I had the day free today so I decided that I would visit a reserve that has got everyone talking recently and that is RSPB’s Frampton Marshes where my friend Toby Carter has been on placement during the summer. Having seen his twitter feed this made the thought of heading to Frampton even more enticing and so I set off at 630am up the A1 towards Frampton. When I arrived at around 850am I decided to park in the car park nearest to the sea wall. The car park was nearly full and I could see a large crowd of people in the distance. A Hobby zipped through overhead as I got out the car and I set about scanning the flock of ducks on the pool behind the car. To my surprise the first duck I set my binoculars onto was infact a Garganey in with a flock of Teal which was quite incredible. Both Ringed and Little Ringed Plover were on this pool along side Dunlin and Ruff, and a few Avocet and Black-tailed Godwit also patrolling the pools as well. Above: Teal Left, Garganey Right I then headed up onto the Sea wall. With the sound of Yellow Wagtails calling from all around me, infact I don’t think I have ever seen or heard so many in my life with the place full of them. There must have been some 200 odd Yellow Wagtail around in a whole mix of plumages from bright yellow males to the slightly less colourful female/ juv types. Meadow Pipits were also feeding along the wall with not quite as many, but still more than I had seen for some time. I then set about scanning the marsh in front just as a Short-eared Owl popped up being harassed by both a Crow and a Lapwing shortly followed by another. Soon the Lapwing and Crow lost interest however the Short-eared Owls seemed to be displeased by each other’s company and so an aerial display which lasted several minutes commenced. The reason for them being out at this time of day is due to the fact that it was the 3rd highest tide of the year at Frampton and thus their normal roosting spots would have been flooded by the incoming tide. Redshank and Starlings had also been displaced; however, the high-water levels had attracted vast numbers of lounging Black-headed Gulls. Above: Short-eared Owls being mobbed by assorted things Below: The extreme High tide Above: Mallards and Black-tailed Godwits After this I then met up with Toby briefly and he was able to help me find a lurking Wood Sandpiper on one of the pools and also pointed out the distant blob of Godwits. Toby then had to head off to a team meeting so I decided to head off in the direction of the East Hide. Along the Way Yellow Wagtails and Meadow Pipits were everywhere as well as the odd Pied Wagtail. There were some waders close into the bank on a small channel of water and this saw the first of many Ruff and also the first and only Turnstone of the day. Moving further down and both Whimbrel and Curlew were seen as well as a nice mixed flock of Hirundinidae with both House & Sand Martin as well as Swallows. Above: Ruff and Turnstone Below: Turnstone Above: Ruff I then headed down off the sea wall towards the main reserve and the hide. Along the way both Reed Bunting and Reed Warbler were seen in the ditches that run along side the path and an invisible Tree Pipit headed South over my head somewhere up in the blue sky above. Once in the hide I started to scan through the Ducks In front of me. This saw my first Pintail of the Autumn as well as plenty of Gadwall, Teal, Shoveler, and the first of many returning Wigeon. 15 Spoonbills sat out to one side of the hide and the Black-tailed Godwit flock that must have numbered close to 1000 were asleep in the middle. In that flock a few Dunlin could be found alongside a handful of Knot. A pair of Little Grebe was a nice surprise. Lapwing, Redshank and Avocet were all present along with Shelduck, Canada Geese and Greylags. Above: Sleeping Spoonbills Below: Black-tailed Godwit flock Above: Pintails in front of the flock After this I decided to leave the hide and headed towards the visitor centre. Along the way I stopped to watch the Sand Martins effortlessly plucking their insect prey out of the sky. I also stopped to have a look at some of the reserves butterflies which included some extremely tatty Painted Ladies some of which could hardly fly. There were tonnes of Red Admirals and Whites of several species on the wing, but I was most pleased to see a good number of Small Tortoiseshells out and about. Above: Sand Martin Below: Small Tortoiseshell Above: Painted Lady Back to the visitor centre I went adding Goldfinch, House Sparrow, Blue Tit, and Great Tit to the day list and then I decided to head out and look for the Turtle Doves. I headed along a long narrow hedgerow which came out onto the country lane. In doing so I managed to flush a Sparrowhawk out of the cover which in turn dropped a half-eaten rodent onto the path In front of me. It felt like a Bank Vole, but with the head missing (probably eaten) I decided that it would be near impossible to identify. Upon arrival at the Turtle Dove watch point I was put onto not one but 3 Turtle Doves which was an incredible sight to see especially as all 3 were juvs suggesting a successful year