What a beauty!

After the dismal weekend, Monday dawned bright and frosty and the sun continued to shine all day. Chris had been assembling a list of interesting birds that had been seen locally, so today we took the opportunity to spend the day in the Lincolnshire fens to catch up with a few of them.
 
Our first stop was Willow Tree Fen, where a first winter bluethroat had dropped in last week. I wondered whether we'd find it in the expansive site, but I needn't have worried because the place was seething with birders, and we just headed towards a large group of them all pointing their telescopes and cameras at a point on the main path. The bluethroat was stunningly beautiful, and very confiding. It wasn't at all worried by the crowds, although every now and then it looked a little bemused by all the attention it was getting! After spending some time with it we went for a walk round another part of the site, where we saw a flock of white-fronted geese with a solitary pink-footed goose, as well as hundreds of wigeon and a hare. The wildlife is amazing considering how recently this area was in arable cropping.
 
We then drove on to the Deeping High Bank where a great grey shrike had been a regular over the last week or so. When we arrived, the few other birders present said that it was absent. We couldn't be bothered to stand around waiting so went for a bit of a walk, and within a short time it turned up. It was rather distant, but it was possible to see its characters through the binoculars, and we were able to watch it chasing a stonechat, which got safely away.
 
The wind had got up by this point, so we headed back to the car and drove along the rest of the Deeping High Bank towards Deeping Gravel Pits. On our way we had close encounters with two barn owls, one of which perched on a post right by the road and then flew low over the car. Unfortunately, photographs taken through car windows don't turn out that well, but the encounters were magical. 
 

At Deeping Gravel Pits we saw plenty of goosander and a group of displaying goldeneye. We were treated to a beautiful blush pink fenland sunset, and just to top it all off there was a small starling murmuration (see extra), which was still thrilling as the birds swooped and danced overhead and then fell into the reeds with a clatter of wings.