From Dawn Till Dusk

 I spent the day in the company of Alan Shorrock visiting sites in both Northants and Lincolnshire. The weather was a mixed bag of rainy showers, sunny spells and grey periods though it was fairly mild for the time of year. We began at Priors Hall where the Waxwings that Alan found on New Year's Day are still performing. Four birds were present and showed well though light drizzle and poor light  made photography a bit of a challenge. Once we were happy with our views we decided to move and head towards Wakerley.

I'm not bored with them yet!

Wakerley Woods eventually produced views of four Crossbills in flight near the main car park. It took some effort and quite a bit of walking to find the birds though there was a good variety of commoner birds on view to keep us entertained. Pick of a varied bunch were Raven, Redpoll and Siskin while there were several vocal Nuthatches too. With time pressing on and other places to visit we didn't stay here for too long before hitting the road again.

GWE and Glossy Ibis

At Deeping Lakes we failed to find any of the reported Long-eared Owls and there were no birders about to pass on any gen about them. A Great White Egret and a selection of the commoner wildfowl provided some early interest until we found the Glossy Ibis that had been reported. It took quite a stroll along the river before we found the bird which spent much of its time out of view on the opposite side of a flooded area. I eventually managed to get a few pics in between some heavy rain showers but once again the light was a bit duff. With one more stop on our schedule we moved on again to Willow Tree Fen near Spalding.

Marsh Harrier and distant Cattle Egrets

I've never been to Willow Tree Fen before but it certainly delivered some good birding. The fen attracts roosting Goosanders, we  saw over thirty but there have been some recent counts of over a hundred. Also showing in good numbers were Marsh Harriers as many came from the surrounding countryside to roost. Alan picked out two distant Cattle Egrets and I found a pair of Stonechats. Growing numbers of birders were beginning to arrive too as the light began to fade. I found a ringtail Hen Harrier in amongst the commoner Marshes before it dropped down into the reeds. Water Rails were calling as night began to fall and several flocks of Whooper Swans touched down in the gathering gloom. Last act of the day was the arrival of four Cranes, an excellent end to a very good day.