The catch was made up thus (New/Retrap) - (0/1) Blackbird, (1/0) Sedge Warbler, (5/5) Whitethroat, (1/0) Blackcap, (2/0) Willow Warbler, (0/1) Great Tit, (0/1) Greenfinch and (2/2) Goldfinch.
Not a great result for having both sites open but the steady catch of warblers keeps there annual total creeping up at a time when we don't get that many usually.
Also reported on the reserve on the 23rd April were -
x1 Short Eared Owl
x1 Barn Owl
x1 Buzzard
x2 Marsh Harrier
x4 Spotted Redshank
Greenshank
Ruff
Little Ringed Plover
Whimbrel
x2 Grasshopper Warbler
Brambling
x1 Fieldfare (North - am)
x1 Cuckoo
x7 Muntjac (4 Males and 3 Females)
Broad Bodied Chaser
Record numbers of Green Hairstreak - 500+ in one spot! 1000's over the whole reserve! Many butterflies were on the wing today in the near tropical conditions by midday.
N.B. - Please read on after the photo's below for info on the "Best Twitch in the World Ever!"
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| Speckled Wood photographed on the 23rd April 2011. Photo - Mick Briggs  Photo - Mick Briggs  Photo - Mick Briggs  Photo - Mick Briggs  The second Sedge Warbler ringed of 2011 on the 23rd April. Photo - Mick Briggs  The second Sedge Warbler ringed of 2011 on the 23rd April. Photo - Mick Briggs |
We had a strong feeling that today was going to be jackpot day as we had Dave Sat' watching the bird in a tree when we set off from Skegness. On route the bird flew and he lost it! Our hearts sank but before we arrived there, he had refound it close by, again sat in a tree.
Upon arrival we quickly saw the bird and then phoned Nigel Lound (Gib regular) who then set off from Skegness. The bird remained in the tree and Nige and his partner Kath connected in timely fashion, which then allowed us to move to a better position to view the "monster in the tree".
Shortly after moving, Nige spotted a Kite flying into the valley. Upon seeing the Kite, Kev started shouting "Black Kite!" and seconds later it became apparent that we had just discovered a stunning Black Kite circling the tree that the Eagle was in!
Whilst watching the Black Kite moving through the valley, Lynda (who was the only one still watching the Eagle) then started shouting "The eagle's flying!".
We all switched our attention to the "Monster" that was now lazily flapping it's way through the valley before being totally dumfounded to see that the Eagle was now being attacked in flight by the Black Kite!!!!!
What an incredible experience! I thought to myself "Carlsberg don't do twitches but if they did, they would probably be the best twitches in the world!"
Kev managed to video both birds that afternoon. The Eagle was a splendid wonder and yet amazingly hard to catch up with, I had spent literally days looking for this bird and had now finally got it off my "Lincs List". The Black Kite was a "find first" for Kev Wilson who was absolutely ecstatic!
Luckily the birds stayed in the area that evening and the next morning, a large ammount of birders and twitches from both Lincolnshire and farther afield connected with both birds through out the day. What a result!
