Lesser Whitethroat

Ian Henderson came up trumps with a singing Lesser Whitethroat on Sunday morning, 121. That's the last of the 'predicted' warblers (although Lesser Whitethroat is never easy as they don't seem to 'stick' at the Nunnery Lakes). Frustratingly it had moved on / shut up by the time I was on the reserve in the afternoon and there was no sign of it on Monday. Compensation came in the form of a Red Kite (at last - my first from the Lakes rather than the Nunnery itself this year), as well as a decidedly plastic Pink-footed Goose with the Greylags.

Raptor rapture

Earlier today I received an email from Darren drawing my attention to the recent gap-narrowing achieved by The Lodgers, who (thought they had) closed the gap to 93 - 91.

Not so fast Darren! Dorian Moss and Neil Calbrade scored a double whammy today; Dorian saw a Peregrine over the Nunnery at lunchtime, with Neil adding a Red Kite a bit later on. Nice to see that days that look like they ought to be good for raptors can actually deliver the goods!

The kite was spotted over the Nunnery Lakes but Neil's quick call back to base had several of us rushing out into the Nunnery car park, from where we were able to 'scope the bird as it drifted high to the west (back to the Lodge?!).