Dave, Roger and I went to
Frampton Marsh in Lincolnshire arriving just after eight thirty. The wind was cool but it was mainly bright
and sunny and there was a flock of Black-tailed Godwit feeding on the grass
meadow along with several Oystercatchers and at least four Curlew and two Swift
passed over. Initially scanning the marsh just in front of the centre there were
masses of Black-headed Gulls, which were obviously breeding on several of the
islands, and there were several Great Black-backed Gulls and a couple of
Herring Gulls roosting on an areas of exposed mud. There were several Avocets and further
scanning produced a Little Ringed Plover and two Ringed Plovers and a few
wildfowl including a Wigeon and a Shoveler and a single Swallow passed over.
Walking further down the path
we heard at Reed Warbler and a Sedge Warbler a little further on but the water
was very low on the first scrape and the only visible waders were a single
Redshank and a few Avocets.
From the 360° hide I counted 185 Black-tailed Godwits
and there were a few nice male Ruff feeding amongst them but other than
numerous Avocets there were no other waders, although a party of Ringed Plovers
passed over and appeared to land on the wet meadows towards the Wash. Two Common Terns were observed on one of the
islands and there were plenty of Shelduck and a few more Wigeon and Shoveler.
We went to the reedbed hide
next and Roger picked up a first-summer Little Gull feeding over the lagoon and
shortly afterwards Dave picked up a Mediterranean Gull flying in. It was a stunning summer adult and spent some
time bathing before flying to nearby island to preen.
We continued to walk towards
the east hide where we saw a Sedge Warbler and a couple of Linnets, plus more
Avocets. We decided not to go to the
east hide but to continue along the sea wall and complete the circuit. On reaching the sea wall several flocks of
Brent Geese flew over and we must have seen over two hundred during our
visit. There were at least four Ringed
Plovers on the first area of flooded meadow plus more Avocets and there several
Oystercatcher and Curlew towards the Witham.
As we walked along the top of the bank we found two pairs of Pintail and
a Maned Duck or Australian Wood Duck, which was an obvious escape but nice to
see. Further along we found another five
Ruff and a few Redshanks and then Roger found a pair of Garganey, which were
quite difficult to locate as they roosted on the marsh.
Brent Goose
Brent Goose
There was a second Little
Ringed Plover and a Reeve feeding on a small island just after we started to
walk back towards the centre. On
reaching the small car park area three rather smart Ruff were observed feeding
along a small creak and I then noticed a Whimbrel in the same area and two Yellow
Wagtails flew over. A little further
along there was another Ruff and a second Sedge Warbler was observed before we
got back to the centre. There were now larger
gulls on the lagoon mainly Great Black-backed Gull and Herring Gulls but also
two nice adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls.
Ruff moulting into breeding plumage
After some lunch, as normal
after visiting Frampton we set off for Rutland Water. We reached Egleton by fourteen hundred and
went straight to plover hide on lagoon four.
A Sparrowhawk passed over close to the badger hide and we heard
Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Blackcap and Garden Warbler, seeing Chiffchaff and
Blackcap as we walked along the summer trail.
On reaching the hide Dave immediately spotted a couple of Greenshank
feeding just beyond the first island and then what he thought was a
Curlew. Whilst scanning for the presumed
Curlew I found another four curlew-like birds, which then flew to another
island and we were able to identify them a Whimbrel. I eventually found Dave's original bird that
had been joined by a second and were both Curlew, which then joined by two
more. There was also a couple of Ringed
Plovers visible and a single winter plumage Dunlin and twenty-one Common Terns
resting on an island. I then picked up
two Ospreys, which were probably over the north arm and whilst watching these
we had at least seven Buzzards and a couple of Hobbies.
We made a quick visit to
bittern hide but after noticing that there were quite a few terns over the
water we moved to shoveler hide to get a better view. Sadly they were all Common Terns but we did find
five Goldeneye at the back of the lagoon and the Barnacle Goose was to the
right of the hide. We had heard a Cuckoo
calling when it suddenly appeared to be quite close and Roger picked it up
flying towards the hide. Last year I
only heard a Cuckoo once at Rutland Water but this year contact with them has
been quite a good and hopefully it is a good sign.
We called at Eyebrook
Reservoir on route home but didn’t stay too long as Andy Mackay informed us
there was nothing special and Roger needed to get back.
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