Frampton RSPB......Saturday 27.07.2013.

With the prospect of a decent Yank wader on offer at the excellent Frampton Marsh RSPB reserve in the deep south of the county near to Boston,i made the decision to attempt to see the reported Bairds Sand.I left home bright and early and arrived in lovely weather in the reserve car park and got the kit together and began to scan all the areas to search for this lovely wader.After much searching though,it soon became apparent that it had done an overnight flit....crap!.But all was not lost,several highlights were seen to make up for the main target not being seen.The first highlight went to a nice surprise in the form of a cracking juvenile Black Tern,which hawked insects with it's distinct floppy flight action,giving some nice close views until it was chased off by the local Black-headed Gulls.The remainder of the days highlights were all waders as could be expected here and included 6 Wood Sand,7 Green Sand,2 moulting adult Curlew Sand,3 Spotted Redshank and 14 Greenshank.The Wood Sands are a personal fave and it was great to see them as they chased about with that distinct 'Yip,yip,yip' call,very nice.But it was not just about the rarer waders,the amazing site of thousands of waders arriving to roost was also special and an impressive 26 species were observed while i was on site,just superb.Other birds seen around the reserve included an escaped Zebra Finch which was a bit different,20 Little Egret,2 Common Buzzard and 4 summering Dark-bellied Brent Geese.Insects seen during the visit included several Roesel's-bush Cricket,Ruddy Darter and Essex Skipper.A great day out in the far south of the county.

Adult Common Tern.

Adult Little-ringed Plover.

Adult Little-ringed Plover.

Cormorant.

Female Tufted Duck and ducklings.

Female Mute Swan and brood.

Juvenile Little-ringed Plover.

Escaped Zebra Finch.