First Birding Visit Of 2025
- justinparker15
- Jan 13
- 4 min read
Well happy new year to everyone who has taken the time to read my posts over the past year. Due to work and family stuff today the 13th January was my first birding trip of 2025 and it was planned on the Sunday that we were going to try for the Hawfinches at Thoresby in Notts before doing a couple of places in Lincs.
Neil picked me up at 07:30 and we were off its about 25 to 30 minutes to Thoresby we arrived at 08:00 and picked our place to view. The first bird we saw whilst here was a Red Kite and it showed very well a few birds started to show as the sun was coming up and the sky getting lighter we ticked off Jay Coal Tit amongst others then at around 08:25 i spotted some birds in the tops of the trees infront of us BINGO they were Hawfinches a small flock of 4 birds then a few more joined them until there was at least 18 birds scattered in the tops of the trees.
Amazing birds to see but as time went on more species of bird were coming to life Goldfinches, Greenfinches 15+, Common Buzzard and there was now 3 Red Kites which was great. The time was now 09:00 and we decided to head to our next port of call Deeping Lakes in Lincolnshire.
We were about 20 minutes away from Deeping when there had been an accident traffic at a standstill i went out to see how long it was going to be no one knew it had just happened so we decided to turn around and let the Sat Nav do its thing I said to Neil i was going to check Birdguides to see if anything had been seen close by. There were reports of a Ring Necked Duck Scaup and Ferruginous Duck at Tallington Lakes a place i had never been before and it was enroute so off we went and after 15 minutes we pulled up in the car park and set off walking a short distance to view the main lake where the birds had been seen yesterday. We started scanning the water which was frozen in parts there was loads of Tufted ducks a few Pochard Coots and some geese. Neil then said he had what he thought was the Scaup but it had dived after a short while it reappeared and it was the female Scaup a great bird then shortly after Neil found a Red Crested Pochard which was a great find as i didnt see this species at all last year so a welcome tick and an adult male too which was even better. Conscious of time we said give it 5 more minutes which was enough time to locate the Ring Necked Duck a 1st winter male which showed well and showed the bright band at the end of the bill which is a feature of this bird. We decided to head onto our next place to visit so we missed the Ferruginous Duck which was seen an hour later Oh well you cant win them all.
After a short 15 minute drive we pulled into Deeping Lakes car park another site me or Neil have not been to before. We knew that there was a couple of good birds here and 1 which Neil needed for his UK List . We set off to find the main hide at the main lake we passed a couple of birders and asked for directions which we got and were on our way. After 5 minutes we arrived at the hide and got into it and to our surprise we were the only birders in it we opened the screens to our right and BOOM sat in the ivy well hidden were 2 Long Eared Owls roosting superb birds and we watched them for 15 minutes and decided to carry on walking as its not a big reserve. After walking for 15 minutes we arrived at the gate which would bring us back to the car park along the river bank. We had just got through the gate when i spotted an Egret just wandering around and to my surprise it was a Cattle Egret and was quickly joined by a 2nd bird fantastic so we then set off walking along the river bank when Neil shouted Ibis and low and behold the Glossy Ibis was flying over our heads we watched it as it flew and landed down stream of us so we carried on walking towards where the Ibis landed and no further had we moved forward when we were being watched by a fox no more than 5 feet away than us. The fox moved off whilst watching us all the time but didnt seemed bothered by us.
We watched the Ibis for a further 5 minutes as it was feeding and it then flew further down the river.
We got back to the car park and told a couple of birders about the Ibis which they seemed happy about and we set off for our last location Willow Tree Fen.
It takes about 15 to 20 minutes to get the Willow Tree Fen from Deeping Lakes we were nearly at Willow Tree when i spotted 3 large birds flying so Neil slowed down so i could get my bins on them and to my shock they were 3 Common Cranes.
They flew along all the way to Willow Tree and when we got out of the Car they were feeding in the field
There were 2 adult Cranes and a Juvenile which you can see all 3 in this picture whilst at Willow tree we saw a couple of Marsh Harriers, Buzzards, Lapwings and a pair of Stonechats and a few Fieldfare which was nice to see as there doesnt seem to have been as many birds wintering in the UK this winter.
After about 30 minutes we decided to head home after having such a great day lots of good birds and the company was good as always and the weather was turning colder.
My past 2 visits to lincolnshire has shown me how well the Red Kite is doing there with at least 15 different birds seen today and more than that last time always a great bird to get and sometimes getting point blank views of these amazing raptors.
Keep safe and Happy Birding
Justin
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