A day at Frampton Marsh RSPB
Thursday 25th I headed down south to Frampton on a pretty grey and initially damp day but I was avoiding the plumbers. The long staying Lesser Yellowlegs was in the field by the car park but then disappeared though it returned later in the afternoon but there were plenty of other birds to entertain. Beautiful Pintail are always a treat, the Wigeon and Teal are silly tame plus wintering Ruff, a Spotted Redshank, three Avocets and masses of Lapwings and Golden Plovers. The Brent Geese included two Pale-bellied in the Dark-bellied throng. A massive adult female Peregrine sat around on the fence posts while the male gave chase to a few waders and then both of them set into a juvenile Marsh Harrier - distant but entertaining and using the 40 frames per second on the R62 you see all the action that is over in a flash.
Frampton Marsh RSPB with the sun trying to break through the heavy clouds.
Dark-bellied Brent Geese with two Pale-bellied in some shots - the constant calls of Brents are a real featur eof the winter bird scene
Art, birds and a cafe to boot a spot on reserve
One of the three Peregrines seen during the day
Pintail and Wigeon reminded me of a Lars Jonsson painting in Birds and Light one of my favourite art works
adult Peregrine
Adult female Peregrine - a classic scene from an estuary in winter
Sparrowhawk perched on the lookout for a meal
The wintering Lesser Yellowlegs with its newly moulted scapulars - apart from the fence and parked cars that provided obstacles it is so tame I found myself having to move away as it approached me at times
As the rain held off and there was a glimmer of hope of a sunset I decided to wait for the Marsh Harrier roost and ongoing project trying to get representative images of birds coming into roosts - the full moon came up behind thinning clouds and I was hoping for a passing Marsh Harrier but these were the best I managed but the Starlings performed a little better
The sun broke through briefly and offered a little window of opportunity on the roosting harriers with passing Starlings inevitably prompting a few shutter activations
Marsh Harrier and Starlings
