07/05/2018 Lincolnshire with the Cumbrians - Day 3/6 Donna Nook, Tetney Marsh, Far Ings and Whisby

Monday 7th May 2018 Lincolnshire Tour
Day 3/6
Cumbrian Friends Annual Outing

We were mindful of the fact that it was scorching Bank Holiday Monday so we resolved to avoid the crowds where possible. This was successful except at Tetney Marsh.

On the whole we struggled to find any birds for most of the day but things really took off late in the day when we returned to Whisby.

Donna Nook, Tetney Marsh and Far Ings.

• We started at Donna Nook but found that most of it was not as extensive as we thought with the reported 6 miles of habitat being largely unreachable.  We managed to see a number of birds but nothing particularly special.

• When we moved to Tetney Marsh we were horrified to find that it was at the far end of a huge caravan park and was packed with holiday makers!  Apart from several Wheatears and a couple of Whimbrel, it was very quiet on the birding front so we decided to leave.

• Far Ings, with the magnificent Humber Bridge as backdrop, was a superb reserve.  We found a couple of Bearded Tits in flight and a Common Tern early on but after that there was little else around.

Partly out of desperation, we decided to cut our losses and head for Whisby where we were lucky yesterday.

Whisby

Our luck was in again! 

• The Nightingales were singing - one,  where we saw it yesterday, and a second at the far end of the lagoon.  The latter bird was very vocal and after singing at regular intervals for about 30 minutes it decided to make an appearance jumping onto a nearby dead tree to continue singing, much to the delight of all present.  When we moved on 15-20 minutes later it was still performing brilliantly.
• There  must have been a fall of Garden Warblers as we saw and heard several with some superb views.
• Try as we may, we were unable to find any Willow Tits, much to Harvey's disappointment as he wasn't with us when we saw them last night.

A late flurry of birds saved our day!