The Lincolnshire Bird Club

a beautiful juvenile Merlin at Winteringham this morning demonstrates the incredibly rapid dispersal of fledged raptors -- this bird must have moved from somewhere at least as far away as the Pennines or N York Moors -- breeding seasons are moving backwards in several resident passerines but it is also notable in some raptors; in 1993 when the first Marsh Harrier fledged our local part of the Humber the juveniles made their first flights on July 23rd; this year I have just been checking a couple of late nests on the 28th but the vast majority of the fledged birds have already departed from their nest areas in their post fledging dispersal;

In this part of the South Lincs fens (Bourne, Gosberton area) we don't have any breeding Marsh Harriers but always get several juveniles in August hunting over the harvested fields and catching frogs amongst other items. I assume these are birds from North Lincs. This year I saw my first juvenile Marsh Harrier on 23rd July. On the same day I saw a juvenile Hobby. This is very early for us, for the past 2 years Hobbies locally have not left the nest until the end of August. They then tend to stay around the breeding site for at least another fortnight.

Hugh Dorrington

a juvenile Hobby on July 23rd would be truly exceptional for the UK Hugh -- the earliest birds do not leave the nest until the first week of August and then do not move more than 100m or so from the nest for the first week; could your bird not have been a 2cy bird?

Lots of 2nd calendar year birds about this year,i have noted 2 at Messingham and also the majority of the 20 birds i observed at Thorne several weeks ago where also of this age group.



Steve.

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