May at Fabulous Frampton RSPB

 

On Monday I spent the day at one of my favourite reserves, RSPB Frampton on the Wash in Lincolnshire. In contrast to Worcestershire, where it pretty much rained all day, it was a lovely sunny spring day.

 

Frampton holds fond memories for me. Over the years I’ve added Black Stork, Buff Breasted Sandpiper and White rumped Sandpiper to my UK list at this large well managed wetland site and I hoped to reacquaint myself with a number of scare and rare birds which were on site during this visit.

 

My first target was a Red-breasted Goose that had been associating with its normal carrier species, the Brent Goose, on the grassland opposite the scrapes. I soon located it a little distantly, a theme for the day, in amongst the Brents and got good views through my scope.

 

The Red-breasted Goose breeds mainly in Artic Siberia and winters on the shores of the Black Sea. It is a rare vagrant to the British Isles where it is sometimes found with flocks of Brent or Barnacle Geese.  It is classified as vulnerable meaning that it is threatened with extinction unless the circumstances that are threating its survival and reproduction improve. It is a very attractive small stocky goose with a small bill. It has a rich rusty breast and striking rusty and black-and-white head pattern. The mantle is dark and finely barred and it has a noticeable white flank stripe.

 

Identification of truly wild vagrants in the UK suffers the same escapee problems of all attractive wildfowl kept in collections but association with a known carrier species, such as the Brent Goose, is often takin as a good indication of a wild bird. The BOU have 90 accepted occurrences of wild birds in the British Isles.

 

Here is a typical view that I had several times during the day.

And here is a close up taken in Norfolk a few years back.

Now, given the very obvious differences between the Red-breasted and Brent Goose you might think its impossible to confuse them. Well I’m afraid that you need to think again. At a distance when the Red-Breasted has its back to you and all you can see is its white rump it can disappear into the crowd. Several times during the day I scanned the distant Brent flock from several locations only to eventually find the bird on the 3^rd or 4^thscan as it turned to face me.

 

Can you tell which bird is the Red-breasted in this picture?

It’s actually the second from the left.

 

I next headed to the wet grassland near the reservoir to look for the long staying Lesser Yellowlegs. The lush spring vegetation made locating birds hard but I did get distant scope views of pairs of Greenshank and Wood Sandpiper.

 

Following the path adjacent to the reservoir, I walked slowly back to the seawall while stopping many times to look for birds. I thought that the Red-breasted Goose looked closer from this side but in fact it was the same distance away. This reminded me of a phenomena at Farmoor reservoir where the birds always seem closer to the far bank until you walk around and realise that they are actually slap bang in the middle!

 

Back down towards the seawall a small group of Godwits were feeding in the shallow water. Several of then were pretty much in full summer plumage with beautiful rusty red- brown necks and breasts.  They had similar colours on their back feathers but with black ends looking almost as though they had been dipped in paint. I spent an hour or so sitting on the bank just chilling out and watching the Godwits go about their business and also took a few photos. At times like this I feel completely “ in the zone” totally relaxed and surrounded by nature without a negative thought or worry in my head.

Close to the Godwits a small mixed group of Ringed and Little Ringed Plovers were feeding, the latter easily distinguished by their bright yellow eye rings.

Little Ringed Plover

At the seawall a fellow birder informed me that the Lesser Yellowlegs had been on a patch of mud in the corner but had flown over the sea wall to a small strip of presumably saline water. Most of the margin around the water was obscured by vegetation and I had left my scope in the car but another kind birder relocated the bird and he kindly let me look through his scope for a brief distant view. 

 

Walking at a leisurely pace back along the sea wall I heard a Whimbrel calling and soon located it, again somewhat distantly, over the wall towards the Wash.  The call is a rather eery sounding rippling whistle which is prolonged into a trill for the song. 

 

Here’s a record shot of the bird.

And here’s a closer view of one taken in Uist a few years back.

It is one of the most widespread members of the Curlew family, breeding across much of subarctic Asia  and Europe as far south as Scotland. It is migratory spending the winter in south Asia and Africa so this bird was on a stop off on route to its breeding grounds. It is similar to our Curlew but differs in being smaller, with a shorter, decurved bill and a prominent central crown stripe offset by strong supercilia.

 

All told I spent 8 very enjoyable hours at the reserve, no doubt I will visit again soon!

Spoonbill

Footnote – my blogs are posted with sometimes rather imaginative spelling and grammar due to my extreme dyslexia!