Common Cranes, Willow Tree Fen, Lincs

I can't begin to tell you how brilliant this was, blown away by all the cranes and the reserve. We haven't been here to Willow Tree Fen for years and last time we were there we walked down the main path. This was now closed and flooded. That is probably the reason the cranes are there, no people, no dogs, no disturbance. Perfect ! A lot of hard work has gone into this site along with the monitoring of the water levels. The Lincs Trust have got it just right here and it is a credit to them. A good 40 cranes were on there, trumpeting, strutting, mating and flying around, non stop action. Loved it. Parking for half a dozen cars and we were on our own for a while but a friendly, chatty crowd soon arrived. One of those absolutely fantastic days !  Never seen cranes this close before, it was absolutely fantastic. 

I have lots of pics to post, hope you like them.

Fabulous !

One of our garden foxes

We have at least a couple of foxes that visit quite a few houses in our neighborhood. We speak to alot of people that now feed them from eggs to fresh chickens. They certainly won't go hungry. We have had eggs buried in our garden, both front and back, over the course of a couple of years. It took us a while for it to dawn on us that it was foxes doing it ! So I have bought a wildlife camera so we can see when they visit and we also now feed them, peanuts, chopped fruit and the occasional egg. Their usual visit is between 3 and 4am.  I have placed the food and camera down the drive, behind Tom's van, so they feel safe. We love having them visit and would love to see them in daylight. No idea which garden the den is in but there are some huge gardens not too far away so our guess is one of those. 

and it comes back and takes an egg !

More stonechats, buzzards and bits

 

Coughing up a pellet

A beautiful stonechat in the sun

What a difference a bit of blue sky makes !

Our local male hen harrier is still around but afraid he has not come close all winter

Cracking !

Our first Sand Martins of the year, RSPB Blacktoft Sands

 

A trip to Blacktoft which is really just up the road for us and we struck lucky with these 2 sand martins, the first of the year for us. There was just us two there ! A couple of chiffchaffs were singing their hearts out in the car park.

and a resident tree sparrow