A visit last weekend to the Lincolnshire reserves of Freiston Shore and Frampton Marsh gave me plenty of opportunity to brush up on my wader ID. On Saturday we travelled to Frampton via Titchmarsh reserve in Northants. Neither produced anything exceptional although we did get good views of a Peregrine Falcon at Frampton being seriously mobbed by Lapwings.
The real spectacle was awaiting us at Freiston Shore on Sunday morning, where we were joined by friends from the Beds Bird Club. Everyone was in the hide for high tide - around 9.30 am - by which time the lagoon in front of us was teeming with thousands of waders. Most numerous were Black-tailed Godwits, Redshanks, Dunlin, Knot and Oystercatchers; but there were also Turnstones, Grey Plovers and a few Bar-tailed Godwits. This was the first time I had seen waders in such numbers – and so close. It was the perfect opportunity to practise sorting out Knot from Redshank...
...and the occasional Bar-tailed Godwit from among its Black-tailed friends...
By the time the birds started to leave the lagoon as the tide receded, we had made our way to a shelter overlooking the shoreline to enjoy watching the swirling flocks as they flew back.
The latter part of the morning was spent watching Curlew Sandpipers and Little Stints on a scrape on the western edge of the reserve. I was pleased to finally catch up with Curlew Sandpipers, having not seen them before, but the Little Stints were something else – working their way across the mud like dinky little clockwork toys.
Frampton Marsh in the afternoon added some wildfowl to our day’s list – Pintail, Shelduck, Shoveler, Teal, Wigeon and Egyptian Goose to name a few, plus a Green Sandpiper; but the best was saved till last when a walk to one of the hides late afternoon turned up a perky Whinchat posing on the fence along the path, accompanied at times by a Wheatear and juvenile Goldfinch.
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