Birding Bonanza!

Birding Bonanza!

We arrived at RSPB Frampton Marsh at around 8:00am, in hopes of spotting many rare birds. We were with Dave, who had given us a lift there. Our first target was the Lesser Yellowlegs, which could be seen from the car park. We walked towards a small crowd which was gathered at the side of the car park, and Dave let me look through his scope pointed at the Lesser Yellowlegs. I managed to get a record shot of it, before Dave then let me look through his scope again, this time aimed at a female Black-winged Stilt. I also saw my first Avocet and Little Ringed Plover of the year while at the car park too. 

We then made our way to where the Bonaparte's Gull had been reported early today. Along the way, we spotted two Mediterranean Gulls flyover, making their distinctive call. We arrived at the viewpoint overlooking the reedbed, and waited. Almost immediately, I noticed at least two Little Gulls doing circuits around the reedbed. One of them was an adult nearing summer plumage, with a head pattern remarkably similar to the Bonaparte's Gull.

The other Little Gull was a juvenile with a unique and pretty wing pattern. They stood out amongst the many Black-headed Gulls with their unique wing pattern, dark underwings and small size. 

Amongst all the gulls, was my first adult, summer plumage Black Tern, which was also doing circuits around the reedbed at a close range, often being in the same view with the Little Gulls.

This was my first proper view of a Black Tern, after previously only ever seeing distant ones while seawatching at Spurn.

We then popped over to 360 Hide for a short break, where we were greeted with a golden Ruff, feeding right in front of the hide. We also spotted a few Avocets, Ringed Plovers and Black-tailed Godwits, along with a pair of Mediterranean Gulls out on the water. 

On our way back to the viewpoint, we heard two singing Sedge Warblers, which we soon managed to locate amongst the reeds, another year tick for me. We also spotted a Bearded Tit flying away from us, which was the first time I had seen one for two years. 

We again started scanning through the gulls, spotting a juvenile Little Gull sat on the water, which was a nice change from seeing them flying around. We also spotted a flyover Red Kite. 

A birder then came outside saying that they had the Bonaparte's Gull from 360 Hide. We all ran over and another birder let me look through his scope aimed at the Bonaparte's Gull. Dave then got the Bonaparte's Gull in his scope, and I managed to take some digiscoped images of my only lifer of the  day.

We then targeted the sea wall, where two birders said that they had an extremely distant Short-eared Owl. I managed to get the Short-eared Owl in my scope, and it was just a small speck in the distance. They said they saw it fly in, which is how they managed to spot it. We then continued to make our way to the seawall, when Dave quickly scanned through the Brent Geese saying he might find the Red-breasted Goose reported yesterday. Two seconds later, he said he had the Red-breasted Goose in his scope, and started doing a little dance. Lo and behold, he had managed to find the Red-breasted Goose in amongst the Brent Geese. This was my second Red-breasted Goose of the year, and the best views I had ever got of one. We also spotted six feral Barnacle Geese, and a white-headed Ruff. Once a large crowd had formed around the bird, we decided to take flight and look for a pair of Garganey and a Water Pipit. 

Once at the seawall, we managed to spot my first Wheatear of the year, as well as a possible Water Pipit, which we ended up identifying as a Meadow Pipit. We then looked through Dave's scope pointed directly at the pair of Garganey. As we were looking at the Garganey, we were greeted by, Simon & Dawn, Fozzy and Abbie & Hip.

 

After a bit of scanning on the saltmarsh, we also managed to spot two White Wagtails, as well as multiple flyover Yellow Wagtails. Annoyingly, we were also getting swarmed by St Mark's Flies and Yellow Dung Flies. A report then came in of a Channel Wagtail by the barn. We decided to walk round to the barn and try and find it.

Once we arrived at the barn, we spoke to some other birders who said there was no sign of the bird. We scanned through multiple Yellow Wagtails feeding around the cows, yet to no avail. We decided to move on, hearing my first Whitethroat of the year along the way. 

We then set off to North Scrape to try and get better views of the Black-winged Stilt. Along the way, we got word from another birder that a Spotted Redshank was on the Wet Grassland, and was viewable from further up the path. We then came across him again, and he pointed out the Spotted Redshank to us. We managed to get good views of it, and I also managed to get a record shot of it!

Once we had arrived at North Scrape, we spotted the Black-winged Stilt almost immediately, as it elegantly fed only a few feet away. 

Last year, two pairs of Black-winged Stilts managed to breed on the reserve. We were hoping they were back to have another successful brood, however only the female Black-winged Stilt was on site so far. More than satisfied with our sightings, we decided to make our way back to the car park. Along the way, we had a quick look from 360 Hide, where I managed to spot a pair of Mediterranean Gulls again almost in the exact same spot as last time, as well as the Black Tern, and a Pintail.

Overall, a great day with 1 lifer (Bonaparte's Gull) and many rare and scarce birds!