David, Malcolm, Roger and I were planning to go to Frampton Marsh in Lincolnshire,
but I had to take my car for an MOT retest first and the plan was for me to
meet the others at Rutland Water afterwards.
I left home at around 09:45 and headed off to meet the others in the
Egleton car park. I had a Peregrine
Falcon as I entered Wistow Park and then two Common Buzzards and three Common
Kestrels before turning off the A6003 to Egleton. As I entered the drive to the car park a Great
Spotted Woodpecker flew into a tree over the path and when I entered the car
park David and Roger were looking at something flying over. When I reached David, he encouraged me to get
out of the car and doing so he said there was a Mediterranean Gull but that it
had gone off to the north. I ran to the
area where I could see better and picked it up as it was flying off to the
east. It was a superb adult and a
year-tick providing and excellent start to the day.
Malcolm arrived shortly afterwards after a successful search for the
Red-necked Grebe and after they loaded their gear into my car we set off for
Frampton. There was a Red Kite over the
meadows alongside Church Road and we saw two more and a Common Kestrel before
reaching Stamford. We hadn’t seen anything
else of note as we pulled into the car park at Frampton at around 11:45.
We decided to have an early lunch and whilst doing so found a Eurasian
Curlew and a Black-tailed Godwit on the marsh and five Eurasian Tree Sparrow in
the bushes alongside the road. After
lunch we popped into the visitor’s centre from where we saw a Pintail but there
wasn’t much on the information board for the day and so we set off for the 360
Hide. As we walked along the path I
picked up a bird sitting on a post and suspected that it was a Merlin. We walked further along the path and set up
our scopes on the bird and was able to confirm that it was a Merlin. Shortly afterwards Malcolm indicated that it
had flown and a few seconds later birds flew from the corner of the marsh where
we were standing and then the Merlin flashed just a few feet away from us. I continued heading north and then perched on
a fence post alongside the path to the 360 Hide and after viewing it through
the scopes we decided we would go along the path towards the hide to see if we
could get closer. It remained on the
post for quite some time and we were able to get reasonably close without
disturbing it and get a few photos, although it was mainly facing away from
us. Another birder then came along the
path from the hide and was clearly aware of the Merlin but got too close and it
flew off towards the hide before heading north.
Female Merlin
Female Merlin
Female Merlin
Female Merlin
This was one of our target birds today and my second year-tick of the day
and with the Merlin gone we continued onto the 360 Hide.
There wasn’t a great deal from the 360 Hide, a Common Ringed Plover, a
few Dunlin and a couple of Black-tailed Godwits. We did spend quite some time in the hide
looking for a Little Stint that had been present earlier this week but
eventually gave up and I went a got the car, whilst the others walked towards
the sea wall.
When we reached the sea-wall something caused quite some disturbance and
there must have been at least 2000 European Golden Plover in flight, along with
plenty of Northern Lapwings. We scanned
the marsh looking for a Spotted Redshank, which had been reported earlier and a
Ruff that David and I had seen when first viewing the Merlin. David found a Spotted Redshank and shortly
afterwards I found a second bird but there was no sign of the Ruff.
We turned our attention onto the salt marsh where we had distant views of
a female Western Marsh Harrier and shortly afterwards David said he thought he
had a male Hen Harrier. We all
eventually got on the bird as it flew over the ground at some speed until it
approached the bank towards The Haven and then turned and dropped onto the
ground. Roger then noticed six Whooper
Swans on the freshwater marsh but there was still no sign of any Ruff. David then said he had the Hen Harrier again
and that it was flying low and fast back towards us. It was quite some time before I manged to
pick it up but then we had some nice views as it past distantly in front of us
before dropping down again. I then
picked up a Merlin flying off the freshwater marsh and it passed almost over
our heads before flying out onto the saltmarsh and perching on a post. Initially we thought it would be a second
bird as it looked very ragged particularly the flight feathers but on
reflection after seeing my photos I thought it was probably the same bird.
The Hen Harrier was another target bird for me and my forth year-tick of
the day and I suggested that we went to Deeping Lakes where they had seen a
Long-eared Owl whilst I was away. There
had been no recent reports, but I thought it would be worth a shot.
It took about forty minutes to get to Deeping and after a quick scan of
the lake alongside the car park we walked to the hide where we could see the island
where the owls normally roost. When we
reached the hide I was surprised how much the vegetation had changed, with far
less cover, and presumably due to the nesting Great Cormorants. We spent awhile scanning the area they are
normally seen but they are never easy but eventually gave up assuming they
weren’t there. There were four male and
a female Goosander on the lake and ten Whooper Swans flew over heading
northeast.
As we approached the car park we had some nice views of a Green
Woodpecker and when we got back to the car park we spent longer viewing the
lake and found a single Northern Pintail, fifteen Northern Shoveler, a Great
Egret and two Eurasian Oystercatcher before we called it a day and headed back
to Rutland Water.
We had another three Common Kestrels between Empingham and Egleton but a
brief search for a Barn Owl on Lagoon One before going home was unsuccessful.
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