Whimbrels in the mist ......

Bit of a change in the weather since last weekend! We had our first rain for several weeks and the fleece has come back out for early morning quarry visits. Sedge Warblers and Whitethroats have arrived at the quarry and one, maybe two male Grasshopper Warblers have been reeling near the Main Pool. Terns are quite scarce on the patch so a Common Tern on 22nd was nice. Finding uncommon or rare birds is only half the fun of patch birding though and the evening gathering of Whimbrel using Brockholes as a "staging post" has been enjoyable. Last night Little Gull popped in as we were counting and I'm sure there'll be other "incidentals" before the Whimbrel gatherings tail off in the second week of May.

I snapped the pics this morning just after dawn at the quarry. You can just about make out some of the 127 Whimbrel in the lower picture taken just before they started calling, then flew off east up the Ribble Valley to feed in the fields.