Nature red in tooth and claw…

As predicted, it’s a lovely day today and we’re going to make the most of it by driving out to Frampton Marsh, an RSPB reserve in Lincolnshire by the Wash. We had an amazing day last autumn so are hoping for great things this time.

Unfortunately it’s quite a distance from our little orchard home near Wisbech so we decided to combine it with a trip even further up the Wash to Gibraltar Point, near the delightful Skegness.

As usual, the car park at Frampton was fairly busy but it’s a large reserve and plenty of room for everyone.  The sky was deep blue and the teasels made a fine picture.

The view from the first hide we came to looked, at first sight, rather uninteresting.  Quite a few birds but rather far away – except for these Canada Geese.

Peter spotted some Golden Plovers in the distance and I was lucky to capture some of them, accompanied by some Godwits, as they flew overhead.

Then, a woman, who had been munching her way through a bag of crisps extremely noisily on the other side of the hide, suddenly spotted a Stoat on the small scrubby island opposite. Not only a stoat but also a Kestrel hovering overhead.

The Stoat was running backwards and forwards at top speed and then we noticed that he had been joined by a Pied Wagtail who fluttered and flew above him.

The Kestrel had retired to watch and wait nearby…

…and the Wagtail continued to harrass the Stoat.

 

Then we noticed that the Stoat had something in its mouth. I believe it was a bird and, putting two and two together, I guessed it could have been another Wagtail…

The Stoat appeared to hide his prey and the harrassing Wagtail flew off defeated.

The Stoat continued to rush about dementedly and also dived into the water repeatedly – presumably in search of water-borne prey.

 

Once out of the water he found a rodent of some kind and again carried it off to hide in a safe place.

He (or she of course) could look cute…

Keeping an eye on the Kestrel

…but always cunning.

One thing was certain though – the Kestrel lost out. This time anyway.

We decided to leave Frampton and took a detour to Freiston Shore – another RSPB reserve but, as last time we visited, there was very little of interest.

Onwards then to Skeggie and Gibraltar Point.  By the time the light was failing slightly but we managed to capture some good shots of a Little Egret fishing and what we think is a Grey Plover.

Seafood about to disappear!

Dusk was falling fast and we decided to call it a day.  Having had no lunch, our thoughts quickly sped to fish and chips. Where better to get them than Skegness? We skirted the dubious pleasures of Skeggie at night and found a great chippy – the Seaview – which was packed to the gunwhales with happy eaters. We took our haddock, chips and mushy peas away with us and found a suitable spot to get off the road by a farmer’s gate and consumed them with relish.

No photo as too hungry!

It was nearly 50 miles back to our campsite but it had been an interesting day and well worth the journey.