I had arranged with Erik and
Ken that we would go to Frampton today if the Broad-billed Sandpiper was still
present. However we couldn’t go until
after eleven as Erik had a couple of revision sessions at school and so I
decided that I would visit both Eyebrook Reservoir and Rutland Water before
then.
As I approached Eyebrook
Reservoir there was a Red Kite near the Horninghold turn but there was no sign
of the Little Owls. It was pretty quiet
at the reservoir with no sign of any waders other than Lapwing and I could only
find three Shelduck. There was however a
pair of Tufted Duck and a single Teal, which were the first I had seen here for
some time. A Little Egret flew up the
stream and there were two distant Buzzards and what was presumably the same Red
Kite I had seen when approaching the reservoir.
I had another Red Kite low
over Preston on route to Rutland Water and when I arrived at Rutland Water I
went to plover hide on lagoon four.
There were a couple of Common Terns on island three and eventually I saw
the two Oystercatchers with the single chick.
A trip to Shoveler hide on lagoon three produced a couple of Little
Egrets and a Redshank and a couple of Oystercatchers flew in. A pair of Shelduck was escorting a brood of
six and a female Mallard was observed with nine tiny young. Teal numbers had climbed to nine and the male
Wigeon and at least three drake Pochard were still present. There was positive news on the Broad-billed
Sandpiper at Frampton and so I called Ken and texted Erik to let them know we
would be going. With still some time to
kill before we were ready to go to Frampton I went into sandpiper hide on
lagoon four. There were a few terns
resting on the island ten spit and I eventually found three Little Ringed
Plovers, a couple of Ringed Plovers and an adult Yellow-legged Gull.
Ken arrived just after I got
back to the car park and Erik called shortly afterwards to tell us he had
finished at school and would be with us just after eleven thirty. It was pretty hot in the car park and so Ken
and I went to the centre and I indulged in an ice cream. A Hobby then flew over our heads and headed
off towards lagoon two and my third Red Kite of the day was observed over the
field adjacent to the car park.
Shelduck on lagoon three
Erik arrived on schedule and
we set off for Frampton seeing very little on route with a Kestrel being the
best. When we arrived at Frampton we
went to the sea bank car park where it felt quite cool in the brisk north east
wind. Whilst Ken and I were getting our
gear sorted, Erik walked back up the road to see if a group of birders were
watching the Broad-billed. He was back
pretty quick indicating that it was there and so we walked back to the gate to
view the wet meadows to the south west.
The bird was feeding some distance away and with the wind and the light
not being perfect the views were a little disappointing. However a patient wait saw the bird come a
little closer and we eventually had some reasonable views through the scope
whilst if was feeding on the edges of two water filled channels. There was an Avocet with a chick close by and
two Little Ringed Plovers were also seen.
After a bite to eat, seeing a Bar-tailed Godwit whilst doing so, Erik
and I went to centre leaving Ken having further views of the sandpiper. There was no sign of the Mediterranean Gulls
amongst the numerous Black-headed Gulls but Erik did find a female Shoveler
escorting a brood of six.
Ken had now rejoined us at the
centre and just as we were thinking of leaving Erik spotted Lee Evans on the
sea wall and wanted to go and say hello.
After a brief discussion we decided we would drive back to the sea bank
car park to grant Erik his wish. As we
got out of the car Lee was walking back and we had a brief chat and established
that he had seen the White-rumped Sandpiper amongst a small flock of Dunlin from
the sea wall. We therefore went to take
a look seeing a couple of drake Garganey and several Black-tailed Godwits
before we reached the bench on the sea wall.
The wind was quite fresh and blustery and so I slid down the bank and
managed to get a comfortable position being less exposed to the wind. Another birder already had the White-rumped
and he soon got us on it but it was pretty distant but was obvious amongst the
Dunlin and Ringed Plovers. After a while
I scanned around and found a wader with a Dunlin slightly further away that was
clearly not a Dunlin and turned out to be a winter plumaged Curlew
Sandpiper. With time pressing we called
it a day and headed back to Rutland Water.
We weren’t too far away from
Rutland Water when Ken had a text from Paul Powell, who we had seen at
Frampton, saying he had found a Red-necked Phalarope from where we were
watching the Broad-billed. Disappoint
for us but you can’t see everything and we had had a excellent afternoon.
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