Banished to the fens

Another family camping trip over the Whitsun Bank Holiday weekend saw me, again, surplus to requirements, opening up the possibility of a few days away at a destination of my choice. I have not seen Swallowtail butterflies in some time or photographed them since investing in some decent camera gear, so heading for the Broads and Fens of Norfolk seemed like an attractive option.

Avocet, Frampton Marsh

The reserve holds a healthy breeding population

Avocet feeding on the muddy scrapes

Not too difficult to photograph in flight due to its highly contrasting plumage making it easier for autofocus to lock on

Checking the forecast before departure, my first morning away didn't look like great butterfly weather so I started my road trip with an early start at Frampton Marsh, over the border and the from Norfolk in the Lincolnshire section of the Wash. A group of Ruff had been lekking on the reserve viewable from the car park and having only seen this spectacle once before the opportunity to do so again was not to be missed.

 A few Avocet chicks had hatched at Frampton Marsh

Avocet

Lapwing chicks were also on the reserve

The adult Lapwing was nearby

A Little Stint was another wader of note on the reserve

As a Schedule 1 breeding bird, Ruffs can't be photographed at or near the nest without a licence, but as these birds were viewable from a safe distance the RSPB has been encouraging visitors to the reserve to enjoy the spectacle. On arrival I parked near the reserve centre and walked to the old car park near the sea wall from where the lek could be viewed. Avocet chicks had recently hatched in the scrapes by the roadside and the adults were alert to danger, calling loudly and mobbing any passing traffic on the road.

Two of the three males present in the Ruff lek

The female can be seen skulking on the water's edge - looking a bit disinterested here

The male Ruff's headgear looks very Elizabethan

This male appeared to be bowing to the female

The battles between males were brief but fierce

Much has been written in natural history literature about the sexually charged nature of the Ruff lek but for an unconventional take on it, check out this Guardian article about 'Ruff Sex'. I would have borrowed 'Let's talk about leks, baby' from this piece as the title for this post but for the intellectual copyright theft it would have represented.

A distant Glossy Ibis was at Frampton Marsh

Several Little Gull were feeding over the water

Swift feeding over the neighbouring farmland

Tree Sparrows were around the nearby farm buildings

Spring was certainly in full swing at Frampton, and with so many farmland birds seemingly in trouble and numbers of migrants apparently down, it was a tonic to see Tree Sparrows and good numbers of singing Sedge Warblers alongside the breeding waders. Unfortunately I could not locate the Turtle Doves which were present on my last visit to the reserve but I was reassured that one of their favourite 'purring' trees had blown down in winter storms and that they were still in the wider area.

Sedge Warbler

An energetic singer

Sedge Warbler

And still they come...

As April turns into May, more migrant birds are returning from their wintering grounds. I caught up with some special ones over the long weekend, taking in a couple of sites on the southern shore of Poole Harbour, and sneaking in an early morning trip to Portland between some weekend work commitments - so not much time for text!

Hobby over Stoborough Heath - our only falcon to spend winter south of the Sahara. This one was engaged in a fruitless search for odonata on a bright but chilly day

A Nightingale returning to a traditional site on the Corfe Ridge - easily heard before it was seen. Geolocators are providing more accurate accounts of the migration route to Africa taken by the UK's Nightingales - see here

This Cuckoo was seen before it was heard on Stoborough Heath - a combination of satellite tracking and Springwatch has made minor celebrities out of several of these long distance migrants - see here

A male Kentish Plover at Ferrybridge was a bonus on returning from a relatively birdless Portland - sadly, no longer a breeding bird in the UK. Western European breeders winter in South West Europe

A continental White Wagtail at Portland Bill was the highlight of a twirl around the south of the island

Back at home, a 1st summer Little Gull brightened up a visit to Swineham on a dull Bank Holiday Monday

The first Swifts of the year had also arrived and were screaming over the gravel pits. This species wins the prize for the most epic migration featured in this post - see BTO website for details here. One bird fitted with a geolocator completed the final 5,000km leg of the journey back to the UK from West Africa in 5 days. Swift indeed.

 

A rare sighting on the patch

By which I mean me: I haven't been to Swineham for ages what with important business to attend to, being the perfect husband/father, and a tiny bit of twitching. The long weekend is providing a bit more breathing space than usual though so I headed down this morning. It was pretty quiet, predictably, but a few decent birds and photo ticks for the year were on offer.

Whimbrel at Swineham Point

2 birds were present

After recent events in Somerset, I thought I had better check for the all dark rump of Hudsonian Whimbrel - sadly, it wasn't to be

A single Bearded Tit pinging over the reedbed (#165)

First Blackbird fledgling of the year

Blackcap

Don't often see Sand Martin on the deck at Swineham

A few Swift were over the gravel pits (#166)

Sedge Warbler

An oasis of sanity

I've got into the habit recently of visiting the patch on a Friday night. Not that much about lately but it's a very good way to draw a line under the craziness of the working week. And sometimes, I think, the only thing that stops me going completely loco. Last night there was definitely something to write home about though: a Turnstone, common as muck around much of the coast locally - they almost take chips out of your hand on nearby Poole Quay - but a bit of a mega at Swineham.

Turnstone: patch gold. Well, gold dust at least.

Here it is with the second best bird of the evening: Little Gull

The Little Gull was spending most of the time feeding on the flood.

Normally seen in flight distantly over the gravel pits, the Little Gull has spent a couple of evenings on the flood close to the path.

Presumably the same bird from earlier in the week looking a bit muddier.

This week's rain has topped up the flooded field near the path which was rapidly drying out, so looking promising for waders again. As well as the Turnstone, this Lapwing dropped in for the evening.





'You'll have to be quick to catch them' suggested a well-meaning passer-by. Fortunately, I am quick.





A screaming display from a flock of Swifts always lifts the spirits.

Some noisy, irritable juveniles with insatiable appetites around at the moment. So I leave home to get away from them and what do I bump into? 

Cuckoo: keep hearing but not seeing them recently at Swineham - so this sighting was welcome confirmation that I'm not going completely cuckoo myself.



Swift half...

...would be a good way to describe most of the results of my attempts to photograph these birds at Radipole Lake, fiendishly fast fliers that they are. A 1st summer Night Heron was lurking somewhere on the reserve. But as I was already stretching the credibility of my claim to be 'just nipping to the dump', I was unable to find it in a brief search. Being Radipole, an exotic wildfowl is the least one expects, this Bar-headed Goose replacing the usual Hooded Merganser.