Unsurprisingly, I have seen very few friends since the end
of March so it was nice to be invited out by Pat Hart yesterday for a magical mystery
tour day out. Pat knew that I had never
been to RSPB Frampton Marshes before and so with a lunchtime high tide we
headed north, suitably masked up in his car.
It did not seem to take too long to get there, especially
with the new shiny A14 open for business but I suspect that it was all the
gassing we did on the journey that made it pass quickly with slight pauses to
note Buzzards and Red Kites en route.
Like many RSPB reserves there is still a limited offer
available but the paths were all open and we were happy to wander. The very first lagoon put an instant smile on
my face with a conglomeration of white ovoid bodies and long black legs and I
was only thinking on Tuesday that it could be first year since 1986 without a
Spoonbill.
I needn’t have worried as 17 were doing what Spoonies do
best although a couple did wake up and have a stretch. They seemed to be a mixture of adults and
immatures and I was having trouble working out if any were actual juveniles.
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Spoonbills - the Little Egret behind was colour ringed left yellow right white |
Flights of Black-tailed Godwits whiffled in and were a
constant feature of the circuit that allowed us to find a god selection of
waders o the numerous pools of differing habitats and depths. I was very
impressed with the whole set up and it is no wonder that this reserve is the
wader hotspot now on the east coast by some margin.
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Black-tailed Godwits |
Seven Spotted Redshanks, Greenshank, Common Redshanks, four
Little Ringed Plovers, 13 Ringed Plovers, 19 Dunlin, two Common Sandpipers, two
dapper Knot and 13 Ruff were found along with still breeding Avocets and Oystercatchers
and a few scattered Lapwings.
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Black-tailed Godwits and Dunlin |
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Ruff |
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Ruff |
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Avocet |
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Avocet |
I counted at least five Gadwall broods and three of Tufted
Duck and a few Wigeon were scattered about.
Black-necked Grebes have bred successfully and I briefly saw an adult
feeding a chick before they went into the grasses only for a Little Grebe and
chick to appear. I was confused until someone told us later that we were looking
in exactly the right spot.
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Mute Swans |
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Greylag in the Knapweed and Ragwort |
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St Botolph's Church, Boston |
It was meant to be a glorious day but the cloud cover was
keeping the sun at bay for the most part
and the brisk westerly was actually quite cool especially when we were up on
the exposed sea wall. From up he we could get a better view across the myriad
of pools and added three more Spoonbills to the tally while a single Brent
Goose was on the salt marsh behind.
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Spoonbill |
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Spoonbill |
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Dark-bellied Brent Goose |
For some reason I assumed that the reserve butted up against
the Wash but there was literally mile after mile of Sea lavender covered
Saltmarsh as far as you could see. The
Wash itself was a shimmery line in the far distance with the pines of
Sandringham and Wolferton forming a dark horizon seventeen miles away.
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Infinity Saltmarsh |
The sheltered seaward side if the wall was alive with Common
Blues, Gatekeepers, Small Heath and Meadow Browns along with Field and Meadow
Grasshoppers.
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Common Blue with underwing spots showing through |
We collected our lunch from the car and headed back to the
seawall bench to wait for the 2pm wader extravaganza but it never happened. I
suspect that the high tide was not big enough and the wind was blowing straight
out across the salt marsh so I think everything headed for the Snettisham side
of the Wash which was a pity and in fact we could see the swirling clouds of
waders way off in the distance for minor compensation!
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You can't really see the bird smoke in the original |
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but now you can! |
But it was a nice, if blowy, spot for lunch (if you held on
to your sani and coffee mug!) and the Common Terns put on a great display just
in front with Marsh Harriers quartering the distant pools and Yellow Wagtails,
Linnets and Skylarks foraging out around the edges.
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Common Tern |
We decided to head south and made our way to another place I
had never visited; the Long Drove of the Nene Washes. I know that it was too late in the season for
the breeding waders and other local specialities but it really was very, very
quiet.
The ditches were full of great plants though and I had fun showing
Pat a wide variety of species, most of which we get at Rainham and that I had
not encountered this year.
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Frogbit - a non Rainham species! |
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Water Plantain |
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Water Mint |
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Great Water Dock |
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Water Mint and Water Forget-me-not |
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Watercress |
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Flowering Rush |
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Purple Loosetrife |
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Grey Club-rush - Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani |
The pale yellow form of Common Comfrey was also seen along
with Lesser and Greater Reedmace and a tiny low growing plant that I later
identified as Common Knotgrass.
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Common Comfrey |
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Common Knotgrass |
Field, Meadow and my first Lesser Marsh Grasshoppers of the
year were pushed from the grass along with Long-winged Coneheads and Roesel’s
Bush Crickets. Brown and Migrant Hawkers patrolled and there were quite a
few fresh Small Tortoiseshells which were my first for some weeks.
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Roesel’s
Bush Cricket |
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Meadow Grasshopper |
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Lesser Marsh Grasshopper |
Birds mainly came in the form of Woodpigeons, Mute Swans, Grey
Herons, Carrion Crows and Meadow Pipits although Marsh Harriers were constantly
quartering. However, there was
ornithological recompense in the form of a Cattle Egret that got up off a pool
and flew leisurely past us.
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Yellow Wagtail |
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Mute Swan keeping an eye on us and his brood |
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adult female Marsh Harrier |
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Cattle Egret |
It was just nice to be out somewhere different and I vowed
to come back in May next year for an evening visit.
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A lichen encrusted old railway sleeper gatepost. Happy for any id suggestions! |
Even the traffic was kind on the way home.
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