Wonderfull Whisby.....04.05.2013.

With a full day to ourselves,Dave,Chris and myself headed for the excellent and huge Whisby NR on the outskirts of Lincoln,to see if we could see the stunning Nightingales and what other niceties we could find.We started by exploring Grebe and Coot lakes and enjoyed superb views of our 'First' Nightingales,Common Terns and Garden Warblers of the year and a brief,distant,flyby Hobby.The Nightingales gave unbelievable views and likewise,a personal favourite,the Garden Warblers gave equally good views,with at least 15 being seen by the end of the day.Warblers were a big feature of the day with 9 species being seen in total and they seemed to be everywhere,in one stretch of Blackthorn hedge i saw 7 species,pretty amazing stuff.The many lakes were distinctly lacking in wildfowl with only a hand full of Tufted Duck,Teal and Mallard being seen and this was also noted with regards to Hirundines,it really is a strange spring this year.The man made islands that have been created for breeding waders and wildfowl contained a couple of Black-headed Gull colonies,with 2 Oystercatchers sitting tight on eggs and a single Little-ringed Plover fed around the waters edge.After enjoying the Nightingales etc. the visitor centre was opening at 10,so at 1 minute past ten we were in and ordering our full english!.After a superb brekkie and a nice cuppa we carried on exploring this large reserve,getting a good soaking as well before the weather finally broke into some sunshine at last.As the weather broke we started to see our first butterflies of the day and this included my first Holly Blue,Orange Tips and Speckled Woods of the year.In fact numbers weren't too bad with us seeing 4 Speckled Wood,6 Orange Tip,10 Green-veined White,7 Peacock and singles of Brimstone and Holly Blue.I still could not find a single Large-red Damselfly,despite searching high and low for them.The only mammal sighting of note was a single Weasel watched crossing one of the many tracks around the reserve.A good day despite the cocked up weather forecast....one day they will get it right!.

Singing male Nightingale.

Singing male Nightingale.

Singing male Garden Warbler.

Blue Tit.

Roosting Orange Tip.