Wild* Goose Chasing

 * I hope it was wild!

Regular nature spotting pal Alan Shorrock and I spent a very productive day wandering around a hot and sunny Frampton Marsh. There was a good selection of birds on offer and we even managed to find a few insects too. Highlight for me was a Red-breasted Goose and while you can never be sure whether potentially rare wildfowl is genuinely wild or if it's escaped from a collection this one was associating with Brents and was unringed.

Black-winged Stilt and Orange-tip

Good stuff started happening as soon as we arrived with a female Black-winged Stilt showing near the visitor centre before it flew to the opposite side of the road, While enjoying views of the stilt Shozzer picked out several distant Bearded Tits, I managed to see a female but Alan saw more. Also on view though it was distant was the Red-breasted Goose, we resolved to head off in its direction a little later on. An Orange-tip, the first of several seen today was seen near the centre while a Holly Blue was noted nearby.

Spoonbill, Broad-bodied Chaser and Red Admiral

We set off for better views of the goose and managed to pick some good stuff up on the way. A Spoonbill was perhaps the best bird though had we had better views of what looked like the Lesser Yellowlegs things may have been different. Four Greenshanks were more clear cut while Alan had views of another stilt which I somehow missed. Interesting insects here included at least three Broad-bodied Chasers, a Hairy Dragonfly, Azure Damselflies and a Red Admiral.

Red-breasted Goose

Our wanderings eventually provided us with some reasonable views of the Red-breasted, if there's a finer looking goose on the British List I'd be surprised. Once we had taken some pictures we moved on towards the sea wall which turned out to be more productive than it usually is! A flock of forty or so Black-tailed Godwits were put to flight by some unseen menace and I also heard a couple of Whimbrels passing by. Other waders noted from here included a non breeding Curlew Sandpiper and three stunning looking sum plum Turnstones. Gulls provided some interest as at least ten Mediterranean Gulls were mixed in within the breeding Black-headeds and there was also an immature Little Gull. Two Peregrines caused widespread panic as they flashed past, I suppose they may be the birds from Boston Stump. On the way back to the car park we saw the long staying Whooper Swan and also a drake Pintail. Frampton usually provides good birding and today was no exception, I'm already looking forward to my next visit.

Whimbrel, Curlew Sandpiper and Little Gull