Frampton and Grafham waders

- August 31, 2019

With the opportunity of two days for birdwatching, my sister and I thought we would attempt to increase our year's tally of waders so our first trip was to Frampton Marsh in Lincolnshire.

The weather was fine and dry with warm sunshine so we decided we would walk to the far end of the reserve and along the sea wall which it had always been too cold and windy to do on our previous visits. This gave great views of the saltmarsh and lagoons. However we did have to share the bank with a herd of rather intimidating black bullocks although they were obviously used to people and didn't cause any problems as we walked rather trepidly past.

Plenty of birds to be seen including many black tailed godwits, black headed gulls now in winter plumage and ruffs of various colours. We also saw ringed plovers, little egrets, curlew sandpipers (kindly pointed out by another birder), dunlins, a couple of avocets and what we later confirmed were spotted redshanks and a group of stationary spoonbills with heads tucked under although one did briefly raise its head to show its spoon shaped bill. We also had a good view of a golden plover and snipe at the edge of one of the lagoons.

There were numerous thistles, teasels and a plantation of sunflowers which the goldfinches were making the most of. An enjoyable visit with quite a few birds for my yearly list.

View over lagoons from sea wall

little egret

snipe

golden plover

ruff

black tailed godwits

avocet

spotted red shank

cattle

spoonbills

goldfinch

The next day we stayed more local and went across to Grafham Water where we had read there were several interesting waders near the dam. Walking across the dam we first saw large families of pied wagtail and possibly a couple of grey but these flew off before we had a chance to identity them.

Not much more of interest seen but when we turned to walk back we were rewarded with sightings of a single turnstone, a couple of green shanks and a dunlin. We also saw the grey wagtails again by the shore line, one adult and one juvenile clearly identifiable.

Moving onto another carpark round the other side of the reservoir we had a quick snack in the restaurant and wandered through the nature reserve but the only waders of note were a few common sandpipers. After relaxing on the grassy bank with an ice cream, we headed home, rather pleased with my sightings which brought this years total to a record (for me) of 118.