WhimbrelOnce we landed in Liverpool on 9th April, I didn't want to see another bird for at least a week, never mind have my bins around my neck, but.. as always this was to much of a challenge... I did however last until 17th April when I ventured out for a light spot birding..
On the evening of 17th April, myself, Steve and Rachel had evening's mist-netting session at 'Wigg' near Paenmenmawr in North wales. On arrival and once stepping out of the truck, a few Whimbrels could be heard whistling out over the Menai straits.. The words - ''Would we catch one of those tonight'' went through my head... A quick scan over the pool was in order to see if there was anything around the pools, but only the odd Redshank and Canada goose were evident.. After the decision was made on where to set the nets, half an hour or so later and all were set ready..
Whimbrel We did however, have a 3 and 1/2 bour wait until high tide.. This was no big deal as the stars were out 'en masse' tonight, clear skies and not a breath on wind! When the tide came in, we soon realised that there were very few birds present, the odd Curlew and Redshank called but that was about it.. What would we catch?
12 Curlew {Ringed 10}
Whimbrel
Oh yes... you have read that right indeed, we did in fact catch 2 Whimbrel within 15 minutes of each other.. You can imagine what was going through my kind when we caught the first one: ''I hope they have both ringed one'' Once back at the truck, Steve passed me the Whimbrel in the sack and at that point I knew it was mine to ring!! The second bird was caught 15 minutes later and was ringed by Rachel...
An extremely long night as we finished at 2:30am...
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