Dave, Roger, Ken and I had
decided to have a visit to Frampton Marsh where there had been a Red-necked
Phalarope present for about a week.
We arrived after uneventful
journey and we saw a Tree Sparrow on the feeding station and Dave picked up a
Little Owl on the distant farm buildings.
Several Ruff, Snipe and Black-tailed Godwits were observed flying over and
as we moved to the centre several Yellow Wagtails flew over. There were a few Black-tailed Godwits on the
first marsh and we also located three Knot and Roger found a Pink-footed
Goose. The godwits continued to fly in
for most of the morning and the flock was estimated to be about 2800 by far the
largest concentration I have ever seen.
These were joined by more Knot and I estimated that we saw c.440,
although the official count was over 1000.
We walked to the 360° Hide and I picked up the juvenile
Red-necked Phalarope almost immediately feeding amongst a group of Mallard and
Shoveler. There were also several
Pintail present I a single immature Shelduck.
There were also plenty of waders and we soon added Ruff, Spotted
Redshank, Greenshank and four juvenile Curlew Sandpipers. Another birder then announced that he had a
Wood Sandpiper and we eventually saw three superb juveniles. This is one of my favourite waders and
juveniles look particularly good.
We eventually moved off to the
East Hide and we located several Ringed Plovers and a single Dunlin close to
the path leading to the hide. There were
also more distant Ringed Plovers and Dunlin and there was a single Brent Goose. From the hide we added both Common Sandpiper
and Green Sandpiper and eventually a single juvenile Little Stint. There was also at least forty-two Little
Egrets on site with many roosting on two of the islands in front of the hide. We saw a single Buzzard from the sea wall but
little else over the salt marsh.
We walked back towards the car
park calling at Reedbed Hide on route where we further views of the godwits and
Knot that were still arriving in large numbers as where a few Dunlin. There was also a single Barnacle Goose
amongst the many Greylag and Canada Geese.
There had been a thunder storm over towards Boston and there were a few
spots of rain at Frampton but as this stopped we moved off back to the centre
and lunch. Roger and I decided to get
into the car and were quickly followed by Dave as it looked as though the nest
storm would hit Frampton. Ken decided to
change his shoes and whilst doing so the heavens opened. It was just as though someone had turned a
tap on and he got soaked.
The rain eventually eased and
we drove down the road to the sea wall where we waited for a while for the rain
to stop before walking to the sea wall.
There had been a Merlin earlier and whilst we were scanning for this I
picked up a Short-eared Owl and just afterwards Dave found the female/immature
Merlin perched on a post. Ken then
located a Little Ringed Plover and Roger a female-type Marsh Harrier.
It had turned quite warm
whilst we were on the bank but as it looked as though the next storm was
approaching we decided to move off back to the car and set off for home.
It had been an excellent day’s
birding with twenty species of wader being seen and also Merlin, Little and
Short-eared Owls.
Juvenile Little Grebe
Knot coming into roost
No comments:
Post a Comment