locally. Incredibly the Turtle Doves were actually potentially out competed by the next bird that was seen… I was watching two of the Turtle Doves down in the bottom of the bush when a dumpy fly catcher with an obvious white wing bar came into view. I watched as it proceeded to fly out from its perch and then back before diving into the middle of the bush and not to be seen again. Thankfully one of the people I was with also saw it. It was of course a Pied Flycatcher and my second in 2 days. We stayed for a while but in the end, we only managed to dig out a Lesser Whitethroat. My guess is that it moved off with the mixed tit flock, however Pied Flycatchers can be extremely elusive in the middle of the day. Above: Phone scoped shots of the Turtle Doves After this I then went to find a nice secluded corner of the reserve to have some lunch with the sound of Yellow Wagtails still filling the air and a Green Sandpiper now calling from in and amongst the Wigeon, Teal, and Gadwall on the reservoir below. A lone Tufted Duck was also about diving in and amongst the Little Grebe. After I had finished lunch, I then headed down the Berry Trail. This was an incredible trail that takes you through the middle of the hedgerows in order to look for some of the scarcer autumn migrants. To a certain extent it delivered. Incredibly I found another 2 Turtle Doves along this section including a fine adult bird which I am told might be the radio tagged bird. A Spotted Flycatcher was seen briefly in the tops of the bushes along with plenty of Whitethroat, Chiffchaff and Blackcap. A Marsh Harrier also flew through a ploughed field flushing up a flock of Linnet. However, the highlight was infact the Willow Emerald Damselfly that I found perched in and amongst the brambles. Above: Female Marsh Harrier Below: Comma Above: Willow Emerald I then headed up to the sea wall were the first and only Wheatear of the day was feeding in and amongst the masses of Yellow Wagtails. Waders were also seen with several Snipe feeding in and amongst the vegetation showing superbly well at times. Above: Wheatear Below: Little Ringed Plover Above: Common Snipe and Teal Below: Common Snipe Above: Yellow Wagtail Below: Low tide/ how it would normally look Above: 4 Spoonbills leaving Below: Common Snipe I then headed back to the visitor centre where I met back up with Toby. He showed me the Hare Leveret that had been hanging out in front of the visitor centre before we headed out for the afternoon of birding. First up we headed to the 360 hide. From here there was a similar mix of species however there were at least 9 more Pintail off to one side and as well as a rather tame manky Mallard with probably its parent lurking off in the distance. (Below Manky Mallard) After this we headed back towards the sea wall and set about scanning for the Curlew Sandpipers as a Peregrine overhead. Incredibly the Curlew Sandpipers out numbered Dunlin on the pool we went to and we very quickly found 7 lurking around the edges of the pool. We then headed off towards the east hide in the search of a rare bee. To my surprise we were in fact successfully in finding this quite stunning little bee. It is called the Sea Aster Mining Bee and is a species that is threatened by climate change and sea level rise so Frampton is one of only a handful of places that they still thrive. We then went into the hide however the vast majority of the Godwit flock and its contingency had left for the wash; however, this didn’t stop Toby finding a Colour ringed Black-tailed Godwit which we will no await the life history from. Above: Sea Aster Mining Bee It was then time for Toby to head to the visitor centre to help pack up and so I headed back towards my car. Once I reached my car, I opened the back door to find 25 Golden Plover zip out from the pool behind the car. These must have been fresh in as I was reliably told that there hadn’t been many yet this autumn and they circled a few times before heading off towards the visitor centre. This inspired me to head to the sea wall to have one last scan of the pools and this lead me to discover two Garganey swimming together just to the right of the flock of Curlew Sandpipers. And so I headed back to the car feeling satisfied with a great days birding. Above: Golden Plover Below: Spoonbill Above: Garganey Now I wish the journey home had gone smoothly however a broken down lorry on the A16 meant that it ended up taking me 2 hours just to get to Petebourgh and 3 hours 45 minutes in total which is painful to say the least, however that wont put a damper on just how good a day I had at the truly incredible wader tastic Frampton Marsh. Now for some sleep…
I just want to say a huge thank you to Toby for helping find some of the species today and also for the local knowledge!
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AuthorI have been a birder since I was 8 however only really started to be able to go out to places by myself in Summer 2016 (Blame the parents) My blogs will be from all over the place, but mainly from RSPB Rainham Marshes and Totteridge Valley! Photography done by Samuel Levy aged 19. ArchivesCategories |