The Lincolnshire Bird Club

Upon close examination of one of my pictures a Ring can be seen on the Female's Right leg, I am not sure if it was noticed before.

Both male and female were showing well this morning between 09:00 and 10:30. Nice views of one of the parent kestrels attacking the female Montys

Also showing well were the three kestrels, a male marsh harrier and barn owl.
Other birds were
lapwing
pied wagtail
yellow wagtail
swallow
swift
skylark

Saturday 30 June

Another good day for the Monty's, despite the intermittant heavy showers. The female is up and hunting a lot now, but tends to stay within a fairly close radius of the nest. The male may be hunting up to several miles away, as he sometimes just appears dropping out of the sky with prey. Good views of both birds could be had throughout the day.

No one time of day appears to be beter than another at the moment, but things definately start to quieten down afetr 6pm. Perhaps thats a result of the weather, or the approaching darkness due to heavy cloud cover?

Cheers,
PF

Blimey - it's all kicked off whilst I've been away!

Are they still active?

They are pretty handsome birds. My father, Rachel and I went to see them. When we went, we only saw what we thought was the male in flight, not having much luck. No female to be seen anywhere.

Just had a word with the staff at the ABB site, and the Monts are still both showing well on and off today. There has been a few food passes, and the female is up hunting a lot as well. The inclement weather is making viewing difficult, and the female tends to go back to the nest whenever the showers get too heavy.

Still, at least they are still there and still perfoming. If you havn't been to see them yet, its certainly worth the effort. And if you have, then go again! Its the most fun £2 will get you this side of Blackpool!

Cheers,

PF

A food pass and images of the male


The female bird and a high spirited Kestrel


The female - bottom right with prey

I have been to the view point twice - good veiw every time - although I did have to wait almost 1 1/2 hours once between views (and showers)! Looking forward to seeing the young birds - they should be flying in the next week - hopefully that will mean lots more food passes? On Monday morning I had good views of the Male approx. 2 miles down the road - so the male can hunt long distance from the view point!

Andrew

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Andrew Chick
Website: http://www.forktail.co.uk/

The male was taking over an hour between visits this morning - that was before it started to rain. The female was a little more obliging and spent some time topping up the nest with material. Food being brought in by both
parents.
I would be surprised if the young were flying as soon as next week Andrew.

Roy.

Marsh Harriers up here are all very late--I have checked 17 nests this week and have only seen juveniles on the wing at two nests and there only briefly---by this time of year normally some of the juveniles would be well on the wing--I assume poor food delivery rates have been the problem with the bad weather---two nests watched this am failed to produce any food in 2 and a half hours and most of the females are still around the nest sites not away hunting as they would be if the young were big; but at least many of the nests are still ongoing although I suspect broods will be small----

Wednesday 4 July

Montagu's were quite active today, with a couple of decent food passes, and good views of the female hunting and collecting nesting material.

As regards the chicks, our best guess is that (all being well) they should fledge in approx two weeks time. We think they are about three weeks old. This is all based on the behaviour of the adults so is subject to a bit of leeway, but thats our best guess.

Cheers,

Paul

Do they leave the nest straight after fledging or do they hang around for a bit?

Good question! After fledging, the chicks should stay in the vicinity of the nest for a good two weeks. Hopefully, this should be an excellent time to see the birds while they learn to hunt for themselves.

Also today from the viewpoint were:

2 Hobby.
2 Barn Owls
1 Peregrine Falcon
3+ Marsh Harrier
4+ Kestrel

What with the Osprey at Ancaster, all the Kite sightings, not forgetting the recent Gosshawk reported, perhaps the club should be re-named.

THE RAPTORSHIRE BIRD CLUB.

Or alternatively :

The frequently mis-identified raptorshire Club.

Trev