It was quiet on the birding
front locally and so David, Malcolm, Roger and I decided to spend at least some
of the day at Frampton Marsh in Lincolnshire.
The plan was for David to drive and that he and Malcolm would pick Roger
and I from home. When they arrived,
Malcolm was driving as David had some problems with his car. We didn’t see a great deal on route and
arrived at Frampton just before 09:00 and then drove to the car park near the
sea wall.
Whilst we were getting ready,
a party of six Oystercatchers flew over several times and I was able to get
some nice flight shots.
Oystercatchers
Oystercatchers
We scanned the area to the
north of the car park and found there were good numbers of Black-tailed Godwit
on the marsh along with numerous Avocets and a single Ruff. Malcolm and David went up onto the sea wall,
leaving Roger and I scanning the marsh to the south were there more Avocet,
Black-tailed Godwit and Redshank and we found a single Ringed Plover.
When we joined David and
Malcom they hadn’t see a great deal else but we then found a couple of Brent
Geese and a Little Ringed Plover on the area just south of the car park. Malcolm then found three Dunlin before we
started to walk along the bank towards the East Hide. We heard a Greenshank call and as we were
scanning a group of Avocets, Malcolm picked out a summer-plumaged Spotted
Redshank. Whilst we were watching the
Spotted Redshank a Greenshank dropped in and two more Spotted Redshank
appeared. There was also another Ringed
Plover and at least eleven Dunlin in the same area. From the car park, we had seen at least fifty
Little Egrets but as we reached the area there were far few and presumably some
at least and gone out to feed on The Wash.
The saltmarsh was relatively quiet but we did find a single Marsh
Harrier and a Kestrel.
When we reached the bend in
the sea wall Malcom indicated that he and a Roger had a Whimbrel but then
indicated that it might just be a Curlew.
David and I were soon watching the bird and as the discussion was moving
towards it being a Curlew as the bill was perhaps a little longer than most Whimbrel
but I was still thinking it was a Whimbrel.
The bill, although quite long, drooped more towards the tip and there
was a clear central crown-stripe flanked by a darker crown. There was also a noticeable supercilium,
although it wasn’t always obvious and the bird didn’t appear large enough, in
my eyes, to be a Curlew. David and Roger
were now moving towards Whimbrel but Malcolm was still concerned about the bill
length. It then flew further away but
didn’t call and shortly afterwards it disappeared into a dyke. When it flew it appeared relatively small and
looked rather dark, again supporting that it was a Whimbrel.
When we reached the East Hide
we found the summering Whooper Swan was feeding to the left of the hide and
again there were quite a few Black-tailed Godwits on the marsh. Other than a couple of Wigeon there wasn’t a
great deal else and no sign of the long-staying Spoonbills or yesterday’s
Garganey. The godwits did fly quite
close to the hide presenting a nice photo opportunity.
Whooper Swan
Whooper Swan
Black-tailed Godwits
Black-tailed Godwits
We continued around the
footpath but saw very little, other than four Ruff, before reaching Reedbed
Hide. There was a single Red-crested Pochard
resting on one of the islands with three more resting in the cover of some
emergent reeds and then David found a fifth swimming away from another island.
When we got back to the car we
had our lunch and then went into the centre to see what else had been reported
but other than a single Golden Plover we had seen most other sightings and set
off for Rutland Water.
On our way to Rutland Water we
had a single Buzzard near Tallington, a Red Kite between Stanford and Empingham
and a second Red Kite over Empingham as we entered the village.
After visiting the North Arm
where we had ten Little Ringed Plovers we went to the centre and found a couple
of Ringed Plovers on the long island but with little else we were soon on our
way to the northern lagoons seeing a Kestrel as we approached the large
meadow. Roger was behind us and David
and Malcolm went along the Summer Trail, whilst I went along the long path
allowing Roger to catch me up. There was
a single Buzzard to the west and a few insects along the path and I
photographed a Comma and Black-tailed Skimmer.
Comma
Black-tailed Skimmer
Roger and I stopped at the
bottom of the ramp to talk to Brian and Roger Brett but they hadn’t seen a
great deal and so Roger and I eventually joined David and Malcolm in the
hide. David immediately told us that
there several Yellow-legged Gulls, a Common Gull and a possible Caspian Gull on
the spit between Islands Seven and Ten.
There were seven Yellow-legged Gulls and the Common Gull was my first at
Rutland Water since May 18th.
The possible Caspian Gull was a second-year bird and was standing near
several Great Black-backed Gulls and another pale grey mantled bird. The structure and bill of the of the
second-year bird convinced us that it was a Caspian Gull, whilst I considered
the grey-mantled bird to be a Herring Gull, which was later proven when I
photographed it in flight.
Herring Gull
Second-year Caspian Gull
There were four
Oystercatchers, another two Ringed Plovers, two Dunlin and five Black-tailed
Godwits on the lagoon but with little else. We made our way to Redshank Hide on
Lagoon Two were there was a female Tufted Duck escorting a brood of seven and we
did see seven Black-tailed Godwits in flight towards Barnsdale. We viewed Lagoon One from one of the
Rutland gates but with nothing new in evidence we made our way home.
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