25.Winter 2014

It is difficult maintaining two 'blogs simultaneously and this one has suffered as I have concentrated my efforts on the story of my dad's Lancaster bomber crew (http://robertalfredjay.blogspot.co.uk/). All that changed at the weekend though when a shopping trip triggered renewed interest in recounting wildlife stories.

Pied wagtails roosting

The A15 dual carriageway is one of the busiest roads in Lincoln, running through the city between the new Premier Inn and the main shopping centre, and at 4.30 on Saturday afternoon we were waiting at the pedestrian crossing when a twittering noise seemed to drown out the sound of the traffic. The sound was coming from a sycamore tree on the pavement on the other side of the road, midway between the road and the windows of a three storey office block. I was able to walk up to the tree and get a great view of well over 200 pied wagtails jostling for position - the warmth and protection from predators that this location provided clearly outweighed any threat the wagtails may have perceived in me.

The local kestrels also seem to have adopted a handy way of conserving energy. I don't remember the last time I saw one of them in characteristic hover mode as they seem to prefer the easier option of perching on a wire while scanning the grass beneath for small mammals.

Kestrel in 'lazy hunting' mode

The one I passed yesterday barely acknowledged my presence, so engrossed was it with the task in hand, and a few seconds later it dropped to the ground. Obviously aware of my interest and keen to make its escape it took off almost immediately carrying not only a short tailed vole but also a piece of grass that must have been half a metre long.

The final 'sight of the week' that revitalised my interest in wildlife was the flock of linnets that has been bouncing around the edge of the local sewage works for the past week.
These nervous little characters moved backwards and forwards between the trees and the strip of dry oil seed rape that the farmer has left along the edge of the field, attempting to find enough food and at the same time avoid marauding Sparrow hawks and Merlin. The only time they remained still long enough for me to get a good look was when they obligingly lined up on three parallel power lines -  not a great picture but at least it made it easy to count them. There were 150 but I can't guarantee they were all linnets.