Malcolm and I had decided to
go to Frampton Marsh this morning and we met in the Rutland Water car park at
Egleton. There had been some confusion
as I arrived at 07:30 and Malcolm had been then since 07:00, expecting me to be
there as well. I transferred my gear
into his car and we set off towards Stamford and then onto Frampton. We didn’t see anything of note on route and
arrived at around 09:00 and parked at car park near the sea wall.
It was overcast with a light
south-west breeze but didn’t feel particularly cold and we started to scan the
marsh from the car park. There was a
single Ruff and several Redshank to the south and party of circa forty
Pink-footed Geese circled and dropped in for a while before we saw them heading
off south shortly afterwards. It isn’t
easy to get a decent view to the east due to a belt of phragmites alongside the
path so we walked towards the sea wall to stand on a raised area. There were more Redshank and good numbers of
Dunlin and Curlew on the marsh and a few Little Egrets scattered around with a
single Black-tailed Godwit flying over.
There had been reports of over 4000 Wigeon on site but we could see very
few wildfowl that did include a few Wigeon but also Teal, Mallard and Shoveler. Malcolm then picked up a female Merlin
perched on a gate to the west, but it then flew and was lost from view.
There was a Kestrel as we
turned onto the path leading to the hides that allowed us to get quite close
and I was able to get a few nice shots both as it perched and in flight.
Male Kestrel on the sculpture near 360 Hide
Male Kestrel
Male Kestrel
Male Kestrel
Male Kestrel
There were plenty of waders on
view from the 360 Hide, mainly Dunlin with at least 200 being present. There was also a Grey Plover, four
Black-tailed Godwits, a Curlew and several Redshank. As we continued to scan two Avocets appeared
and Malcolm eventually found a Little Stint and then a Peregrine that was
sitting on the ground.
We eventually left the hide
and walked around to the south-east corner seeing a single Ringed Plover as we
did so. There were more waders in the south-east
corner and we found two more Grey Plover, more Dunlin and a few Black-tailed
Godwits and Redshanks. We were hoping to
find a couple of Spotted Redshank that had been seen earlier but there was no
sign. Some waders were starting to go
out to the Wash as presumably the tide had started to turn and then six Whooper
Swans few over, two adults and four juveniles.
Adult Whooper Swan
Adult Whooper Swan
As we walked further west
along the bank numerous Wigeon were coming in off the Wash along with small
numbers of Brent Goose and it wasn’t long before the Reedbed Marsh was covered
in Wigeon and there were plenty more scattered around the reserve.
We continued scanning the
marsh and found three Pintail but despite hearing a Spotted Redshank we were
unable to find any but I did pick-up the adult Peregrine bathing in one of the
small pools and we wondered if it had flushed the Spotted Redshank, which is
when I heard one call.
Pete Jessop arrived whilst we
were on the bank and after a chat we started to walk back to the car and saw Dave
who was a regular Rutland Water visitor not too long ago but now spends most of
his time at Frampton. After a bite to
eat we set off for Exton where we were hoping to catch up with a Hawfinch.
We didn’t see anything of note
on route to Exton, which took us and hour and twenty minutes due to a long
delay at the Tallington railway crossing.
The barriers lifted three times before we eventually got through and
five trains, three south and two northern went through. I haven’t known the barrier go up and down
quite so quickly before and although we have waited in the past we do usually
get through once the barriers are raised.
After parking in Exton village
we walked the short distance to the private cemetery where the Hawfinches were
being seen. There were four large trees
on the south side of the cemetery and plenty of yews in the grounds. We viewed the area from the path and could
see that there were plenty of birds in the large trees, mainly Fieldfare and
Redwing but also a few Greenfinches, which were dropping down to feed on the
yew berries. We hadn’t been there very
long when I found Hawfinch, but it moved before Malcolm got on it and we
couldn’t find it again. Malcolm then
went back to the farm buildings to view the trees, where the light would be better,
but the trees were further away. Terry
Mitcham arrived and after discussing birders entering Tunneley Wood to see
Hawfinches and that the estate had now closed the gate to try and prevent
further access as it is private. I
called Andy Mackay to ask him to put a message on the website regarding access
and whilst doing this Terry found a Hawfinch.
I finished the call to Andy as the bird dropped from the tree into the
top of one of the yews and the down a little to eat some berries. It was a male and gave superb views as it fed
against the back drop of the yew. I
called Malcolm who returned but it had disappeared before he got back. Terry left shortly afterwards as did two
other birders and just as they were driving off Malcolm found one, which then
flew over our heads with a party of Greenfinch.
It was easily separated due to its size and as it passed overhead I
could see the translucent white patches in the wings.
Please we had at last caught
up with Hawfinch in what has been a remarkable autumn for them we returned to
Rutland Water car park. I had received a
tweet regarding a red-headed Smew on Lagoon Two, so we went to try and find
it. We went into Grebe Hide but drew a
blank and so went onto Osprey Hide to get a different view of the lagoon. It looked as though we were going to suffer
the same fate when I picked it up diving right against the far bund. This is quite an early date for a Smew as
they don’t usually turn up until later in the month, although my earliest
record was of a red-head at Eyebrook Reservoir on November 3rd,
1974.
No comments:
Post a Comment