One of our objectives at Frampton Marsh was to create a reedbed that would one day be home to some spectacular wildlife. Now, three and a half years after the first reeds went into the ground we're starting to see some action. A very brief visit by a bittern last year has been surpassed by regular sightings of small numbers of bearded tits over the last few weeks. Although it looks like they might not have hung around for the long-term, it's certainly a step in the right direction. One other recent addition to the reedbed fauna is flocks of starlings coming into roost on an evening. Starlings are often unfairly labelled as 'common' but seeing huge murmurations of starlings indulging in aerial acrobabtics is one of this country's true wildlife spectacles. Now we are a little away from 'huge' with a peak count of 800 birds roosting with us, but this is yet another step in the right direction. Finally, with the recent addition of a few thousand rudd into the reedbed, we hope that the second bittern to join us at Frampton Marsh might just stay with us for longer than a couple of hours.
Other interesting sightings this week include regular views of male hen harriers, merlin, peregrine, the odd waxwing, over a thousand fieldfare with a few redwings thrown in, up to 800 pink footed geese plus several thousand wigeon, brent geese, golden plover and lapwings.