The Lincolnshire Bird Club

Message from Kevin Marshall at 11.01 this morning.

Great White Egret at Bardney flying north along the R Witham towards Fiskerton village; out doing my WeBS!

I had missed this previous post until now. I saw a report of a GWE from Fiskerton Fen yesterday. This afternoon at 4.10pm I had a GWE fly from Nocton Fen (low over the car) and beyond Bardney Pits. It appeared to drop and go to roost somewhere near Bardney bridge. I assume it to be the same bird reported yesterday. Does that also mean it may have been around for 10 days?

Best Wishes

Paul

GWE again this afternoon. At about 3.50 it flew quite high up the River Witham before dropping down North of the Beet factory.

Following up on other recent posts of Great White Egret at Bardney I set up a watch near the Sugar Beet Factory about 15:30
At 15:50 I saw what appeared to be an egret species fly high over the factory heading North. The legs appeared dark and the beak appeared light but that was all I could say about it as judging size at distance was difficult. There are a lot of Little Egrets about the fens at present but generally don't fly as high as this bird was seen flying.

If it was the Great White Egret then it appears to be following a pattern at around the same time.

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http://birdmanbirds.blogspot.com/

At about 13:00, picked up the GWE at some distance on Nocton Delph briefly before it flew further down the delph towards the Witham. Three Little Egrets and three Grey Herons provided a nice comparison of size! At Wasps Nest there was a female Grey Wagtail and three Siskins near the Car Dyke.

The finch flock in the weedy field on the corner of Fen Lane, Dunston and Prior Lane is now up to 100 birds - 60 Chaffinch, 20 Brambling and 20 Greenfinch. There were also three Green Woodpeckers in one field on Fen Lane.

42 species logged on to BirdTrack.

Cheers,

David Cohen

Today walked from Wasp Nest along Nocton Delph for 3 miles to River Witham looking for the Great White Egret and found it just before the Witham. (Note to self, start at other end next time.)
The Egret flew to the River Witham for a while before returning to the Delph.
At 15:00 I saw it distantly fly from the Delph and South towards Metheringham Fen where it appeared to go down.
Other birds seen on delph and fen today:
2 x Peregrine
10 x Redshank
3 x Snipe
50+ Wigeon
30+ Teal
3 x Bewick's Swan
10 x Whooper Swan
20 x Mute Swan (90 on Branston Fen)
200 x Lapwing
10 x Grey Heron
6 x Little Egret
30 x Stock Dove
6 x Redwing
50 x Fieldfare
3 x Common Buzzard
1 x Kestrel

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http://birdmanbirds.blogspot.com/

After a largely uneventful day down the fens i went back to look at the Bramblings at the top of Dunston fen, i thought i'd finish off with a ride down Metheringham fen and on the way back up the Great White Egret flew across the road above me.
It was 3pm which correlates with what Russ Hayes reported; half in and out of the car, with the camera on the wrong settings! i lost sight of it and couldn't relocate it, nevertheless a first for me.

Happy New Year everyone.

Oliver

About 14.45 the GWE landed in a field close to a set of barns half way along Nocton Fen.

Also, seen in that area

Fieldfare (29)
Brambling (1)
Red Leg Partridge (5)
Stock Dove (6)
Little Egret (2)
Large mixed flock of Mute, Whooper and Bewick Swans.

Andrew

I got out of bed with the intention of going to Whisby then was hit by the thought of dog walkers so I went to Nocton Fen and had a cracking day


short-eared owl (bottom south east corner really)
barn owl 1
little owl 1
great white egret 1
peregrine falcon 1
merlin 1
marsh harrier 1
common buzzard 1
kestrel 6
brambling 1
lesser redpoll c100 (Wasps Nest area) I must admit to wondering why they weren't in my garden!!!!!
bewick swan 2
whooper swan 12 - Dave Roberts counted about 20 on Bardney Pits at first light
little egret 3
mute swan 77
lapwing c120
fieldfare c300
redwing 6
chaffinch c300 all along the hedgerow on the road through and lots at Delph-River Junction
meadow pipit 2
red-legged partridge 9
common gull c20
black-headed gull c300
goldfinch c60
common goldeneye 10
shoveler 32
gadwall 16
tufted duck 35
teal c30
pochard 16
mallard 7
moorhen 3
coot 9
greylag goose 66
common shelduck 6
reed bunting 1
carrion crow c60
dunnock 6
blackbird c40
greenfinch 1
pheasant 9
magpie 6
starling c200
wren 1
pied wagtail 1

Also a Ringtail Hen Harrier dropped into the Beet field between the digesters and Wasps Nest at about 16:15 that evening.

David Cohen

Great White Egret on Nocton fen this afternoon (per Mick Welbourne).

_________________
Regards,

Andy.

G W got up from the bottom drain on the fen at 1-10, then seen later
on the drain running parallel with the fen road.
200+ Pinkies over 1-00 ish.

Pete

GWE seen again this afternoon at 2.45. Whilst I was checking out the swans adjacent to Hare Farm a tractor put it up from the ditch running parallel to the road. It flew alomg the ditch towards the river before turning right over the fields to cross the road before dropping down into a dyke near to the mouth of Nocton Delph. Other birds seen included;
Little Egret
Grey Heron
Green Sandpiper
Common Buzzard
Kestrel
Little Owl
Bewick Swan
Whooper Swan
Stonechat (male)