There was no news on the White-winged Black Tern after 1.45pm when I got home from work. 'Should I Stay Or Should I Go'? As Paul Eele said on Twitter.... 'should have gone anyway Penny. Its a great reserve with loads of birds...' He is obviously correct, I should have just gone anyway. Frampton RSPB is a vast and stunning reserve and you never fail to see a huge variety of birds. But, I did wait on news, so left much later than I should have. Asked RBA to put a no news on message out and around half an hour later a 3.15pm message bleeped up. It was now 6.30pm. I decided to go. Its a simple journey to Frampton from King's Lynn, the worst bit is getting out of King's Lynn! But the A17 is such a depressing road, not exactly a scenic journey!
On arrival the weather was gloomy and spitting with rain – great! The good news was that the cracking, pristine White-winged Black Tern was on show, as soon as I stepped out of the car!!! What a bird – it was so fabulous to watch, even in the rain. It spent most of its time on the pool by the 360º hide, but did venture across the path a couple of times onto the other scrape by Reedbed Hide. The weather was dire for pictures, but got a few distant record shots and some equally naff phone-scoped video. I stayed watching this fabulous tern until 9.40pm! 2 Spoonbills also seen from Reedbed Hide and all the usual Frampton birds including tons of gulls, Avocets, Black-tailed Godwits, Great Crested Grebes, Mute Swans, Common Terns, Swifts, Swallows etc etc.
I absolutely loved the Reflection Sculpture on the track to the 360ºhide. I took a video of this, its the best way to portray it. Basically its around 9ft tall and is like a wave pattern, one side is wooden type slats with mirrors in between and the other side is a whole mirror reflecting the reserve. Etched onto this side are birds which have been designed by local birders – its the coolest thing I have seen on any reserve! The sign reads "Welcome to 'Reflector'. A specially designed artwork, created for the reserve by artists Craig and Mary Matthews. It feature etchings of birds, as designed by local people. Maybe you supplied one, can you spot it? Reflector was fully funded by 'Transported' – an Arts Council England project."
PICTURES & VIDEOS TO BE ADDED
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
"....the worst bit is getting out of King's Lynn!
ReplyDelete....the A17 is such a depressing road, not exactly a scenic journey!"....
Argh!! I couldn't agree more... I once had a house in the far North of Scotland...
to leave Swarff'um any earlier than 10pm meant fighting past KL...
and visiting Mum in her later years from Leeds was always a case of...
"do we go now and cut short... or later and possibly tire her out?"
Your W-wBT remind me that we ought to visit the Brenne!
We get the Whiskered there...
but there are always the occasional Blacks down from their Loire colony...
and rarely, the odd W-w...
but all terns, even the Common...
are wonderful watching...
I'm not at all surprised you stayed so long.
Looking forward to seeing the video of the sculpture...
but what effect do the mirrors have on the local birds...?
do the etchings avoid possible bird strike...?
just musing.
I never visited Frampton... should've, definitely!
Those were nice extras to the W-wBT trip!!
And I now cannot get rid of the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain's version of 'Should I Stay Or Should I Go?' from my brain...
gotta go and listen to something else...
keep well,
Tim