Tag Archives: frampton-marsh

Frampton Marsh RSPB

The day started early, 4am at home, on the road for 5:15am, arriving at Frampton at 8am and one hundred and ten miles later.

The first port of call as always is the area next to the car park, where once again the Lesser Yellowlegs was still present, now running well into its six, if not more in the UK. Other present around here were Dunlin, Lapwing, Little Egret, Ruff, Redshank, Moorhen, Mallard, Pintail, Shoveler, Gadwall, Teal to name a few. I decided on walking down the road, which runs down to the marsh, stating of course next to the visitor centre, from here i saw Marsh Harrier, Mute Swan, Greylag Geese, Great Crested Grebe and a lovely displaying Little Ringed Plover, so lovely to see its display flight and calling. Moving on from there, I saw more Ruff in the field opposite, along with plenty of Brent Geese, despite looking thru the flock, I couldn’t find the Red Breasted Goose, a couple of Pied Wagtails were in the field, along with a couple of White Wagtails.

Further along the road, I heard a call I hadn’t heard since last year, it turned out to be a Sedge Warbler, along the road side ditch, turned out to be a few down here, with one bird showing rather well, needless to say I took quite a few photos, well a lot. further along the road there were more Brent Geese, once again no reported Red Breasted Goose, it was definitely giving me the run around, amongst the Geese were now lovely looking Black tailed Godwits, now in breeding plumage. On the other side of the road were plenty of Black headed Gulls and with careful scanning a few Mediterranean Gulls, I found six.

Hearing then that the Red Breasted Goose had moved on to the far field, I headed off that way, a bit of a walk but did see Skylarks, Meadow Pipits, Little Egret, Redshank and Dunlin on the way, but never did seethe Red Breasted Goose. Back up near visitor centre, looking out towards the farm building, someone had found some distant Yellow Wagtails, they easily stood out due to the colourful plumage..

After dinner I decided on going along the top path to once again try and for the Red Breasted Goose and Black winged Stilt, over near the farm side of the reserve, but once again turned into a fruitless task, did see however, Redshank, Spotted Redshank, Curlew Sandpiper, Greenshank, and down along the track that leads to the farm, about six Yellow Wagtails, giving excellent views, also I got better views of the two Barnacle Geese from here. My last call was back at the Visitor Centre where there were some Swallows, House Martins and Sand Martins going thru, a nice ending to a lovely day, also breaking my Frampton Day Visit List at 70 Species (106 Total)

Video of the Day can be seen HERE

Bird List ; Avocet, Barnacle Goose, Black Tern, Blackbird, Blackcap, Black headed Gull, Black tailed Godwit, Black winged Stilt, Brent Goose, Buzzard, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Cetti’s Warbler, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Collard Dove, Coot, Curlew, Curlew Sandpiper, Dunlin, Egyptian Goose, Gadwall, Goldfinch, Great Crested Grebe, Great White Egret, Greenfinch, Greenshank, Grey Heron, Greylag Goose, House Martin, Jackdaw, Lapwing, Lesser Yellowlegs, Little Egret, Little Grebe, Little Gull, Little Ringed Plover, Magpie, Mallard, Marsh Harrier, Meadow Pipit, Mediterranean gull, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Osprey, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Pintail, Pochard, Redshank, Reed Bunting, Ringed Plover, Robin, Ruff, Sand martin, Sedge Warbler, Shelduck, Shoveler, Skylark, Snipe, Spotted Redshank, Starling, Swallow, Teal, Tufted Duck, White Wagtail, Whooper Swan, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellow Wagtail (70)

Black Tern

Sedge Warbler

Yellow Wagtail

Weekend Away Day 1

A weekend in Lincolnshire and the first port of call was back to RSPB Frampton Marsh, Why? unfinished business with a certain American bird that has been there most of the winter, the Lesser Yellowlegs. See the video HERE

As I turned into the car park, I could see the Lesser Yellowlegs in the near by field, adjacent to the car park, panic set in, so close, was it going to take flight before I had chance to view it. I parked up got the gear together in double quick time. I soon got to the view the Lesser Yellowlegs and got a few shots off before the bird wandered off to be too distant, arrived just in time. Other birds here were Ruff, Lapwing, Wigeon, Teal, Pied Wagtail.

I now went and got the rest of the gear I needed and set off onto the reserve, I decided on doing today a different way to the one I usually do and headed off down around the back of the Visitor Centre with Corn Bunting in mind. Mute Swans and Greylag Geese were close in, with a pair of Marsh Harriers in the air, doing their display flight, other birds nearby were Reed Bunting, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Dunnock, Greenfinch, House Sparrow, Collard Dove and a single Chiffchaff, nice to get a migrant on this years list. There were few other birds around as I walked the path, just picking up Great Crested Grebe and Greylag Geese, and no Corn Bunting. On then to the 360° hide and here I saw Pied Wagtails, lots of Avocets, Common Snipe, Dunlin, Redshank, Black tailed Godwit, Ruff.

