Lincs Songster

Out with Mark again today, we’ve heard over the last couple of years that Whisby Nature Park near Lincoln is good for Nightingales and if you got there just after they arrive there is a chance of some good views and maybe even a photograph so when pictures appeared on the internet this week of a particularly confiding individual that’s where we were going. We arrived at the site and headed straight to the area we were told would be the best but there was nothing, surely the window of opportunity wouldn’t be that short, eventually other birders came along and confirmed we were in the right place but also told of other areas they had seen them, after a while we had a wander further along the track and came across one singing, it was close to the path but always kept to the back of the bush, it eventually showed but we were always looking through branches, we stayed with it for a while but it soon became apparent it wasn’t going to pose so we thought we’d try one of the other areas we had been told one had been photographed earlier this morning, again there was nothing so we headed back to the original location and this time there was one singing, the area it was in was quite open and it wasn’t long before it started posing for us, at last! We filled our boots and with spirits suitably lifted we headed off to one of the other lakes where a Black Necked Grebe had been seen this morning, we got in the Hide but it wasn’t showing at first then I heard a call that made me think Water Rail initially but it was the Grebe, it swam from left of the Hide and then right in front calling all the time, an excellent bonus bird, we took a wander around the reserve but apart from a good selection of Warblers including Reed, Whitethroat, Blackcap, Willow and Chiffchaff there wasn’t much more to see so mid afternoon we headed for home calling in at Fairburn Ings on the way, we just had a look at the roadside Flashes and there were loads of Hirundines and a couple of Swifts feeding low but no sign of the recent Garganey, a couple of Buzzards were seen near Tadcaster as we were driving back.

Gadwall and Swallows at Fairburn