It's been a long, long while. Too long. School and various other things have just gotten in the way of birding. Every time I seem to be free, there's nowhere worth going, and whenever there is somewhere worth going, I've not been free. It happens. But, currently we are as a family on holiday on the Cambridgeshire-Norfolk border... plenty of good birds about. So when a free morning was available today, Dad and I grasped the opportunity to head to a brilliant reserve- RSPB Frampton. I've never been there before, but with consistent reports of a very special wader there over the past few weeks, we thought this would be perfect.
We left at 7:50 and stopped off at a McDonald's to pick up two Sausage Sandwiches with Ketchup. Absolutely mint. So nice. Anyways, birds. After a bit of a problem with a closed road, we arrived just past 9 o'clock and headed straight into the reserve.
Immediately obvious were plenty of Greylags and Little Egrets, and after walking a bit further, more things became visible. A small channel held a Ruff, Spotted Redshank, Ringed Plover, and a Lapwing.
We continued on and spotted some Spoonbill in the distance, so moved on towards the Reedbed Hide where we would be closer.
We came to a small spot halfway up the path to the hide where we could see the Spoonbill much closer.
We stopped to scan the area for a bit, and soon I spotted another Ruff on the far bank, and at least one more Spotted Redshank. Avocets were everywhere, and a few Swallows were flying about. Then, as I was looking through my bins at the water that was partially obscured by grass on the close bank, an incredible sight filled my eyes. A stunning, sleek and slender bird. This was it- the Black-winged Stilt. Incredible! I rattled off a few blurry shots before finally focusing on the bird.
It seemed perfectly happy just feeding along the shoreline, not bothered by our presence at all. At points it would come out into the open to give incredible views.
Truly an incredible bird. I have seen these before, in Spain, but never before here in England- so a British lifer. Brilliant. Black-winged Stilts are migrants in most of Europe, wintering in Africa. Although very scarce here in the UK, quite a few still turn up, with the very occasional pair actually breeding. Stunning birds, really.
A Ruff was on the other side still, and after a bit more watching, all the birds flew up.
When all the birds landed, the Black-winged Stilt had just popped over the other end of the water- and had been joined by the other one that had been about! Two Black-winged Stilts. Brilliant!
Another Spotted Redshank was visible, and with the Black-winged Stilts not going anywhere, we walked the rest of the path and went into the hide.
In the hide, more Blackwits were visible, along with Ringed and two Little Ringed Plovers. Pied Wagtails were everywhere, a Heron made an appearance at the back, and the two Black-winged Stilts were still visible.
What appeared to be a Curlew Sandpiper was visible right at the back(very distant tho), and some more Dunlin were about.
We stayed for a while longer before moving on, seeing as nothing new was turning up.
Two of the hundreds of Greylag Geese were casually strolling down the path, and a very smart Marsh Harrier was hunting.
We walked for a while towards the East Hide, seeing Linnets, Goldfinches, Skylarks, a Kestrel, a Sparrowhawk, plenty of Reed Warblers, and a few other bits and bobs along the way.
Dad and I decided to go to the visitor centre to get some drinks, so we walked back the way we had come, past the Reedbed Hide and down the path. After finding out the card machine was sadly broken, I quickly checked BirdGuides to find out that a White-rumped Sandpiper had been reported. We quickly walked back to the hide, hoping this scarce wader would still be present, but as we entered the hide, we heard that it had just flown off. Gutting. Luckily, though, the Black-winged Stilts were both close up and showing very well...
In the flock of waders at the back, more Spotted Redshank were visible, along with another Ruff, but our attention was taken by the incredible stilts feeding right in front of the hide. Truly incredible
The two of them joined up together before flying slightly further away.
Well, what a day it was. A British lifer, accompanied by plenty of other stunning and scarce birds. A disappointing dip of the White-rumped Sandpiper, but it happens. I'll get one some day, I'm sure. Hopefully, as the summer holidays are now in full swing, I'll be back to more birding and have chances to actually go and see stuff. It's been a bit odd not birding much. I've missed it a lot. Anyways, I have things to do and a place to be soon, so I'm not going to draw this out much longer. I hope you've enjoyed it, and hopefully this will be the start of more birding again....
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