David, Roger and I had agreed
to go out locally today but on reaching David’s he suggested that we either go
to Frampton or Titchwell and we decided on Frampton. David was driving and we headed off seeing a
Kestrel just after passing through Frisby and then a Red Kite from the A47 near
Morcott. I then saw a couple of Little
Egrets stood in a ploughed field near Market Deeping and another Kestrel near
Hop Pole and then a Jay and a Red-legged Partridge after passing through
Frampton village.
It was 09:00 when we pulled
into the car park at Frampton Marsh and after getting our gear ready we set off
for the 360 Hide. There was a single
Tree Sparrow amongst a party of House Sparrow and Goldfinch near the feeding
station and as we walked along the path there was a Kestrel hovering near the
path to the hides. As we went through
the gate a Snipe and then a Little Egret flew over and a Black-tailed Godwit
flew over just as we turned along the path to the hide.
There was a nice selection of
waders from the hide that included twelve Ringed Plover, eleven Little Stint,
two Curlew Sandpiper and sixty-eight Dunlin.
As we scanned a little further afield David found a single Bar-tailed
Godwit and there were twenty-two Black-tailed Godwits scattered around the
area. I was surprised we hadn’t seen any
Ruff but Roger than found one and there was a second nearby. There were plenty of wildfowl on the scrape that
included a few Brent Geese, several Shelduck, lots of Wigeon and smaller numbers
of Teal, Mallard and Shoveler.
We left the 360 Hide and
started to walk towards the East Hide and sixteen Ruff flew over and there were
three Little Egrets in the corner of the marsh.
We could see plenty more Brent Geese flying over the marsh and David
then noticed a group of waders in a field to the east of the reserve that
turned out to be a mixture of Lapwing and Golden Plover. There were far more Golden Plovers than
Lapwing and we estimated there were at least 300. A Marsh Harrier was then seen above the sea
wall, which was being mobbed by several corvids and there were four more Little
Egrets as we turned along the path to East Hide.
It felt rather cold looking
out of the flaps of the hide and as we weren’t finding anything new we soon
moved out of the hide and went onto the sea wall. A Snipe flew over and just after walking
through a party of grazing cows a flock of Starling appeared and we then
noticed a Merlin, that was quite close, amongst them. It flew away from us towards the river and
appeared to land in a small bush but on scoping the bush we couldn’t find and
presumably it had gone behind the bush and dropped behind the bank. This was mine and Roger’s first Merlin of the
year but it wasn’t too long afterwards when we saw it or another over the
saltmarsh.
After passing through the cows
again and walking south along the wall we found more waders feeding on the
fresh marsh side of the wall. One of the
first birds we noticed was a Spotted Redshank amongst several Black-tailed
Godwit. There were also plenty of Dunlin
and whilst scanning I found a Grey Plover and then David thought he had seen a
second but we couldn’t find it. All the
birds then took to flight and we had two Grey Plover flying and calling and
after the birds had settled we found a second Spotted Redshank. We had heard a Greenshank call just after
arriving and on hearing one again found two amongst a party of Dunlin and David
then found a third on another pool. I
then picked four swans in flight and although they were flying away from us
both Roger and I thought we could see a yellow on the bill on one of the birds and
two of the birds looked a little grey and their size indicating that they were
Whooper Swans. There were hundreds of
Brent Geese on the saltmarsh and other than the Merlin we also had another
Marsh Harrier and two more Kestrels and there were two Buzzards soaring towards
Boston.
As we walked back along the
track to the centre Roger found a Barnacle Goose but we hadn’t seen anything
else of note when we reached the centre.
We checked the board as to what had been reported but other than a
Peregrine there wasn't anything we hadn’t seen and in fact we added more to the
list.
After a bite to east we set
off back to Rutland Water seeing a Red Kite and Buzzard after Deeping St.
Nicholas and a Kestrel a little further on.
We went to the fisherman’s car park to see if we could locate the
Red-necked Grebe but with a fishing boat near the shore there was very little
and we went to the Egleton car park.
After parking in the Egleton
car park we were just about to set off for the northern lagoons when I received
a notification and on checking it indicated that the Cattle Egret was on the
bund in the North Arm. We got back into
the car and drove down to the end of the unnamed road. On getting out of the car we could see an egret
on the far side of the bund and on checking it with the scope confirmed that it
was the Cattle Egret. Andy and Roger
Brett then joined us and they had found it and got the news out. They hadn’t seen anything else other than a
Great White Egret and Greenshank and we found the Greenshank on the far shore
and there was a Barnacle Goose amongst the other geese on the spit. The Cattle Egret then flew and dropped out of
sight in the field where there were a few sheep.
We returned to the Egleton car
park and then went to Shoveler Hide on Lagoon Three hoping for a Bittern or
Water Rail. As we had a chat with Lloyd
there was a Sparrowhawk flying high over Lagoon One and a brief stop at one of
the meadows produced a Song Thrush, two Redwing and a female Bullfinch.
When we reached the hide
another birder had seen a Marsh Harrier but nothing else. David then found a Redshank to the left of
the hide and there was a Little Egret on the edge of the reeds beyond the first
near reedbed. We then had two Red Kite
and a Buzzard over Burley and a Pintail paid a brief visit. The juvenile Marsh Harrier then returned and
performed for several minutes over the reedbed.
A short visit to the viewing
gallery in the centre produced a Pintail, Great White Egret, and a Curlew.
It had been a good day with
eighty-two species recorded with the Merlin being a year-tick and the Cattle
Egret a county year-tick.
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