I'm Ploving It

 Not for the first time in recent weeks Alan Shorrock and I abandoned the county and headed out to foreign parts. In this case our journey took us to the birding hotspot of Frampton Marsh again which delivered yet another decent haul of goodies. Today's weather was a mish mash of showers and sunshine with quite a strong breeze to contend with.

PGP and Dotterel record shots.

Our first highlight was a distant Merlin perched on a fencepost and seen from the road that leads to the seawall. From there we were once again treated to further views of what is presumably the same Pacific Golden Plover that we noted on our previous visit. Amazingly during the course of its stay this individual had been joined for a short while by a second PGP in what must be a very rare occurrence in Europe. I left Alan to enjoy watching one or two Short-eared Owls hunting over the marsh to have a look back at the pools on the reserve. Not much to report I'm afraid apart from a brace of Spotted Redshanks and many Ruff. A flock of over twenty Spoonbills showed distantly and after an initial bout of activity settled down for what looked to be a marathon kipping session.

Spotted Redshank and Ruff

Having decided to join up with Shozzer again I was delighted to learn that a newly arrived flock of Golden Plovers had a Dotterel in tow with them. Once I'd secured a few distant views I set off at pace to get what I hoped would be closer views from the approach road. My plan succeeded to a degree and I had some fairly good but still rather distant views. From there it was back to the seawall where at one point I was able to get views of both the PGP and the Dotterel from the same spot.

Black-tailed Godwit and Avocet.

Once Alan had finished his lunch we set off for a walk around part of the reserve. Another Spotted Redshank showed very well and we saw decent numbers of Snipe. Best of the other waders was a Little Stint which was accompanying a small flock of Dunlin. There were less Black-tailed Godwits than usual which may have made picking out a juvenile Bar-tailed that little bit easier. There was not much else to add though we did see a good number of Yellow Wagtails during our walk. It was a shame that the Black Stork which has been favouring the area recently didn't show but it didn't take too much enjoyment away from our day. Very little other wildlife was seen though alan did manage to find a Small Red-eyed Damselfly during one of the sunnier spells.

Another view of PGP and Small Red-eyed Damselfly.