The Great Escape ........?

"Water level's too high. Whimbrel numbers are low. No birds to look at!" I was generally whinging last night bemoaning the fact that my 2006 notebook read: "Brockholes Quarry, May 4th - 3 Black Terns, drake Garganey". So this morning we (yes, we - Angie and I) were at the quarry to count the Whimbrel at 4.30 AM sharp without too many expectations but at least the wind had moved around from the strong east to a more comfortable southerly. So a female Red-crested Pochard on the Main Pool at 5.30 AM, and then a drake Garganey half hour later meant two swift series of texting to locals giving them a nice early wake-up call! I believe the RCP is a quarry first, unringed and fully winged. If it's still there at Xmas I'll retract all claims for its credibility though. The summer plum' Bar-tailed Godwit flying around was a nice bonus - yet another quarry tick for me.

So either something was happening this morning, or there was a mass break-out from Martin Mere. I guess the Barwit was OK though.