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| The Sky Lark previously known as Johnny Rotten |
Looking at my friend Nick’s post on his visit to Frampton RSPB last weekend made me realise that I haven’t been to Frampton, probably my favourite RSPB reserve, for ages. Frampton holds very fond memories for me with my UK ticks of Broad-billed Sandpiper, Buff-breasted Sandpiper, White-rumped Sandpiper, Pacific Golden Plover, Caspian Tern, and Black Stork all being achieved there. So off to Frampton I went on Tuesday for a chilled out days birding.
Frampton is a two and a bit hour drive from home and leaving comparatively early avoids the commuter traffic build up on the M5 and M42. The last 30 miles is always much slower with lots of tractors and lorries and, with a break for coffee on route, I arrived just before 9. The visitor centre was closed but they have a very helpful map showing the days or previous days sightings which I always take a picture of to guide me around the large reserve. The weather was overcast but dry with the main challenge being a very blustery wind. I headed to the excellent 360 degree hide via a site where an early Sedge Warbler had been singing the previous day. I heard a couple of snatches of song but it wisely stayed low down and sheltered from the wind.
In the hide I met Ian, a birding friend from Nottingham, who was photographing a distant Little Gull. There were good numbers of Ruff on the islands and scrapes, a somewhat surprisingly late year tick for me. Unlike, say a Blackbird, where individuals are almost impossible to distinguish from one another, Ruff have very variable plumage ranging from substantial white through many shades of buff and brown. The Ruff were still all in winter plumage with no sign of their flamboyant breeding regalia which gives them their name. A small area in front of the hide had been ploughed, presumable to encourage birds to come in and feed. One particularly obliging Ruff was feeding amongst the disturbed soil and came very close to the hide. It was a very attractive individual with a mainly white breast contrasting with rusty brown and tan wings and pale orange legs.
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| Ruff |
The ploughed area also brought in Skylarks to feed. They would feed for a short while, do the obligatory head cocked sky check for predators and then give a short bust of song. I guess the biological urge to attract a mate at this time of year is so strong that they could not feed for long without bursting into their characteristic song which is normally heard from high up on the wing. Skylarks have a crest that isn’t always obvious but the blustering wind was giving them a really bad hair day and their crest would occasionally get blown right up in a very punky manner.
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| Sky Lark |
Ian departed to look for some Little Stints and after a while I checked RBA and saw that a male Ring Ouzel had been found on site. I walked back to visitors centre and the map had been updated with the Ring Ouzels location near the reservoir. I met up with Ian again and we walked together along the recently renovated and well-made footpath to the reservoir. The Ring Ouzel was some distance away from the reservoir in the corner of a field ground feeding with some Blackbirds.
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| Spot the Ring Ouzel! |
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| A marginal better pic from Cleve Common a few years ago |
They are slightly smaller than a blackbird with the male Ring Ouzels being particularly distinctive with black plumage contrasting with a striking white breast band. They are primarily birds of the uplands, where they breed mainly in steep sided-valleys, crags and gullies. They are migratory and although they are comparatively scarce, I would expect to see them most years on spring migration. There were also some rather distant Garganey on the reservoir bank having a midday snooze. Ian left to pack up and go home and I walked back to my car for my traditional sandwich and coffee birding lunch.
After lunch I walked around the reserve looking for Little Stints and Little Ringed Plovers but the blustery wind was blowing the scope all over the place and so after a while I decided to go back to the 360 hide and spend the rest of the afternoon there. The reserve was as quiet as I can remember and I had the hide mostly to myself. The departure a few days earlier of the star attraction, a White-Tailed Lapwing, was probably keeping numbers down. I dropped everything to go and see the Lapwing the day it was found at Blacktoft sands. As it turned out there was no need to rush as it stayed in England at various sites for some 9 months! I spent some time scoping the reserve for the Little Ringed Plovers and Little Stints but wader interest was limited to the Ruff, Godwits, Dunlin, Ringed Plover and a foraging Turnstone still in winter plumage. The Skylarks kept coming and going providing good entertainment until two Little Ringed Plovers flew in for some photography. Apart from their smaller size, the Little Ringed Plover is easiest distinguished from a Ringed Plover by its bright orange eye ring which is always obvious even from a distance on adult birds.
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| Little Ringed Plover |
Around 16:00 I departed for home via our favourite chippy in Worcester to pick up dinner for Carolyn and me. I must say that I do enjoy these chilled out days birding without the pressure of a twitch to see or, heaven forbid, dip a rare bird.
At home 2 very cute Collared Doves have now fledged from the barn nest but there is no sign of our Swallows, they have presumably been held up on migration by the strong northly winds. The greenhouse and cold frames are now absolutely overflowing with goodies, many waiting for the frosts to pass before they can be planted out. The fruit trees are coming into blossom and the forced Strawberries in the greenhouse are laden with rapidly growing fruit. The first early potatoes in the veg patch are up and I’m raking them up every night to stop them getting burnt by any frost.
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