range but a smart spangled spring bird! True patch gold! This is only the third record for the reserve- after one I found on, remarkably, the 13th May 2004 and one Mike Weedon and co found on the 19th May 2001 (when there was also a Great Reed Warbler present!).

The Spoonbills appear to be the same individuals as a couple of weekend's ago. Where they have been is anyone's guess- perhaps the Wash? They were seen heading east not long before dusk.

Spoonbill find

A wander around Deeping Lakes was typically quiet this morning. The large colony of Lesser black-backed and Herring Gulls seem to put off most waders, which is a shame since the habitat is great. I was heading back to the car when I these two 1st summer Spoonbills appeared on the East Pit. Must have dropped in whilst I was walking around the rest of the reserve.

Typically, they were only on the site for about an hour before heading off south-west. Only the second time I have seen Spoonbills on the reserve after Pop's and I found four better plumaged birds on the 13th May 2016. Again these were early morning and brief!
http://peterboroughbirdclub.blogspot.com/2006/05/spoonbills-at-deeping-lakes.html

Redstart in colour

The drake Redstart in south Lincolnshire, was giving it large this morning and was great to see in colour.

Lockdown Firsts!

Last weekend, on a lockdown wander, I heard an unfamiliar song which sounded (to my ear) like an off Lesser Whitethroat. Something wasn't quite right but I couldn't locate it and having just heard my first Lesser Whitethroat shortly before, I put it down as just being another Lesser Whitethroat. Having visited the site several times during the week (but not in the mornings), I was surprised to hear it again this morning. Didn't take long to locate the bird- a stunning drake Redstart! Sadly, the light was awful but managed to get some sound recordings and some record shots. A really rare breeding bird for Lincolnshire so will be interesting to see if this develops into anything. 

Redstart has long been a bogey bird for me in the Deepings, having always managed to miss them in the past and I nearly missed out on this one- rare for one to be able to correct one's own mistakes in birding! So was thrilled to add this new species to my Deepings list and certainly didn't think I would add another almost immediately after! Josh Jones called with news of two Cranes drifting south over Langtoft, 10 minutes or so I was on them- another Deeping's tick for me! I lost them to view south west towards West Deeping/Maxey.

From the archives No. 6

Yesterday morning, on my daily exercise route, I was fortunate enough to find a 'pinging' drake Bearded Tit on a local patch. First time I have seen them this close to home so thought I would recycle these photos of a drake I took at Titchwell in Norfolk during 2009. This is the 199th species I have seen/heard within three miles of my house- not bad for an inland site.