randombirder

Another fabulous day at Frampton Marsh picking up the black stork from the car as I pulled up.  That never happens and particularly for this bird that has been typically mobile, it was great to have it in full view for a few hours. Not wanting to linger at the car park, I took a walk round the back of the reserve picking up a nice male merlin , a flyby green sandpiper and spotted redshank , and a little owl by the farm buildings.  The stork reappeared in amongst a group of little egret , preening and roosting during the morning.  This provided an opportunity to check out the pools and saltmarsh. A group of dunlin held a little stint with an another further along the seawall.  The pacific golden plover was still present but in far more advanced moult than the last visit to Frampton.  A short-eared owl was quartering over the saltmarsh.  There were plenty of decent sized post-breeding flocks of yellow wagtail and pulses of sand martin were moving through.  Two spotted redshank wer

I never thought I'd see myself on one of these again.  My  last experience  of the legendary  Scilly Pelagics  was tortuous, the relentless lilting of the inky seas twisting my equilibrium into depositing the contents of my dignity into the deep blue depths of the south-western approaches. There was a nagging regret though of having missed out.  Firstly, on some of the finest target species these early autumn trips have to offer, and secondly, just the feeling of spending a few hours in one of the remotest locations in the UK. Dosed up on Sturgeron©, Seaband ginger capsules©, and my holistic pressure wristbands - I'd covered myself as much as I could in dignity protective remedies. It gets into your head - but the feelings of defeat can only be dispelled by the taste of victory. The Sapphire skippered by Joe Pender with the great Bob Flood trundles around 5 miles south west of the Isles of Scilly archipelago.  At this point, the engine is cut, and the boat then drifts a further