A trip to the Marsh early evening was a quiet affair. There was no sign of the Sandpipers nor too much of real interest at first. As I was about to leave I noticed some largish waders at the back of a pool, in fact the same pool that had been the favourite of the Spoonbill which was with us for half of July. I expected them to be Black Tailed Godwits but a look through the binos told me that they were in fact Whimbrel. At first I was only aware of 2 then these were joined quite quickly by another and then another until there were seven in total. If you notice from the photo which I took on the 6 May you can see how similar to Curlew they are. But they are smaller. Whenever I see a bird like this I ask myself "Why have they suddenly turned up, where from and where are they going"? Well it turns out that they have probably arrived from their breeding grounds in Iceland. It is known that migrating Whimbrel, who breed in the arctic spend the winter in West Africa, Senegal for example. They have known staging posts where they stop on the way to feed and get some strength before they continue onwards and south, and of course in May they were doing the trip in reverse. Here is a link to a good site with lots of information about a staging post in the Derwent Valley, Yorkshire. Have a look, there is a good explanation about what is happening. Now this throws up a very fascinating scene. These Whimbrel observed today have just arrived here, as I said probably from Iceland but why fly further south to Devon, why not stay with the other birds in Yorkshire and other parts further North. It does illustrate just how important our little bit of reserve at Exminster is. If the weather holds tomorrow I may go and see if I can get a closer photo of this small flock which could be bigger by then.
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