Black Stork, Frampton Marsh RSPB

Black Stork has been on my wish list ever since I started traveling further afield than my local patch. There have been many sightings, but the vast majority have been flyovers and very few had been nailed down to a particular site leaving very little opportunity to connect with any of them.

On the 7th of August, a juvenile was reported in East Yorkshire, Reports continued to come in during the next two days but nearly all were flyovers and it being over 4 hours from home I just dismissed it as another missed opportunity to connect with this species. Early evening on the 12th of August it moved into Lincolnshire and for the next couple of days seemed to be spending its time travelling between Frampton Marsh and Freiston Shore Reserves. 

Brian was away on a short break with his grandson, and not due back until the 16th, Thinking the bird would be long gone before his return I dismissed it as another one that got away. Unbelievably it was still being reported at Frampton on the 17th. There had been a couple of positive reports early morning and this was enough for Brian to offer to take me. We set off at 10.30am and arrived around 1pm, only to receive negative news from the reserve staff. We decided to take the footpath south and search the area of the last reports. As we emerged from the avenue of trees, we picked up the Stork high in the air circling above a pylon. It was distant but it was a Black Stork and it was on my list! 

We continued walking along the cross-bank to the sea wall and managed to relocate the Stork in a distant field. It soon took flight again but this time landed on farmland near the reservoir. We enjoyed great scope views before the local farmer started calling his cows in and the stork again took flight and this time landed out of view.

Black Stork

 

We searched for the Pacific Golden Plover on the walk back to the car park but failed to locate it on the saltmarsh. I did however manage to add Little Stint to my year list before reaching the car park.

Storm clouds gathering

Although a short visit, I had finally added Black Stork to my life list, which currently stands at 398 with the Fluke Hall Eastern Black-eared Wheatear from 2019 still to be accepted/rejected. 

Bonaparte's Gull, Oare Marshes

We spent the morning at Oare Marshes today, hoping to connect with the returning Bonaparte's Gull for another year.

We headed up the ramp and walked along the footpath towards Uplees. A Hoopoe had spent the previous day in the area, but there was no sign of it this morning. The walk back did produce our first Whinchats of the year along with a young Cuckoo busily feeding on caterpillars. A Sparrowhawk, Yellow Wagtail four  Ringed Plovers, and several Curlews were the only other highlights.

We returned to the slipway and began searching for the Bonaparte's Gull. Luckily another birder was already watching it feeding out on the mud.

The rising tide pushed the feeding waders closer inshore and a Curlew Sandpiper was found among them for another year tick.  

The water levels remain high on East Flood, resulting in few wader species being able to land. Only Black-tailed Godwits, Redshank, and Ruff were seen.  During the morning we managed to see eleven species of wader, most were on the mudflats before high tide.
 

White-rumped Sandpiper, Minsmere

This was to be my first birding trip out since the end of June and the very successful trip to Bempton Cliffs for the Black-browed Albatross. 

An early morning visit to Minsmere was our preferred destination. Arriving shortly after 6am, we took the footpath along North Wall towards the beach. East Hide was only occupied by two other birders and neither had managed to locate either of our target birds. One guy mentioned seeing a couple of small waders in the far corner of the scrape and when we got the scope of them, we were pleased to find the White-rumped Sandpiper busily feeding alongside a Dunlin. It flew to a nearby island and continued feeding among a small group of Dunlin. A Marsh Harrier appeared over the scrape and the panicked waders took to the air. Thankfully they dropped down closer than before and after scanning through the small flock of Dunlin the White-rumped Sandpiper was again present and our other target the Pectoral Sandpiper was also found among them. 

Brian managed to grab the photo below showing both White-rumped and Pectoral Sandpipers together just as they were flushed again.

White-rumped and Pectoral Sandpipers

 

While searching for our main targets we had managed to locate a couple of Spotted Redshanks, a much overdue year tick.

Spotted redshank

We moved along the beach and began scanning the South Scrape from the public hide. There were large numbers of Common, Sandwich and Little Terns and we managed to find a couple of Little Gulls and a single juvenile Arctic Tern among them.

It was a very enjoyable morning just being out birding again, with five additions to my year list being a very nice bonus.

Black-browed Albatross: Bempton Cliffs, East Yorkshire

When I began twitching in 2010 the Black-browed Albatross has always been right at the top of my wish list. Previous records since 2010 have been fly-bys or single-day sightings, which meant you needed to be on site when they appeared to have any chance of connecting. So when one was reported on Monday I consoled myself by thinking it would be another brief appearance and didn't think any more of it. Tuesday, and it's reported on the cliffs at Bempton! We should have gone there and then but with 230 miles and four and a half hours traveling, along with our recent record of dipping birds up north we decided to wait and hope it was seen going to roost that evening.

