Whimbrel often pass over Radipole lake but very rarely land on the reserve, so today was pretty special as 5 landed on the little shingle island outside the visitor centre. They only stayed for half an hour but there were a few people around including a few that had never seen Whimbrel before. Whimbrel are passage migrants in the UK although occasionally a few breed in Scotland. They look similar to the more familiar Curlew but have distinctive stripes above the eye and through the crown, as well as being smaller. If you wanted to get good views of Whimbrel I would recommend a visit to Lodmoor at this time of year when they pass through on a regular bases.
Whilst on the subject of Lodmoor, its worth mentioning that the Common Tern Colony is starting to hot up as more and more birds arrive. We even had a group of 6 at Radipole this morning. But they quickly headed back towards Lodmoor.