Firstly a quick apology for not getting this out yesterday. 3/4 of the way through the blog and my computer signs me out so I can't save it. Rather than throwing said computer out the window I thought better of it and decided to get in the office early and get it done, and here we are.
So last week you may have been relieved to see waders not getting the glitz and glamour of the top liners...... no such luck this week. Waders are back with a bang for two reasons and the bird below is one.
Buff-breasted Sandpiper - Paul Sullivan
This subtle and gorgeous buff-breasted sandpiper was found by Brian Stone on Sunday afternoon, a first for the reserve! Regular visitors to the reserve and readers of the blog may not immediately be familiar with buff-breasted sandpiper but this clip may jog your memory banks as it was featured on the BBC's Life of Birds.
Now while this is the second new wader for the reserve's list coming after the Baird's sandpiper in July it is just a little bit more special and the cherry on the top of a fantastic month for the Lincolnshire Wash Reserves. We recorded 29 species of wader in September 2013 and if this number doesn't ring any bells then hopefully Chris's blog will enlighten you.
And while we're on blogs this one lets you know about the second reserve first we had this week. A quick mental top up and I think we've had 6 new species recorded on the reserve since I started in mid-June!
So as well as our 28th and 29th species of wader this week, what else have we had? There's been daily (peak) sightings of avocet 2, curlew sandpiper (4), little stint (2) and spotted redshank (4) from the 360 Hide and a single of the latter was at Freiston on the 2nd. Jack snipe have been regular, though a little more elusive than everything else, with most sightings coming from those out in the tractor topping our grassy areas. A single bird was in among the reed fringes at Freiston on Wednesday. The piping call of golden plover is now more more familiar as numbers build but keep your eyes out for a flash of black armpit in circling groups as grey plover are becoming more regular visitors to the Frampton Scrapes.
Brent Geese - Paul French
Rather than being non-existent like it has been for the past 5 months, the above image is now a regular feature of a visit to Frampton. Yes, that's right ladies and gents, the brent geese are back!! As well as not being able to visit without seeing them, it's going to be very unlikely that you won't become familiar with their burbling call by the time you leave either. Almost over night the reserve has become alive and from a relatively low 90 last week we are up to 500 already. As much as that sounds it hasn't yet topped our fantastic wigeon numbers which are now surely pushing 4 figures and hopefully the 45 pink-footed geese that dropped in briefly on the 28th will also build in number. While these are expected, what did catch us out was the years first returning European white-fronted goose. This bird dropped into the wet grassland with some greylag geese on the morning of the 2nd. If you haven't got time to go through the differences between European and Greenland white-fronted goose, then a quick look at Ian's excellent pic below shows it to be European due to the pinkish bill (Greenland is orange), paler overall tone (Greenland are darker) and reduced black barring on the belly, though this is a variable feature and should be used as a guide rather than a clincher.
European white-fronted goose - Ian Ellis
It's been a good week for passerine movement with lots of meadow pipit and skylark both over head and feeding on the ground. Our trio of chats, wheatear, whinchat and stonechat were all present this week though we can probably bid farewell to the first two of those as they head south for warmer climes. And a quick reminder to all to look up every now and again as a few of our visitors did while watching the buff breasted sandpiper on Sunday and were rewarded with the unusual sight of a pair of gannet circling over the wet grassland!
Stonechat - Ian Ellis
And finally a big thank you to everyone who has let me use their images to illustrate the sightings blog. Hopefully readers appreciate it as much as I do as it really helps bring the reserve to life on the page. If you would like to share your pictures either with everyone the please register to post them in our gallery or feel free to e-mail me pictures or links to your personal blog with pictures of your visit.
Enjoy your weekend.
The more you're out the more you see - https://twitter.com/BoyWonderBirder