Fantastic Freiston!

On Saturday morning four of us set off for Lincolnshire not realising what lie ahead. We reached Frampton Marsh at lunchtime and found an interesting list of recent sightings on the Visitor Centre board but not a huge amount of life on the freshwater marshes. The best sighting was of a hunting Peregrine which swooped in low over the marsh, flying almost directly towards us as we watched from the 360 Hide. We travelled on to Freiston Shore to stay at the local B&B.
On Sunday morning, we watched in delight as large flocks of waders flew in to wait out the high tide on the freshwater pool. Possibly 1500 Black-tailed Godwit, Oystercatchers by the hundred and numerous Dunlin, Redshank, Knot and a few Greenshank and Turnstone arrived at the pool and filled the air with their 'chattering' calls.

Large group of Black-tailed Godwit with Dunlin, Redshank and Knot

That was all before breakfast! We met up after breakfast with other members of Beds Bird Club to explore the Reserve. With all eyes on the birds we scanned the assembly on the pool finding Ringed Plover, Wigeon, Canada & Greylag Geese in addition to the birds already mentioned. A view across the water meadows revealed several Curlew, Yellow Wagtail, a flock of Starling and Barn Swallows hunting. A walk along to the bank gave us a view over the Wash. There were some juvenile Gannets flying close to the shore but not much else. As we sat there the waders on the pool started to lift off and fly over our heads which was an amazing sight but the water was still too high for them, especially the smaller birds, to settle on the shore.
The Group Leader went off to check on a small pool and scrape at the western end of the reserve, to see if there were any interesting birds there. As a result we all had good views of Curlew Sandpipers and Little Stint. In addition to these we had Tree Sparrow, Spotted Flycatcher, Chiffchaff and Greenfinch along the path back to the carpark.

Little Stint

We then moved on to Frampton Marsh and after lunch walked to the hides overlooking the freshwater marshes and pools. From the 360 hide we saw Shelduck, Shoveler, and Pintail in addition to the Wigeon. Also a smart Wheatear and Grey Heron. On the path we found a Small Copper sunning itself and from the Reed Hide we saw a lone Green Sandpiper, some very smart Gadwall and Egyptian Geese to add to our list.
Finally on a walk round to the last hide we came across a Whinchat keeping company with a Wheatear and a Goldfinch and spotted a Kingfisher patrolling the channel below the bank.

Whinchat