Mist and rain greeted the journey to be replaced with just mist at Frampton which restricted visibility enormously; the large numbers of Golden Plover looked like grey lumps which was a shame. Nevertheless, 12 brave souls arrived at the appointed hour (a further two arrived late and as a reward, they spotted a White-fronted Goose). As we closed in on the ‘360 hide’ a Merlin shot out of the mist across the path in front of us then perched upon a nearby fencepost, brilliant views even in the poor conditions. Those glancing to the left saw another Merlin flying over. From the hide there was little to be seen barring an occasional Redshank and in the distance, it was just possible to make out the shape of a Dunlin. Moving on to the sea wall, we came across the 6 Snow Buntings as promised in the visitors centre. Confiding, gorgeous little birds and very
Male Snow Bunting
close, which was a good thing otherwise we would never have seen them.
All the time we had been at Frampton, in the background were the constant calls of unseen Brent Geese. What caused them to break cover was unknown, but suddenly hundreds of them rose from the salt marsh
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- Fine views at Frampton with the Brent Geese in the mist
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- Brent Geese flying over the salt marsh
turning the horizon black for a moment. Returning to the car park along the central drive, the mist began to clear a little, giving another sighting of a Merlin, one of a Snipe and a beautiful white Ruff.
Some of the OBC stalwarts
Our leader began to get twitchy at this point, afraid that we were going to miss out on other goodies that he’d planned for. So it was back in the cars for the drive to Welland Bank with a Snow Goose high on the list. Sadly, that wasn’t to be but we did get to see lots of Whooper and a few Bewick Swans.
The whip was cracked again and we were off to Deeping Lakes where a calling, then flying Green Woodpecker was a good spot. And so to the hide where Jane managed to pick out the roosting Long-eared Owl in a mass of foliage – well you could see some of the breast plumage, an eye and an ear tuft.
On the way to Willow Tree Fen, encouraged by a Bird Guides report of 3 Tundra Bean Geese, we paused at Baston Fen. In failing light, the desperate of us scoped the flock of a 100+ Greylags but to no avail.
The Willow Tree car park was quite crowded and not because of our cars. While waiting and hoping that the Common Cranes would fly in, we were entertained by up to 8 Marsh Harriers in the air at one time, a male Red-breasted Merganser being bullied by male Goosanders and a Great White Egret flew in for good measure. At last the long wait was over with the arrival of 4 Cranes which then uncooperatively, landed behind tall vegetation.
All that was left was for the cars to survive the fen road’s craters and crevasses in the dark.
An excellent trip – 66 species seen of which 44 were at Frampton. To put this in perspective, a group that visited Frampton the day before, with good visibility, clocked up 75!!! C’est la vie.