So a group of Greylag Geese may not be anything to celebrate, agreed. However, there were some good birds at the quarry today (6th May), but I didn't get a decent photo of them!
We arrived at the quarry in the dark again and I was pretty confident that we'd missed no departing Whimbrel as the heavy cloud cover gave us a little more time to get in position. Seems the peak Whimbrel gathering has passed now with only 56 birds present at dawn. Then the heavens opened so it was back to the car and open the flask while we waited for it to get light. I ventured out in the spitting rain not feeling too optimistic despite the south-westerly wind. Surely no surprises like yesterday's duck-fest? Well, two small blobs on the Main Pool in the murky conditions looked interesting and sure enough through the 'scope they turned into a pair of cracking summer plum' Black-necked Grebes! Only the third occasion this species has been recorded here and the first in breeding attire. Fabulous. Early text messages for the second morning running to all the locals. Unfortunately the grebes were only in digiscoping range in the pouring rain and half light, so the above was the best I could do. There are some absolutely amazing pics of these birds around though (check out the "Gallery" on Bill Aspin's East Lancs site for instance). The showery weather and south-westerly brought down some other good birds though including a couple of Arctic Terns (our first of the year), including this chest-stained bird pictured above. Other obs. had ad' Little and Med' Gulls in the afternoon, otherwise still no sign of the Garg', but the RCP was still around.
So a group of Greylag Geese may not be anything to celebrate, agreed. However, there were some good birds at the quarry today (6th May), but I didn't get a decent photo of them!
We arrived at the quarry in the dark again and I was pretty confident that we'd missed no departing Whimbrel as the heavy cloud cover gave us a little more time to get in position. Seems the peak Whimbrel gathering has passed now with only 56 birds present at dawn. Then the heavens opened so it was back to the car and open the flask while we waited for it to get light. I ventured out in the spitting rain not feeling too optimistic despite the south-westerly wind. Surely no surprises like yesterday's duck-fest? Well, two small blobs on the Main Pool in the murky conditions looked interesting and sure enough through the 'scope they turned into a pair of cracking summer plum' Black-necked Grebes! Only the third occasion this species has been recorded here and the first in breeding attire. Fabulous. Early text messages for the second morning running to all the locals. Unfortunately the grebes were only in digiscoping range in the pouring rain and half light, so the above was the best I could do. There are some absolutely amazing pics of these birds around though (check out the "Gallery" on Bill Aspin's East Lancs site for instance). The showery weather and south-westerly brought down some other good birds though including a couple of Arctic Terns (our first of the year), including this chest-stained bird pictured above. Other obs. had ad' Little and Med' Gulls in the afternoon, otherwise still no sign of the Garg', but the RCP was still around.
