Early summer Reed Bunting in a meadow

A rare sight these days- a bird's beak full of insects! Taken earlier in the summer.

Young Long-eared Owl

I have been following a family of Long-eared Owls in south Lincolnshire for the past few months. This is one of the two youngsters, 'Tufty and Floofy'. Over the next few weeks, I will be showing more photos from the past month of so of these great owls.
 

Black-winged Stilt

No, not from the Mediterranean! But actually only 40 minutes down the road, at Frampton Marsh, where two pairs have young. At the time, when I took this photo, there was only brood hatched and although we saw all four tiny 'Stiltings', they were a bit distant and elusive for photos. The male did regular feeding flights in the evening though, which allowed for a few photos.  

Muntcjac

 

VJP and young

 

Tiercel, VJP, from Stamford and his young on St Peter's Church in Yaxley, from last week.

Yaxley Falcon in flight

 

St Peter's Church Peregrines

 

Visited the Yaxley Peregrines today. The male, VJP, was born in Stamford in 2021, so was quite keen to catch up with this old friend! The Falcon (top photo) and VJP (bottom photo), didn't bring any prey during my early morning visit but they did put on a fine show, including a few skirmishes on visiting Red Kites. Apparently, yesterday VZF, only showed for the first yesterday. Love the icing on the head from the remaining down. 

All Saints Peregrines

Been spending a bit of time with the Peregrine family in Stamford over the past week or so. Been great to watch the youngsters getting familiar with their surroundings. Seem to have become confident flyers very quickly. 

Marsh Harrier and broomstick

Local, mature female. Reports of two nests in a very small reedbed don't appear to have amounted to much and I suspect the one pair that was nesting has failed.

Stilt take off

 Very vocal this evening, before heading towards the Langdyke reserve. 

Stilts in colour

Returned to the Stilts this evening. At first they were stubbornly distant and kept to the south-east side of silt pit (or Stilt pit, as it should be known). Then they flew to the horribly named 'Pig Jaw' Pit, before returning. However, they were very vocal, not settled and didn't linger for longer, before heading towards the reserve. 

Superb birds to have so close to home. Each spring their seems to be more and more in the UK and I can't wait till one turns up at Deeping Lakes.

Legs

Pair of Black-winged Stilts, found by Josh Jones at Etton-Maxey Pits today. They gave lots of people joy, throughout the day. After a visit before work, I couldn't wait to go back for more this evening. Beautiful birds. Bit distant for my set up and dull conditions, hampered photos but enjoyable nevertheless. 

Incredible plumes!