Wheatears and Whinchats

This last week has been a busy one with the camera as the weather has improved a little although it is still on the cool side for early May.I have been visiting the grebe family again and more images of these delightful birds will follow in due course.The beginning of the week was notable for the passage of large numbers of summer migrants and good numbers were stopping off to refuel along the Lancashire coastline.I visited the former sandplant at Marshside Southport as numbers of wheatears were using this area of rough land to stop and feed. They provided some great opportunities for close up photography of their beautiful plumage.You know Spring is here when the wheatears arrive and with them are often whinchats. I was lucky to catch up with one in the sandplant ,a very active bird which I eventually persuaded to pose for me.Another summer visitor on it's way to breed on our northern hills.Hope you enjoy the images below of the wheatears and finally the whinchat which chose some steelwork on which to pose but still looked great in it's summer plumage.