A curlew and a plover and her lover

Back down to the coast this morning to try and blip birds at Pennington(?) Marshes.  I was ridiculously thrilled to get this shot of a curlew.  My bird book says they're common but it's a rather old one and in fact the RSPB seem to be monitoring a steep decline in numbers.  From what I can gather, they're all round the coast in winter, but apart from Kent and East Anglia, the area round the Solent (ie round here) is the only one in south and south west England that sees them in summer as well.  It's certainly the best view of one I've had in ages, though I've heard them on the Suffolk marshes.

And yes, walking back we saw a couple of ring plovers.  What is that song about a plover and her lover?  We've sung it in choir but I clearly wasn't paying attention as I can't remember the words!

So the end of a nice weekend.  The week beckons.  Have a successful one, lovely blippers  xx