52nd: Deeping Lakes – Lincolnshire

It was an absolute pleasure to meet Matthew Capper at Deeping Lakes. Out of all the fantastic Wildlife Trust staff and volunteers we’d met on our travels, Matthew was the most helpful, giving and knowledgeable. This was best illustrated by the fact he gave up his Sunday to show us around Deeping Lakes and Willow Tree Fen. Well, you can’t really show anyone around Willow Tree Fen, but more on that in a later post.

Getting back to being at Deeping Lakes, as a result of being with Matthew, we saw so much more than we would have done on our own. He explained all about the birds we were seeing, which to begin with were on the lakes themselves, sharing his huge knowledge with everyone who was around.

As an example, he let us know that long-tailed tits are the only cooperative breeding birds in the UK. I wasn’t sure what that actually meant, but Matthew was good enough to explain that they gather in family groups and if a breeding pair’s brood fails, they will join with their nearest relatives and assist in rearing their young. I love longtailed tits, always really enjoying seeing them pass by in their family groups. Now I know so much more about them, it will only deepens the pleasure I will feel when we next encounter them.

Deeping lakes is generally all about the water birds and we saw lots of these.

However, it was further exploration of the reserve that provided the best experience for me. We had the incredible experience of encountering a red kite, sparrow hawk and kestrel all within about 2 minutes. The kestrel even stuck around for long enough to get some good photos and almost certainly inspire a piece of artwork.

I have been looking for the right idea for a piece featuring a kestrel for quite a while and seeing this male, perched right on the edge of a tree, before flying off has, I think, provided the perfect inspiration.