Malcolm and I had planned to go to Frampton Marsh today and I was meeting
him in the Egleton car park at 07:00 and we would then drive to Frampton. As I was getting ready to leave home I heard
a Green Woodpecker but hadn’t seen much else when I pulled into the car park at
Egleton.
Malcolm transferred his gear into my car and we were soon on our way to
Frampton Marsh and arrived at around 08:15. There was a high tide this morning
and we were hoping for a good selection of waders as we drove to the car park
near the sea wall.
When we got out of the car there was a flock of Dunlin feeding just west
of the car park. We could see that most
were Dunlin, but Malcolm then found a Little Stint and I picked out a single
Curlew Sandpiper. There was also five
Ruff, which were all males, and looking rather striking in their breeding
plumage and we eventually finished up with seven males. Avocets and Common Redshanks were scattered
around the meadows and I found a single Little Ringed Plover.
Satisfied we had seen most of what was on the western meadow we went up
on the sea wall to view the saltmarsh and the area looking back towards the
hides. When we reached the top of the
sea wall we could see that a significant part of the saltmarsh was under water
due to the high tide. We found another
party of Dunlin and amongst them two more Curlew Sandpipers but as we were
scanning through the flock they took to flight and eventually settled again where
we had had the original flock. There
must have been at least 250 Dunlin and now all three Curlew Sandpipers were together
in the flock, but we couldn’t find the Little Stint. There was still a good number of Brent Geese
with most seen in flight but there was a small flock on the saltmarsh and a
party of circa forty Black-tailed Godwit were observed towards the visitors
centre and I found three Common Ringed Plovers and four Eurasian Oystercatchers
flew over.
Curlew Sandpiper
Curlew Sandpiper
Curlew Sandpiper
Brent Geese
There were several Eurasian Reed Warblers singing in the reeds and a
Sedge Warbler was also heard and two Common Terns flew over just before we got
back to the car. We spent some time
photographing the rather splendid looking Ruff but with little else in evidence
we eventually decided to go back to the main car park and find out what our
best options would be. I went into the
centre and found out that European Turtle Doves were being recorded near the
reservoir and with four Little Gulls also being on the reservoir yesterday we
decided to go in that direction.
Dunlin
Dunlin
Male Ruff
Male Ruff
Male Ruff
As we approached the path to the reservoir a Cetti’s Warbler was heard,
and we also heard a Common Whitethroat, several Eurasian Reed Warblers and
another Sedge Warbler before we reached the seat on the path. A birder returning said he had heard the
Turtle Dove from a new vantage point off the road to the reservoir and that four
first-summer Little Gulls were still at the reservoir.
Malcolm then heard a Turtle Dove and it was singing from the other side
of the path and we stopped to view the field to the right of the path once we
reached the road. The dove had now gone quiet,
but Malcolm then said is this it and I picked up a dove in flight, which turned
out to be the Turtle Dove. It landed in
a tree and we then found it perched on the right-hand side but as I was sorting
out my tripod it disappeared. However, a
few minutes later we picked it up in flight again and this time in landed at
the top of a tree on a bare branch. I
got the scope on it and it remained there singing for over ten minutes and was
still there when we moved on towards the reservoir.
When we reached the reservoir, we found one first-summer Little Gull on
the bank and the other three on the water.
They did fly occasionally but we never had all four in flight
together. A female Western Yellow
Wagtail then flew in and landed on a post providing an excellent opportunity to
photograph. It eventually flew off and
we realised that there were two with the other being a rather smart male.
Female Western Yellow Wagtail
Malcolm had seen a Wood Duck on his last visit and indicated that it was
still at the far end of the dyke near the cows.
I could see the bird and decided to get closer and photograph it. When I reached the cows and looked into the
dyke it had disappeared, but I soon found it again and got a photo.
Stunning male Wood Duck
When we got back to the car park I went into the centre and found that a
Spotted Redshank had been reported along with a Whooper Swan and two Barnacle
Geese from the sea wall car park and so we drove back to the sea wall to see if
we could find them.
We found the Whooper Swan and the two Barnacle Geese but despite a good
search we could only find Common Redshank and decided to go to Eldernell before
we had lunch.
We arrived at March Farmers at around 13:30 and as we pulled up, Jeff,
who is a volunteer at Rutland Water, had also just parked and had been to
Eldernell seeing several Cranes and Western Marsh Harriers and hearing at least
one European Bittern booming. He then
went up the bank to view the wash, whilst Malcolm and I had our lunch.
Whilst having our lunch we saw a male and female Western Marsh Harrier
and a Eurasian Hobby and heard a Common Cuckoo, which was quite close but
refused to show itself. Having finished
our lunch, we walked up onto the bank and were surprised to see how much water
there was and consequently very few birds.
There were seven Common Shelduck and we had two more Western Marsh
Harrier, a Common Buzzard, a Common Kestrel, further views of a Eurasian Hobby
and a single Eurasian Oystercatcher. A
Black-necked Grebe had been reported here recently but we didn’t see it,
although it was reported later. We
eventually decided that our best option was to move on to Eldernell.
After parking at Eldernell we soon located three Common Cranes and also
nine more Common Shelduck. We then found
two more Cranes and a male and female Western Marsh Harrier were observed
further west of the car park. As we
continued to scan we found yet another two Cranes, a Common Buzzard and a
Common Kestrel.
Male Western Marsh Harrier
Male Western Marsh Harrier
Jeff had heard the Eurasian Bittern beyond the wood to our left and so we
decided to walk along the bank and beyond the wood to see if it might still be
booming. As we approached the wood a
Green Woodpecker called, and I heard another Common Cuckoo. When we got to the other side of the wood we
stopped to view the reedbed and heard at least one Eurasian Reed Warbler and a
Blackcap. Four Sand Martin flew over and
we found another Common Crane and two more female Western Marsh Harriers.
Malcolm then cried “Bittern behind us Rod” and when I turned there was a
Eurasian Bittern flying over the area the other side of the hedge. It circled and then came towards us and I was
able to fire off a few shots as it flew over the bank and dropped into the
reeds. The light wasn’t brilliant due to
the sun and the shots were underexposed but I managed to salvage several,
although there not brilliant.
Eurasian Bittern
Eurasian Bittern
Eurasian Bittern
As we walked back we had a pair of Western Yellow Wagtail and there was a
Common Whitethroat near the old barns.
When we got back to the car we saw a Little Egret over the washes, a
Common Tern flew over and a single Common House Martin was observed with the
Barn Swallows around the bridge.
It had been a pretty good day’s birding with seventy-nine species
recorded of which two, Little Stint and European Turtle Dove, were new for the
year.
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