Rare Birds & Insects at Lakenheath, Frampton & Narborough.

Marsh Warbler, Narborough

Refreshed and ready to go after my Scottish adventure though with a knackered medial knee ligament which meant that certain places were not reachable. Unfortunately that included Blakeney Point. C'est la vie!

Joist Fen at Lakenheath RSPB was just manageable with multiple rests and lots of Naproxen (just joking Doc.). I spent nearly 5 hours there for all of 20 seconds worth of Little Bittern. I saw it very briefly up one of the channels then had to wait a few hours for a flight over the reed bed. Just to put it in perspective, I saw four Great Bitterns during the same time frame.

There were a few Hobbys knocking about and a flyby Common Crane. Slightly rarer here, than perhaps the Crane, was the immature female Goshawk which flew south over the middle reed bed. Cuckoos and Kingfishers put on a fine display as did a Red Kite on the way back to the car.

Bittern, Lakenheath. I saw 7 that day.

Cuckoo, Lakenheath

Marsh Harriers doing a food pass.

Hobby's, Lakenheath

Kingfisher, Lakenheath

Four-spotted Chaser, Lakenheath

I have had two visits to Frampton RSPB in the space of a week, looking for rare waders both times. The first trip was for the White-rumped Sandpiper. It took ages to find the thing and it only fed in the middle of the conservation area. There are photographs but its hard to tell bird from grass from mud! Hence none here. There were some very smart summer plumaged Curlew Sandpipers in their orange finery and a small group of Little Stints. An elongated, greyish bird, I mistook for the White-rump turned out to be a Temminks Stint. A very nice set of waders. Lots of young waders also on view including Avocet, Lapwing and Redshank. A strong wind meant no worthwhile photographs.

The second visit was totally the opposite. The Broad-billed Sandpiper was feeding very near the road and pleased everyone who saw it. It turned out to be the only Calidrid I saw that day. Who knows where everything else was but they turned up after I left. Typical.

A pair of drake Garganey showing signs of eclipse were picked out and there were some particularly obliging Common Terns and Little Ringed Plovers showing off. Two Mediterranean Gulls, an adult and a second year, circled over the visitor centre on the return to the car. Finally a distant Quail could be heard calling from the field next to the car park.

Broad-billed Sandpiper, Frampton RSPB

Common Tern, Frampton

Little Ringed Plover, Frampton

Last, but definitely not least, a Marsh Warbler was found along the Nar Valley Way at Narborough. I turned up this morning, the only person there and I could hear it singing. I nearly fell over when I saw it sitting in full view! I didn't know they did that! It was short lived but over the next hour it paraded through the nettles and reeds on the opposite bank. The number of birds it mimicked grew each time it sang. Blackbird, Wren, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Goldfinch, Reed Warbler, Common Buzzard and Nuthatch calls were all heard.

This idyllic patch of Norfolk, chosen by this stealthy Acrocephalus also had Garden Warbler, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Blackcap, Kingfisher and a visiting Osprey.