Oriental Pratincole

Saturday morning saw us at Framton Marsh where the Oriental Pratincole has been for a week. The weather was pretty good for once, warm and sunny, but with a bit of a breeze.

PLenty of waders to see on the way to East Hide, with a few summer plumage Curlew Sandpipers among the Dunlin. Lots of Ringed and Little Ringed Plovers, but we missed the Temminck's Stint despite a long search. Only other thing of note was a fine drake Garganey. We arrived to hear that the Pratincole had gone missing, so spent some time in the hide enjoying the birds. A call brought us outside, and for about twenty minutes the Pratincole flew over a grazing marsh, always very distant. However, the views were sufficient to allow identification-the short tail, lack of white trailing edge to the dark underwing etc. Never got a good photo though.

Nice to hear a few Corn Buntings, though the only Bunting to pose was a male Reed.

With little else to do regarding birds, we headed off to a reserve near Peterborough called Upwood Meadows. The ancient ridge and furrow fields are full of Green Winged Orchids, Cowslips and Adders Tongue Fern, along with an abundance of more common species.

While searching, I encountered my first Dragonflies of the year-Four Spotted Chaser and Azure Damsel.

The final visit was Hayley Wood a Cambridge reserve which may be a remnant of the Wild Wood. Large areas are full of Bluebells, and among them are some Early Purple Orchids. Oxlips are also present, though I suspect that what I saw were mainly Cowslip hybrids.

On the old railway line bordering the wood, we watched two male Orange Tips fighting.

This morning at Amwell was pretty quiet, with nothing new present. A pair of Oystercatchers are coming and going as are Egyptian Geese. One or two Hobby's are also present but with few insects to eat its hard to see how they are surviving. The usual Redshanks appear to be displaying and there are still many warblers singing. Had pretty good views of a Cuckoo, but even better was hearing one from the garden first thing.