Framton Marsh.

I took a trip to Framton on Friday as it was supposed to be the only good day of weather over the weekend.
The lake in front of the visitor centre had been drained down over the week, but was hoping to be filled again during this coming week.
First stop was the 360 hide for a look at the Avocets that have been arriving and a Skylark that comes quite close to the hide, providing a good look. Then a Ruff walked close by allowing for a good photo opportunity.

Avocet.

Skylark.

Ruff.

Plenty of gulls around today making plenty of noise along with a couple of Med Gulls on one of the islands.

It was nice to see a Little grebe and a Great crested grebe so close together giving a size comparison between the two. The Great crested grebe was doing pretty well at fishing and caught fish 7 out of 8 times nothing big but it wont go hungry.

Great Crested Grebe.

Little Grebe.

The notice board said that Twite had been seen near to the old car park, so I headed up for a look on first pass nothing could be seen. But on the way back around a dozen showed up in a small tree, unfortunately I now had the behind the birds.

Twite.

Twite.

Twite.

All in all a good afternoons walk around the reserve hopefully the weather will improve and I can get out a bit more. Below is a few more pictures from the day.

Redshank.

Great Crested Grebe.

Little Egret.

Little Grebe.

Mallard.

Skylark.

Yellowhammer.

Afternoon walk around Rutland.

Took a quick walk around Rutland this afternoon hoping to see the first returning Osprey, but still no sign yet.
Good news is that the Chiffchaff have returned with that distinct call.

Chiffchaff.

All in all it was a quiet walk around the reserve with nothing out of the ordinary showing up.

Out on North Arm 3 1 Great northern diver, 1 Slavonian grebe and 3 Scaup have been seen over the past few days. While on the North Arm 6 Kittiwakes were hanging around on Saturday.

Egyptian Goose.

Curlew.

Two for the price of One, Snipe and Curlew.

New Brighton, Parkgate and Burton Mere.

Mark and I decided to take a trip to the Wirral today to visit Burton Mere and Parkgate, on the way we decided to call in a New Brighton to see if the Laughing gull was still about as Mark had not yet seen it. Sure enough it was hanging around by the pontoon and showing very well.

Laughing Gull.

Laughing Gull.

Arriving at Burton Mere the Avocets have started to arrive with a good number showing at the visitor centre and a few more around the walkway.

The Long eared owl is also still present in the trees near the bridge to the far hide, He still manages to find a space with brambles to cover his face!!

Long Eared Owl.

We called in at Parkgate on the way back for a quick look, very quiet today we did however manage to catch a glimpse of a Ringtail before she dropped to the ground. 

Hen Harrier.

New Brighton had a good number of Turnstone, Oystercatcher and Redshank on the shore line but the tide was a bit far out for a good walk.

Redshank.

Rutland.

I took a drive to Rutland today to see if the Woodlark was still around to try for a better picture, but it appears to have moved on to another area.
So I decided to take a quick walk around to see if anything else was about.

Plenty of Greylag around today.

10 Whooper swan were asleep on lagoon 4 along with a drake Smew and 1 red head.

3 Green sandpipers have been seen on lagoon 7 but never got that far to check them out.

2 Black necked grebes have been seen on the north arm.

On the south arm 4 Scaup have been seen recently along with a Great northern diver.

1 Pink footed goose has also been seen on the Hambleton peninsular.

While having a cup of tea at the visitor centre before heading home, I took a few pics of the visitors to the feeders, it was going ok until a Sparrow hawk raced between the feeders and put an end to it.

Chaffinch.

Chaffinch.

Dunnock.

Great Spotted Woodpecker.

House Sparrow.

Reed Bunting.

Tree Creeper.

Rutland Water.

Looking at the weather I was debating to go out or not, in the end a decided to go out for an hour to Rutland water.

After reading the visitor book a Wood lark had been seen the day before near to lagoon 2 so I headed for a look. It didn't take long to find as a few people had set up watching it, unfortunately I had left my tripod in the car so had to hand hold might not have been so bad if the bird was not around 100 yards away.

Wood Lark.

The weather was on the turn and a few specks of rain had started to fall, but decided to have one look out of redshank hide before heading back. Lucky I did as the Great white egret landed in front of the hide before being mobbed by black headed gulls.

Great White Egret.

Framton Marsh

I took a trip to Framton today as the weather looked to be ok but very windy.
On the drive there 2 Barn owls were hunting on the grass verge next to the A16 road, a bit worrying with all the trucks that use that road!!

The water levels were quite high at Framton today, therefore the mud flats close to the paths had vanished, pushing most of the waders back to the salt marshes. Still quite a few Curlew, Ruff, Black Tailed Godwits, Redshank, Dunlin and Lapwing hanging about, also around a dozen Ringed Plover grouped on an island near the 360 hide.

Curlew.

Curlew.

Ruff.

Ruff.

Black Tailed Godwit.

Black Tailed Godwit.

Approximately 30 Whooper swans are still hanging around near the 360 hide also but flew together and headed north instead of the usual west where they have been spending time, are they heading home?

Whooper Swans.

Around 30 or so Avocets have arrived already at Framton, I was informed that they usually get a good number turning up and they spend most of the time quite close to the hides.

An approachable female Stonechat can be seen at the far side of the lagoon by the visitor centre, she spends her time around a small row of bushes, but will fly around the reeds and comes to within 10 meters before retuning to the safety of the bushes. 

Stonechat.

Stonechat.

Stonechat.

Just as I was returning to the car a Yellowhammer landed on a nearby tree along with a Tree Sparrow, nice sight to finish the day off.

Yellowhammer.

Tree Sparrow.

  

New Lens.

After spending months of deciding I have finally picked up a Canon 500mm F4 IS II.
So headed to Rutland water to try it out. Tried hand holding today and to be fair it was not that bad.
This photo of a Pied wagtail was hand held and has been nearly 100 % cropped.

Pied Wagtail.

I am heading to an RSPB reserve tomorrow to try out the gimbal and tripod set up.

Below are a few more hand held pics from today.

Greylag.

Gadwall.

House Sparrow.

Wigeon.