A Birding Weekend!

20 Apr

In April, with a rare weekend off I decided on a little trip with a couple of nights away. With a few interesting bits and pieces being observed around the Lincolnshire/Cambridgeshire area we booked 2 nights at a Premier inn around Peterborough and set out tracking down our targets!

First stop was a Christmas tree farm near the Lincolnshire town of Bourne. This was the site of a rare visiting Owl - a “Dark Breasted Barn Owl” which had been staying among the Christmas trees for a couple of weeks. This sub species of Barn Owl is normally found in central and southern Europe with this one being only the 14th ever recorded in the UK. There had been daily sightings reported from 7am-10am so we were sure when we arrived at 0730 that if we just sat and waited we would see it.

After a couple of hours of nothing we decided to head down the road to nearby Willow Tree Fen - a Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust site which is famous for Common Cranes - Britains largest bird which are making a comeback! There is a car park here which is also the view point for the reserve, there is no walking around here just one view point. We did however spot the Cranes in the distance and enjoyed the sight of a couple of Marsh Harriers and a close Reed Bunting.

Between Willow Tree Fen and the Christmas tree farm we pulled into a layby by a borded up farm house to see if we could see a regular Barn Owl that had been seen here. No view of the Owl but we did notice a small bird on the roof of the building which turned out to be a Black Redstart! A new one for us! After a few snaps of this “lifer” we headed back to the Christmas tree farm to wait a bit longer for the rare Owl.

After the disappointment of failing to see the Dark Breasted Barn Owl we departed to our next target at RSPB Nene Washes. There is a famous Tawny Owl here that can usually be seen in the same tree hollow which we had seen back at the end of 2024. Back in the winter, Nene Washes was a hive of activity with waterfowl and waders across the vast floodplains but now in spring those flood plains were just grass! nothing really to be seen this time! We did find our target Tawny Owl however.

Next stop from here was down the road again to a new reserve for us, RSPB Ouse Washes. The previous day had reports of a rare White Stork and we were thrilled as we pulled up in the car park to be met by someone yelling “LOOK UP, STORK!” A brief and distance view, but a White Stork! Another “lifer”! This reserve is a collection of viewing hides, spread along a long straight path. We only had time to visit the first hide as they are so far apart from each other. This hide overlooked a wetland with plenty of waterfowl and waders which all took to the skies when a Marsh Harrier passed through looking for a snack!

A nice start to the trip on day 1. The plan for day 2 was a little trip over to the Lyndon nature reserve at Rutland Water to see the Ospreys that had arrived back to their nest. We did see the 2 Ospreys on their nest, at distance so no photos but always a thrill to see. It was great to walk around on a warm day, seeing and hearing plenty of signs of spring! Willow Warblers, Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs - spring migratory birds as well as bees and butterflies. I visited Rutland water last year and the main reserve to the west of the reservoir but this was the first time visiting the Lyndon site on the south side. Whilst admission covers both sites I think it would be a struggle to cover everything in one visit.

Our favourite spot here was the mating dance of the Great Crested Grebe which they performed right in front of us! They mirror each others behaviour and get some weeds to show off. This is also known as the “weed dance” - amazing to witness, certainly worth a youtube! I also enjoyed trying to capture the butterflies here. I always struggle to get close to the Brimstone butterfly because they just don’t stay still! I quite like the effect of the shot i got of a pair engaging in their mating dance. The male (bottom) flies around the female spreading his pheromones to try woo her into settling down to mate.

Next stop - another crack at that Dark Breasted Barn Owl! We headed back to the Christmas tree farm arriving mid afternoon and stuck around for a couple of hours hoping the Owl would come out hunting. The area right in front of where we were parked was perfect owl hunting habitat and was where the previous reports had been from. I spoke to another chap who said it had been showing well this morning around 0930. I couldn’t believe it. Yesterday there was no morning sighting and then today when I came in the afternoon it was out in the morning! It seemed I was destined not to see this bird!

Maybe it is just too early we thought, Owls only usually tend to come out earlier in the afternoon if they are either feeding chicks or if the weather the night before was poor - Barn Owls don’t like wind and rain so if they miss an opportunity to hunt they will come out early the next day. We had had a week of wall to wall sunshine however! We headed back down the road for another look at Willow Tree Fen to see if we could get a better look at the Common Cranes there.

Not only did we see more Cranes and got closer views we also had a couple of Brown Hare come really close! A lovely evening couple of hours spent here just chilling out and watching the wildlife before trying again for another hour of Owl watching - again unsuccessfully. Tomorrow was the day we were heading home, maybe one last try early morning?

Day 3. Up and out early to get to the Christmas tree farm for 7am. Surely we would be third time lucky? After just sitting and waiting, watching a Red Kite flying around a bit, getting to almost 10am I was about to give up when all of a sudden…OWL! There it was! hunting right in front of us and successfully catching a couple of voles before taking them to perch in the Christmas trees to eat his prize.

Finally! I went from feeling pretty fed up that yet again we were not going to see it when everyone else seemed to have seen it - to elation! It had been worth the effort and obviously felt better to see it after so much time and effort had been spent on this one bird! We had around half an hour watching the Owl before it flew out of sight probably to sit and digest the 2 voles we saw it catch. A sigh of relief to have finally seen it and we were heading home! A fantastic weekend out! Signs of spring, rare wildlife including some “lifers” and good weather was a bonus!

wildlifenature

Graham Perkin

A Birding Weekend!

Misty Mull

Abernethy