David, Roger and I had agreed to go to Frampton Marsh if a Long-billed
Dowitcher was reported, otherwise I would continue and finish my
decorating. I had hung one piece of
wallpaper when news of the dowitcher arrived.
I called David and Roger and we agreed to meet Roger in the Egleton car
park at around 09:00. As I got in my car
I received a text from Malcolm indicating that his day out with his wife and
daughter was not happening as his daughter had to go into work and that there
day had been ruined. I gave him and update
of what we were doing and agreed we would wait for him in the car park before
heading off for Frampton.
As it happened he called to say he wouldn’t be coming as he couldn’t be
there until around 09:30 and he didn’t want to delay us. David and I convinced him he should come, and
we would wait until 09:30. As it happened we were all late and Malcolm arrived
early and we were on our way before 09:30.
Whilst we waited in the Egleton car park we had a Western Osprey over
the car park and a Common Chiffchaff calling near the toilet block.
There was a Common Buzzard soaring as we passed Deeping St Nicholas but
we hadn’t seen anything else when we pulled into the car park at Frampton
Marsh. The car park was quite full, and
the overflow car park was also in use as the Stilt Sandpiper is still pulling
in the crowds. We parked in the main car
park and walked down the road towards the seawall bypassing the crowd watching
the Stilt Sandpiper as our target the Long-billed Dowitcher was showing in a
ditch north of the road.
When we reached a small crowd the dowitcher was on the bank and roosting
near a couple of Eurasian Teal. The
views were rather disappointing as it could have been almost anything, but it
did move revealing the long bill before disappearing behind a small tussock and
roosting again. It did eventually come
down to the water and begin feeding and making its way towards us along the
edge of the ditch before turning and going away from us and we then decided to
go back to the car for lunch.
Long-billed Dowitcher
Long-billed Dowitcher
Long-billed Dowitcher
Long-billed Dowitcher
Whilst watching the dowitcher we also had a Little Egret, two Common
Buzzard, a Eurasian Curlew, a Ruff, a Common Kestrel and a Western Yellow
Wagtail.
We stopped at the Reedbed Marsh to look for the Stilt Sandpiper on the
way back and found it feeding between the path and the mass of c.2000
Black-tailed Godwits. We scanned the
area and found an adult Curlew Sandpiper and two Greenshanks before we
continued back to the car. Another
Western Yellow Wagtail flew over whilst we were having lunch and I saw the
Whooper Swan from the centre when I went in to see if anything else had been
reported. There was nothing new and the
Whinchats reported yesterday had not been seen but I was able to find out they
were seen near the reservoir.
As Roger hadn’t seen a Whinchat this year we thought it would be
worthwhile going to look and Roger drove around to the field where we had seen
European Turtle Doves several times this year.
There was no sign of any Turtle Doves and so we walked up to the reservoir
to look for a Whinchat. There were
plenty of geese around the reservoir and we found three Barnacle Geese and a
Pink-footed Goose amongst the more numerous Canada and Greylag Geese and there
were nineteen Little Grebes on the reservoir.
Roger who had gone further down the track gave a thumbs-up sign
indicating he had found a Whinchat. When
we joined him, it had disappeared but was soon back and we saw it on the ground
and on the fence. A couple of other
birders joined us, and the Whinchat made it way down to the far end of the
track, when it became more difficult to see.
Juvenile Whinchat
Back at the reservoir we found a Common Sandpiper and a Green Sandpiper before
we went along the track on the northern edge of the reservoir to look for a
Little Owl. Unfortunately, there was no
sign of the owl in the piles of masonry and we returned to the car.
There was quite a crowd near the car and we established they were
watching a Turtle Dove in a tree at the back of the field, which we soon found
and then a second was observed on the ground.
When both doves disappeared, we headed back to Rutland Water seeing a
Common Buzzard before we reached the village and then a Red Kite just after
passing over the A1.
When we reached Rutland Water we headed for the unnamed road to view the
North Arm. There was a Little Egret and
twenty-seven Little Grebes around the fishponds and we soon found the female
Common Scoter and Great Northern Diver.
As we looked for a reported Black-necked Grebe we found two more Little
Egrets and a Yellow-legged Gull. Three
Common Terns were feeding over the water and Rogers persistence paid off when
he eventually found the Black-necked Grebe.
Scanning Burley Wood we found three Common Buzzards but nothing else and
returned to the Egleton car park before heading home.
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