Then, along came another...

I don’t know, you wait twenty four months and then two come along in the matter of a few weeks!

My ample backside had barely started to warm the bench at IMF when a fellow birder located an Osprey above Burton Mere Wood being mobbed by a bevy of corvids.

After the Rooks had safely escorted the raptor from the premises it began to climb and eventually headed off up the estuary.

It was only the fifth Osprey I have ever seen and amazingly the third at Inner Marsh Farm – the first one I ever saw was almost to the day three years ago.

Another first at the reserve for me was Curlew Sandpiper on spring passage; I was lucky enough to pick on up at Marshside in May last year, but on the Dee Estuary all previous birds have been in the autumn.

One was practically in full breeding plumage and looked fantastic whilst its partner still had some considerable way to go.

A hundred and fifty or so Blackwits kept me entertained for the next thirty or so minutes, but before too long my resolve to stay any longer buckled yet again in the face of this ridiculously cold May weather – I just refuse to wear gloves at this time of year!

Inner Marsh Farm 13.05.10

Osprey 1
Curlew Sandpiper 2
Black-tailed Godwit c150

Until later.