After dinner, I grapped the scope, thought I’d need this to try and see the other two birds I wanted to see today, these were last seen down towards the Salt Marsh, off I went. Took me a while to find the first bird amongst the Black headed Gulls but once located it stood out like a sore thumb, a Mediterranean Gull, nice to catch up with this one, apparently there were six on site. I put a passing birder onto the Med Gull and it return they found my last target bird, the Green winged Teal, distant, glad I got the scope. The view was all but brief before the Teal flock took flight, hence losing the bird, but fortunately I soon relocated it and obtained better views.

I then ventured down to the Marsh where I saw very little, but looking back over the reserve I picked out a Great White Egret and Cattle Egret, now it was coffee and cake time.

After the coffee break, I was again looking for the Corn Bunting, it gave itself up eventually but briefly. The weather had now turned for the worse, so I headed to the East Hide and settled in to watch Ruff, Redshank, Avocet, Oystercatchers and Ringed Plover

It was now getting late so I decided on calling it a day, I arrived back at the car park to more views of the Lesser Yellowlegs before it was spooked and flying away, I managed some footage before it departed, which can be seen HERE

I finally saw 60 species for the day, my best count for a day at RSPB Frampton Marsh, beating the previous best of 57 in 2018

Bird List : Avocet, Black headed Gull, Black tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Brent Goose, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Cattle Egret, Cetti’s Warbler, Chiffchaff, Collared Dove, Coot, Cormorant, Corn Bunting, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Gadwall, Golden Plover, Goldeneye, Great Crested Grebe, Great Tit, Great White Egret, Greenfinch, green winged tEal, Grey Heron, Greylag Goose, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Lapwing, Lesser Black backed Gull, Lesser Yellowlegs, Little Egret, Little Grebe, Magpie, Mallard, Marsh Harrier, Mediterranean Gull, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Pintail, Pochard, Redshank, Reed Bunting, Ringed Plover, Robin, Ruff, Shelduck, Shoveler, Skylark, Snipe, Starling, Teal, Tufted Duck, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Wren (60)

Lesser Yellowlegs

Lesser Yellowlegs

Ruff

RSPB Frampton Marsh

Arrived at 8:30am after a 2 1/2 hour drive down to the sound of Geese and whistling Wigeon, the field adjacent to the car park was full of water, hence the large congregation of wildfowl here. I sat in the car and scanned the field picking out Wigeon, Teal, Mallard, Shoveler, Gadwall, Pintail, Little Egret, Ruffs, Lapwing, Golden Plover, I eventually tore myself away and got my gear together.

I initially stayed near the car park looking thru various waders hoping to see the long staying Lesser Yellowlegs, wasn’t to be my day, and I never connected with the bird at all that day, I did see a Peregrine for my efforts, and great photo opportunities with the Ruffs. I moved on eventually tearing myself away and headed over to the visitor centre to check in, and to find out what had been seen so far, only reports were of Scaup (2♂, 1♀), so my next target were these birds.

It wasn’t long before I got to see the Scaup, soon finding them from the pathway, they were distant, hanging out at the back of the Marsh up against the far reeds, other birds here were Pochard, Tufted Duck, Black headed Gull, Brent Geese, after getting some record shots of the Scaup, I headed out towards the 360° hide, stopping on route to view a group of Goldeneye, these birds were actively displaying to the females present.

Arriving at the 360° hide, I missed out the Reedbed hide as there didn’t seem to be many birds present, there was a lot more happening here, plenty of Avocets, Dunlin, Ruff, Black tailed Godwit, Common Snipe, Redshank, Brent Geese, Lapwing and Golden Plover. I eventually moved on to the east Hide, around this area were more Dunlin, Little Egret, Whooper Swan (1), Reed Bunting.

After the East Hide I decided on making my way back to the Visitor Centre, along the back path, hoping for corn Bunting but only came across a singing Skylark. After a quick snack at the café (coffee and cake) and once again enjoying the Ruff, near the car park area, alas still no Lesser Yellowlegs, I headed off down towards the salt marsh, I had a good scan thru the Teal looking for Green winged but to no avail. At the marsh were Redshank, Meadow Pipit, Little Egret and finally a Marsh Harrier ends the day.

Video of the Day press HERE

Bird List : Avocet, Blackbird, Black headed Gull, Black tailed Godwit, Brent Goose, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Cetti’s Warbler, Common Gull, Coot, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Egyptian Goose, Gadwall, Golden Plover, Goldeneye, Goldfinch, Great Crested Grebe, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, Lapwing, Little Egret, Little Grebe, Magpie, Mallard, Marsh Harrier, Meadow Pipit, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Peregrine, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Pintail, Pochard, Redshank, Reed Bunting, Robin, Ruff, Scaup, Shelduck, Shoveler, Skylark, Snipe, Starling, Teal, Tufted Duck, Whooper Swan, Wigeon, Wren (51)

Ruff
Ruff
Dunlin
Dunlin