I was out with Dave and Roger
today and we headed off to Freiston Shore, Lincolnshire and hopefully a Lesser
Scaup.
When we arrived at Freiston
there was a nasty looking black cloud coming from the north and a few minutes
later we had probably the worst of the winter showers of the day. We sat it out in the car as did c.1000 Oystercatcher
and other waders but as the snow began to ease some of the birds began to leave
and one particular group that were probably Knot all appeared to go. There was also seven Avocet present. When the shower had stopped we walked down
the southern path towards the sea wall seeing three Tree Sparrows just after we
had left the car park.
Tree Sparrow
As we walked down the track
more of the Oystercatcher began to leave but we did find sixteen Knot, a
Black-tailed Godwit, a Redshank and a Turnstone. We then found the target bird a first-winter
male Lesser Scaup. Although it was
always rather distant we did get some reasonable views through the scope. When we finally reached the sea wall we had a
good view all around and found seventeen Curlew and a single Ringed
Plover. There were also plenty of Brent Geese
still around with many in flight over the salt marsh.
Oystercatcher leaving their roosr
Brent Geese
Reed Bunting
From Freiston we drove the
relative short distance to Frampton Marsh where it was quite breezy and
cold. The water levels were higher than
normal and it also appeared quiet on the bird front. Roger did find the four White-fronted Geese,
which were present from the centre for a short time before flying off to the grassy
meadows, where there was also a single Black-tailed Godwit. We walked to the 360° hide where we found twenty Avocet, a Ringed Plover, three Dunlin, five Ruff, a
Curlew and two Redshank. Wave after wave
of Brent Geese were coming in and landing to the left of the hide and there
must have been in excess of a thousand.
There was also fourteen Pintail and we found two distant Little Egrets.
White-fronted Geese
White-fronted Geese
Brent Geese
Brent Geese
Avocet
Avocet
Lapwing
Lapwing
Lapwing
First-winter Great Black-backed Gull
Adult summer Black-headed Gull
We decided to go Rutland Water
on route home andwent to the north arm and then had a walk around the reed bed.
Again as we arrived we had our
last wintery shower of the day but we could see several waders on the spit from
the car. When the shower ceased we got
out of the car and found two Ringed Plovers and a Dunlin and then I noticed a
smaller Ringed Plover, which turned out to be our first Little Ringed Plover of
the year. We walked through the gate to
view the rest of north arm and I immediately found the Black-necked Grebe and
then Dave found the Slavonian Grebe. The
Black-necked Grebe was now beginning to look quite nice as it was in almost
full summer plumage and the Slavonian was also showing signs of moulting. David eventually found the winter plumaged
Grey Plover on the north shore.
We entered the reed bed from
the Normanton Peninsular and initially focussed on the area between there and
the ringing hut. We found two nice male
Siskin close to the hut and a Treecreeper close by. We then walked around the boardwalk but the
only ting of note was a single Water Rail.
We also found a couple of Marsh Tits and four Redwings as we walked back
to the road.
Just as we were about to leave Tim called to inform us
that he was watching a Jack Snipe from shoveler hide on lagoon three but
unfortunately Dave and Roger needed to get back and we had give it a miss. He then tweeted that he had found a second.
Male Siskin
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