When it was reported on the cliffs above Staple Newk at 9.10pm we hatched a plan to leave at 12.30am and take our chances of it still being on the cliffs at first light this morning. We arrived shortly before 4.30am and headed along the footpath to join around 300 other birders at the New Roll-Up Viewpoint. It looked promising as we approached but that soon changed when we reached the viewpoint to be told there had been no sign this morning! We decided to walk along the cliffs and scan from any vantage points we could find,  hoping it had roosted out of sight of the main viewpoint. But by 7am there had been no sightings. We returned to the viewpoint cursing ourselves for not taking a chance yesterday, then fifteen minutes later the shout went up "THERE IT IS!" It was surprisingly difficult to pick up among the numerous Gannets especially the immature birds, but when it flew along the cliff face it proven much easier to spot. We enjoyed several views over the next couple of hours before it eventually landed on the cliff face among the Gannets, allowing for some stunning scope views.

There's always the risk of dipping, that's just the nature of twitching. You either accept it or you don't do it. Thankfully the plan worked out perfectly today and we had four hours of watching this incredible bird. 

Black-browed Albatross

 On the cliffs among the Gannets

A few of the birders at the viewpoint

European Roller: Icklingham, Suffolk

Mid-morning on Wednesday a European Roller was reported along Icknield Way in Suffolk. Brian was already planning the trip, but unfortunately, I was unable to join him as I was awaiting a hospital follow-up phone call. 

The bird had stayed faithful to the same area throughout Thursday and when it was reported again today Brian offered to take us. It's a stunning looking bird and it tempted Robert to join us. Upon arrival, we found a parking spot in the overgrown layby opposite the sheep field and cautiously crossed the A1101 to join a small group of birders already viewing the bird. There were several natural gaps among the trees all along the front edge of the sheep field and all were occupied by birders.

The bird didn't disappoint and it gave stunning views throughout our visit. At one point it caught a worm and after returning to the telegraph wires made very short work of it.

This was only my second sighting of a Roller, the other being at Horsey in Norfolk back in 2013. The views at Horsey were at a much greater range however than this individual.

Below is the sheep field the Roller was frequenting. Using the trees and fence posts bordering the field and also the telegraph wires. 

Bee-eaters: Breydon,Water Norfolk

There were no plans this morning, but that soon changed when Brian rang and asked if I wanted to make the trip to Great Yarmouth and hopefully connect with the nine Bee-eaters that had been seen around the allotments at Gapton Hall.

We left at 9.30 and were expecting heavy traffic on route, thankfully we enjoyed a trouble-free journey and two hours later were pulling onto Gapton Hall Road, only to be told the Bee-eaters had flown off and had not been seen since! We walked to the allotments and began searching, Twenty minutes later another birder thought he had a single bird perched in a tree at some distance. 

We headed back to the car and drove round to the Rugby club car park and took the track leading towards the farm and was rewarded with stunning views.

River Warbler, Ham Wall

The River Warbler had been present since mid-day on Friday the 4th June and Brian had travelled down on Saturday to view it. He had given me the opportunity to travel with him but I had declined. I had received my 2nd Covid jab the previous day and having had complications from the first decided it would be safer to remain at home just in case it happened again. Thankfully I was fine, but I had missed the opportunity to add another lifer to my list. 

The Warbler had remained present throughout the whole of the following week and Brian kindly offered to drive back so I had a chance to view it.

We left at 4.30am Saturday morning, with 167 miles on the M25, M3 and A303 ahead of us. Checking on route for any news of the bird's presence. Thankfully as we neared Ham Wall news came through that the Warbler was indeed still present. 

We headed off along the footpath and as we crossed the 2nd bridge we could already hear the River Warbler Reeling. The bird was showing to within 2-3 metres of the footpath as we joined the line of birders already present. We stayed for over 3 hours and the bird showed for the majority of that time. There were brief spells where it would drop out of sight, but would soon reappear at the top of a reed stem and start reeling again. Several Bitterns were heard Booming and two individuals were seen in flight. Great White Egrets were plentiful and were seen in flight frequently.

River Warbler

The return journey home was broken up by a stop at Thursley Common. Where we heard and soon viewed several Dartford Warblers on the heathland. Our other target, Redstart proved much more challenging, but we eventually had good views of two males. The small pools dotted around the heath were a magnet for Hobbies with several close encounters during the visit. Cuckoos were calling close by and a single Woodlark was found feeding on the ground close to the car park. 

Thursley Common

The life list now sits at 397, slowing edging towards the 400 target.