Brian had a rare free day, so we decided to head north to Frampton Marsh this morning. We arrived around 8am and quickly found the Lesser Yellowlegs feeding at the edge of one of the pools close to the car park. The Black-winged Stilt was also found although it was at a much greater distance than the Yellowlegs. A Short-eared Owl flew across the flooded fields and was mobbed by Avocets and Black-tailed Godwits. We spent plenty of time scanning the flooded grasslands and enjoyed views of Yellow Wagtail, White Wagtail, Great Egret, Spotted Redshank, Ruff, and Greenshank. The Greenshank was a new addition to the year list.
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| Lesser Yellowlegs |
We walked along the main path, and Brian picked out two Little Gulls (an adult and a 1st winter) on the south scrape. We enjoyed closer views from the viewing mound by Reedbed Hide.
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| Little Gull (1st winter) |
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| Little Gull (Adult) |
Three Little Ringed Plovers were seen from the 360 Hide along with several Ringed Plovers. There were also large numbers of Dunlin and Knot all packed tightly together on one of the islands.
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| Little Ringed plover |
We scanned the south scrape again from the viewing mound and found a Black Tern. It flew back and forth across the scrape and briefly headed across the path over the 360 Hide before returning. The Black-winged Stilt had returned to the south scrape and was standing on the shingle at the end of an island. We had been talking to another birder earlier in the morning and while watching the Black Tern he asked Brian "What's this odd-looking gull". It turns out to be the Bonapartes Gull that had been reported as having flown off yesterday evening. It showed superbly right in front of the viewing mound.
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| Black Tern |
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| Bonaparte's gull |
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| Black-winged Stilt |
We finished the day with 84 species seen, including five new additions to my year list.
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