More Year Ticking, Frampton Marsh 27th March 2019

This year listing bug has gotten into my head somewhat now and I now find myself planning my days out in order to add as many birds to it as I can. I'm also trying to ensure that I don't miss any outgoing winter visitors that may be available whilst also making sure that I get as many returning summer birds on to the list. But only on a relatively local scale since I'll never be an ardent twitcher who travels from one end of the UK to the other just to see a bird. That's why my own UK life list is fairly modest at just under 400. 

Frampton Marsh is a fantastic RSPB reserve set on the edge of the Wash near Boston in Lincolnshire and Mrs Caley and I try to visit there a few times each year. There are always good birds on offer and usually one or two scarce or even rare species to "pick up". Today was no exception with the long staying Long-billed Dowitcher the star bird to find along with plenty of others.

We arrived before the visitor centre had opened so dawdled around the car park area since use of the facilities were required! Out on the fields were large groups of Brent Geese, a bird that surprisingly only made it on to last years list in December! But here there were hundreds and they fed voraciously on the short grass. Not an addition to this years list though, we had already seen some in Scotland in February but it's been a while since we'd seen flocks as big as these.

Brent Geese

Duly sorted and after enquiring where the best places were to look for our target species we headed into the reserve itself. The last time we'd visited here, in August last year, the whole area resembled a bone dry desert with very little standing water and pools. Today was entirely different with water everywhere which meant that the wading birds were spread far and wide. Walking along the main path we came across a lone Barnacle Goose that was hanging around with a few Canada's. Not sure if was a genuine wild goose or part of a feral flock but a nice bird nonetheless. 

Barnacle Goose

A small flock of Shelduck flew over, the photo shown reminding me strangely of Hilda Ogden's wall! Most duck species are looking in their prime now with the breeding season upon us at last.

Shelduck

Further along the road there were more Brent Geese and even more were flying in from the salt marshes to join the feeding flock. Like most geese species Brent Geese are noisy birds, bugling continually never mind what they're doing. We stood, watched and listened to their antics.

It was the Dowitcher that I most wanted to see so we proceeded towards the sea wall to the area where it was supposed to be. On the small flash to the south of the road we saw a small group of Dunlin and Ringed Plover which were resting and sleeping.

Dunlin

Ringed Plover

A flock of about 50 Golden Plover then flew in and wheeled around and around the field. Many within the flock were beginning to sport their fine summer plumage and they would be heading off north soon to breed. They didn't settle and winged away to another part of the reserve.

Golden Plover

Naturally there were other birders around, Frampton Marsh is popular, and we inquired of some if they had seen the Dowitcher. Unfortunately they then sold us a dummy by telling us that they had seen it through their scopes at the northern edge of the reserve about 600 yards away. I should have realised that you'd need to have extremely good eyes and optics to identify a snipe sized bird at such a distance. But, like a mug, I fell for it and we walked along the sea wall to the Dowitchers supposed position. From our elevated viewpoint we could see the entire reserve but despite much scanning I couldn't locate the target bird. We returned the same way along the path and met one of the birders from before who, very helpfully this time, told us that the Dowitcher was in fact in its usual place back where we had spoken to them before. Gnashing my teeth and for once keeping my angst to myself, I actually managed to thank him and gave myself a good telling off for not looking harder myself before. I set the scope up again and surveyed the muddy edges to the islands below us. Mrs Caley said "there it is" but I replied, once more stupidly and far too quickly, "that's a Redshank" which is what I was looking at not realising that she was staring at a different bird. "It doesn't look like a Redshank" was her informed reply and when I eventually got my act together and saw that she did indeed have the Long-billed Dowitcher stood on a muddy promontory just a few yards away from my Redshank, I only had time for a quick couple of shots before it flew further away (and didn't come any closer for the rest of the time we were there!). At least the Dowitcher became bird #163 on the Old Caley year list.

Lon-billed Dowitcher

While Mrs Caley enjoyed the scope views of the Dowitcher, I scanned around some more and spotted a small falcon perched atop a post way out on the salt marsh. Taking control of the optics and zooming into the full 70x the blurry shape materialised into a fabulous Merlin, another of the birds I'd hoped to see even though it was already on the year list. It was a ridiculously long way away but I had further proof that the new scope is a proper good bit of kit! 

Merlin (trust me!)

We left the Dowitcher to its slumber, it had tucked its head under its wing, and turned our attention to a pair of fine Spotted Redshanks, our first of the year, that were feeding on a pool on the opposite side of the road. At this time of the year Spotshanks, as we birders call them, are mainly grey and unremarkable looking wading birds. Later in the spring they change into their really smart black breeding plumage. But even though they are grey and hardly striking they still possess an elegant beauty that welded seamlessly into the grey conditions of the day. Grey birds for a grey day! But they aren't called Redshanks without reason since they are still blessed with long red legs as well as a pencil slim red based bill. We watched the Spotshanks for a while but it was too chilly to tarry too long. Just as we decided to move so did the birds and I took a couple of flight shots as they departed for a different feeding area.

Spotted Redshanks

There had been no sign of the Green-winged Teal that had been found the day before and had got the locals excited, but having seen two already this year I wasn't too bothered. In truth this was a "slow" day in Frampton terms but we added Ruff to the year list and watched Avocets and Black-tailed Godwits fly back and forth. A further scan of the salt marsh revealed a major bonus for our year list in the shape of a superb male Hen Harrier that quartered across the marsh before disappearing into a ditch. It was even further away than the Merlin but great to see. Our day list was now topping 50 species, not bad but still light for Frampton. We returned to the Long-billed Dowitcher and refound it quickly this time but it was still a long way out on the pools. Just donning its summer plumage the Dowitcher really should be moving northwards soon but it is displaced by thousands of miles so maybe it'll just hang around, after all it has been here for over 200 days now.

Long-billed Dowitcher (centre)

A few of the Golden Plover had settled down and I took a few photos but we'd hit that "wall" and the early enthusiasm had dissipated a bit. It was to be a long drive home and we felt that we ought to get on it before the traffic built up again. On checking in the visitor centre it was clear that we hadn't missed anything worth seeing and, as usual, couldn't add anything different to their day list either! There are a lot of observers at Frampton Marsh and not much goes unnoticed by at least some of them.

Golden Plover

I drove away slightly disappointed that we hadn't seen any Whooper Swans, some of which had been present throughout the preceding few days. Whooper Swans will be returning to the Arctic to breed soon and if we didn't see them in the next few weeks then we'd have to wait until the winter when they arrive back in the UK. I needn't have worried though since when I drove around a bend in the road there out in a field was a grazing herd of 59 Whoopers, number 167 for the year list and a fine end to a decent days birding. Happy!

Whooper Swans