On this Day (May 16th 2010 - Oriental Pratincole!!

#OnThisDay May 16th 2010, an Oriental Pratincole was still showing well at Frampton Marsh...

I had a lie in following yesterday’s 15 hour marathon but with a certain Lincolnshire bird on my mind, a snap decision to ‘go for it’ saw me out on my first out and out twitch for quite some time!

Less words more pictures methinks but Frampton Marsh is certainly picking up some good birds, some year ticks here: Wood Sandpiper (visitor centre) Curlew Sandpiper (360 hide) and Temminck’s Stint (off the path to east hide). Little Gulls were to come later too at East hide (some pics too) but absolutely no doubt of the class act for the day – Oriental Pratincole!

Following (bad) advice, I started at the 360 hide and after 30 mins or so at least it was on my list! Hawking for insects in front of the distant raised sea bank., it soon relocated in front of the East Hide and was clearly giving the assembled crowd a show and a half!






OMG - will someone tap the guy second from the left on the shoulder and tell him he’s looking the wrong way!!






Just over 1km to get round there, I’m on my way then….. Next step was to get to the front of the crowd by the side of the hide (no chance of a seat in the hide). One birder who’d seen enough departed – I was in!!

The next hour or so witnessed an awesome spectacle – Oriental Pratincole hawking on the lagoon in front of the hide and very now and then skimming the nearby field/ditch right in front of me. The 500mm lens (all I had with me) was simply too big to cope with the speed in flight when close (and it did fly within 50m!) but I managed a few keepers now and then…..

In full sun....








Over the water.....








I quickly learnt that, delightful though this pose, this bird does not look at it's best against white sky!






Against the green of the adjacent field, it was just a question of trying to stick with the bird and hope.....




















Head on shots....












My favourite?






I suppose I need images of Collared Pratincole for comparison too now but just to clinch the key id features of OP – the short tail streamers and lack of white trailing edge to wing 'arm' – all clearly shown here…..






Oh and here’s one of the Little Gulls (first Summer birds) I mentioned earlier, at least five on view here....






Useful size comparison....






By 4.00 pm the bird was spending more and more time ‘down’ and with another potential lifer ‘on the way’ home, I decided it was time to move on.....

On this Day (May 15th)... The perfect storm

May 15th 2013 was one of the most serious wader days in memory. Torrential rain overnight, clearly lots of waders moving, it was the perfect storm...

Other than keeping me awake for most of the night, I underestimated just how big an impact the deluge was going to have on the wader passage through Shropshire! It was a text from Martyn Owen that got me kick started and then had to somehow battle through gridlocked traffic!

Eventually I made it to VP where 2 Sanderling, 29 Dunlin and  2 Ringed Plover were waiting (I'd missed a Black Tern plus 3 Arctics passing through!).

Here's the waders. It was impossible to get them all in the frame but some nice counts here! (some bigger images than normal!)

One of the two Sanderling taking centre stage!

By 9.30, the Dunlin count had reached 37 - surely the highest for the reserve. Most of them plus Sanderling are here......

Tom Lowe and Martyn Owen had gone on to Long Lane and Chelmarsh with impressive wader counts coming out including a lifer Turnstone for MO at Chel (nice find eh!) Having been joined by Mike Stokes, we opted to check what wader megas might be lurking in the north of the County. Answer: absolutely none!! Too much water at Wood Lane and Whixall meant absolutely nothing doing and all we came away with were 2 Common Terns on Colemere!

A check of  VP after lunch and the original wader flock had cleared out at 10.30, only to be replaced later by another 13 Dunlin plus 1 Sanderling but the weather was now quite settled. Would the Turtnstone still be at Chelmarsh?? We set off and 40 mins later were totting up 1 Turnstone, 8 Sanderling, 4 Dunlin, 1 Redshank, 1 Common Sand on the dam plus 3 Common Tern, the scrape looked good but was empty.....

We just had to check Long Lane next. Goodness only knows  why this flooded field has become a wader hotspot, presumably the presence of waders attracts even more!! It's also 'out of the way' and the birds don't get disturbed! An initial scan indicated that the count here was going to top the lot so far and MS picked out a summer plumage Knot! Repeated counts eventually confirmed we were looking at 1 Knot, 63 Dunlin, 6 Sanderling, 15 Ringed Plover plus 2 Oystercatcher, 2 Curlew plus at least 4 Lapwing. 

The 'perfect storm', the'Big Day'......., superlatives peppered the news services as Twitter went into overload and for once Shropshire was head and shoulders ahead on the Midland scene!

I ended the day with an evening check of VP where 1 Sanderling, 13 Dunlin and an Arctic Tern remained. I've not added these to the day tally at three sites for MS and myself......

Turnstone, Knot, Redshank, Common Sand 1 each

Sanderling 17 

Dunlin 117 

Ringed Plover 17

LRP 2,  Curlew 2 ,  Lapwing 4 , Oystercatcher 6.....

One of the Dunlin.....

Two of the Dunlin!

Dunlin with Sanderling!

One Sanderling and one heck of a day to remember!

All I can say and I've said it before (sorry Sir Alex) Shropshire Birding - Bloody Hell!

On this Day (May 13th) - 2018 Tuftie display

May 13th doesn't seem a day for rarities in my archive so here's an action  packed flight session with the Tufted Duck display team #OnThisDay in 2018...

Those who know me, realise my favourite break from birding is a fast flying jet or two! Whilst they wont challenge the red arrows in the speed stakes; for close formation stuff , these Tufted duck would take some beating!

It's the thrill of the chase but who's chasing who. This female had eight admiring suitors (not all in the frame) and she was doing most of the chasing...

And leading, by a short bill?

Tight turns...

And effortless glides...

But two's company and three is a crowd!

You'll have to make your mind up girl...

On this Day (May 12th)... Black-necked Grebe at Westport Lake

A change of venue on May 12th 2013 -  nipped over the border to Westport Lake in the Potteries for this little cracker ...

I knew I would crack and renege on my Shropshire vigil at VP etc for..... what? Absolutely nothing apart from Dunlin and Ringed Plover, oh and a Common Tern,  over the past week. So, when something tasty like a summer plumage Black-necked Grebe turns up within 40 miles, it sort of got my attention! Foolishly I didn't check the weather forecast - just went......

And it rained and rained and alas, with the Grebe saw showing down to 15m in the white water gloom, it was frustration ++.  Birding in near monochrome!

Here's a couple of images from one of the less wet moments - there may not be many more?

Maybe one more?

You can see why I went!

On this Day (May 11th) - Little Tern 2016!!

The Tern passage continues with Common and Black Terns 'terning up' plus a rather special Little Tern at Venus Pool....

The Tern tour of the North Shropshire area with Mike Stokes was about to come to an abrupt halt with news coming in of a Little Tern at Venus Pool. Crikey, we had both had LT in Shropshire but this was a potential patch tick for both of us so we dashed back to the car and blasted back to VP - question was... would it stick?

Yesssssss! It would :-)

Clearly not on speaking terms with this Common Tern!

And then flying wildly around the pool in search of fish! It was a nightmare to keep it in the viewfinder!!

White sky didn't help for overhead shots!

But it was keeping low most of the time and seen here hovering for fish.....

A composite sequence - can't guarantee it's the same fish and always flying into the wind - away from me!!

Such a pity the unseen fish wasn't visible here, not that would have made my day!

But these flight shots (amongst the most difficult I've ever taken) certainly did make my day :-)

And it was still present late evening......