Frampton First but it's Priors that Comes Alive

Began the day with a trip over to Frampton Marsh in Lincs with my brother where in rather cold and grey conditions we enjoyed a reasonable spell of birding. On arrival a Cuckoo was calling from some distance away, we heard it several times during our visit. A Turtle Dove added its voice to that of the Cuckoo and we were fortunate enough to get some decent views of this fast declining species a little later in the day.

Avocet and Black-tailed Godwit.

The first pools had Curlew and Black-tailed Godwit amongst the hordes of Black-headed Gulls but not too much else though a pair of escaped Barnacle Geese looked as beautiful as always. From the 360 hide a Wood Sandpiper showed distantly, A Common was quite a bit closer. On one of the islands a Ringed shared  its space with a Little Ringed providing a nice comparison. Lots of Avocets were present on several of the other islands while there were many more Black-tailed Godwits too.

Sedge and Reed Warblers.

A return to the centre provided some information about a Little Gull at the nearby reservoir and so we set out to have a bit of a squint. On the way we heard a Cetti's Warbler and also Lesser Whitethroat while Turtle Dove continued to purr. There were in fact two 1st summer Little Gulls at the res and we enjoyed good if rather distant views of them.

Ringed and Little Ringed Plovers and Reed Bunting.

By this stage we had more or less wrapped up the place and so headed off back in the direction of Northants as the clouds began to part giving way to sunshine. As I was passing anyway I got dropped off at Priors Hall where I had a tramp round looking for more stuff.

Grizzled and Dingy Skipper.

After a couple of Orange-tips that started things off I soon found a first Dingy Skipper of the year, there were a total of about ten on site. They were joined by some Grizzled Skippers which this time thankfully hung around for pics and a Green Hairstreak which sadly did not. Other butterflies included Brimstone and Speckled Wood.

Four-spotted Chaser and Large Red Damsels.

I finally caught up with some dragonflies as  Four-Spotted Chasers had began to emerge, most seemed rather fresh but a few had taken up territories by some of the ponds. Also around the ponds were three male Hairy Damselflies which as is their custom chose to avoid my camera but still nice all the same.. Large Red Damsels were the commonest species and much mating behaviour was noted, this included at least one pair that had attracted the unwelcome attentions of a gooseberry male. Good numbers of both Blue-tailed and Azure were noted too but I've yet to find Common Blues. With the addition of the dragons my year list now stands at eight species, not bad when it was one this time last week!

Blue-tailed Damselfly.