Frampton

My brother and I travelled over to Frampton Marsh today where we met up with John Barn, one of his old birding buddies from school days. We had a good if unspectacular session walking around this excellent reserve.

Curlew Sandpiper and Dunlins.

First highlight was a Curlew Sandpiper feeding fairly close to the path a short walk from the visitor centre. Other waders in this area included several Dunlin and Ringed Plover as well as at least one Turnstone. Avocets are common here and their calls were a feature of the day mixing with the song of Skylarks and the calling of Redshanks. Also very vocal were both Reed and Sedge Warblers, we had good views of both species.

Sedge Warbler and Avocet.

Walking along the bank on the edge of the salt marsh produced several distant Marsh Harriers and also at least four Golden Plovers. A drake Garganey was seen on one of the pools and was the first of two while John picked out a male Ruff. A little further on we were treated to brief though good views of a Corn Bunting. Wandering back towards the centre we managed to pick out a Whooper Swan and a pair of Red Crested Pochard.

Garganey and Black-tailed Godwit.

After a lunch stop we headed over to the reservoir where we had good views of a Turtle Dove and heard several calling. The hedges around here proved to be good for warblers and in addition to the Cetti's that we had heard singing earlier we added Lesser Whitethroat and Garden Warbler amongst others.

Turtle Dove and Four-spotted Chaser.

We returned to the reserve to complete our circuit but did not manage to add much to our list although we did see a few more Black-tailed Godwits and a further Little Ringed Plover to add to ones we had found earlier in the day. Other wildlife seen during the day included numerous Brown Hares, butterflies including both Common  and Holly Blue and there were also several Four-spotted Chasers and one Azure Damselfly.

Common and Holly Blue and Orange-tip.