Highlight-filled spring in the local area

Spring 2026 won't win awards for its general migration, with most species putting in average performances at best. But what it lacked in overall passage it made up for in superb local rarities. Despite the paucity of active birders we do pretty well for good birds in the Peterborough area and this spring produced an especially fruitful run.

The first piece of quality came courtesy of uber-patch-birder Hugh Wright, whose dedication to his Etton-Maxey Pits patch paid off with several top birds during April and May. Following hot on the heels of a Firecrest (still a local rarity) in March, Hugh pulled out this brilliant male Pied Flycatcher along the Maxey Cut on 13 April. It was a bright morning and the bird was giving good views when I arrived, but not long after it melted away westwards along a mature hedgerow and wasn't seen again.

♂ Pied Flycatcher, Etton-Maxey Pits, 13 April 2026. Easily aged as a 2cy bird on the basis of the retained brown remiges and obvious moult contrast.

Early May produced a singing Spotted Crake, my first for a couple of years. We get records of this species in most years although they tend to be very distant in the middle of marshes, so it was pretty extraordinary to sit within a few metres of this one and hear it inhaling ahead of each call.

One of the highlights of spring 2026 came on 8-9 May, when an adult male Red-footed Falcon was found at Willow Tree Fen. We do well for this species (no great surprise given the local habitat and the abundance of Eurasian Hobbies); that's six I've seen now locally, all being males, although this was the first adult.

The 2026 bird was extraordinarily confiding, flying to within a few metres of us as we stood on the River Glen bank, seemingly so focused on catching emerging Mayflies that it wasn't bothered by our presence. It was amazing to watch it swooping low over the river, ducking and diving between the Black-headed Gulls that were also making the most of this seasonal feast. Just look at that silvery upperwing!

Adult ♂ Red-footed Falcon, Willow Tree Fen, 9 May 2026

Ten days later and Hugh Wright was at it again, pulling out a 2cy Purple Heron along the Maxey Cut. It had been a horribly wet and breezy morning, already sweetened by three fly-through Red Knot for Hugh and I, but the heron made it a truly brilliant session that was well worth getting soaked for. 

Bizarrely, the heron sat on the south bank of the cut for the best part of an hour, presumably reticent to fly in the dismal conditions, before it eventually got up and flew out of view. The bird lingered at the Etton-Maxey reserve, run by Langdyke Countryside Trust, into early June.

2cy Purple Heron, Etton-Maxey Pits, 19 May 2026

It had been a very satisfying spring by this point, but there was plenty more to come. A few days later, a Savi's Warbler was found in an area with no general access. Eventually I managed some OK views and recordings of this welcome local tick.

I've been birding quite a bit at Tongue End this spring, where the footpath along the south bank of the River Glen offers views over Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust's recently acquired land at Bourne North Fen. I understand that there is no plan to open up this area to the public, which brings mixed feelings (good for the birds, but not good for birders!), especially as it has been attracting a few birds of late.

Early on 25 May I had a male Black-winged Stilt fly in from the south-west, circle the site and briefly land, before heading off north-east along the Glen. It transpired that this was the same male that had been at Belvide Reservoir, Staffordshire, the previous day, and it later settled down at Frampton Marsh. This was my second local Black-winged Stilt of the spring following one on the Nene Washes in April.

♂ Black-winged Stilt flying over Tongue End, Lincs, 25 May 2026

Only 24 hours later, the same site produced my best local find of the year so far – a 2cy Bonaparte's Gull. After a record-breaking winter showing across the country, this species had felt in play all spring, but I was beginning to think that the moment had passed. It was a stunning surprise to find this bird with only a handful of Black-headed Gulls. I initially picked the bird up by its odd, piglike call and got very lucky when it did a very close fly-by before heading off NE along the Glen. It wasn't seen again.

2cy Bonaparte's Gull, Tongue End, 26 May 2026

With that, May came to a close – but there was one more surprise in store. On a cool, grey and drizzly Saturday in early June, Russell Coulson found a Squacco Heron on the outskirts of Crowland. It took a bit of tracking down, but we eventually saw the bird fairly well in the poor conditions that evening.

Squacco Heron, Crowland Wash, 6 June 2026

The following day, 7 June, the bird gave amazing views back at the original location, before it flew off late afternoon and wasn't seen again. According to locals, it had been present in the area since 31 May, although was quite mobile and had been seen over a wide area. Initial hope that it might still be around gradually dissolved over the following few days, bringing down the curtain on what had been a remarkable season in the Peterborough area. 

Squacco Heron, Crowland, 7 June 2026