The Lincolnshire Bird Club

1.30pm till 3.30pm.

2 Short Eared Owls having skirmishes with each other, a Red Kite and a Kestrel.

The owls kept fairly distant apart from when the Kite entered the fray and they both drifted across the road.

2 Ravens cronked over as well.

Also spoke to a local chap who said that this morning he had seen the male Hen Harrier that has been around for a couple of weeks.

With a herd of approx 60 Fallow Deer around it's an interesting area of rough grassland.

Cheers,

Oliver.

This note is not a reply to Oliver but for everyone who might have read the post.

I live three miles away and go up there regularly. Most evenings there are 2 to 5 SE Owls but some days none. There must be somewhere else they hunt when they are not there. Unfortunately they often don't fly until it is quite dusky making photo opportunities limited. The exception was Christmas Day when I popped in at 3.15 on the way back from a social engagement and they were showing well in good light; but I did not have my camera with me!

The Fallow Deer herd sometimes amounts to 200 and the grassland is also attractive to hares.

The area abutting Temple Wood is good for raptors and ravens generally but parking is very limited and lately it has been getting rather crowded there. Let's learn a lesson from Dunsby Fen when the farmer got fed up with birders parking thoughtlessly, blocking the road for agricultural vehicles and local residents and then duly carried out his threat to plough out the grassland that was so attractive to owls and other raptors. By all means come and enjoy, but try not to churn up the verges which are rich in cowslips and other flowers in the spring and make sure you leave room for tractors to get past.

Thank you

Ian