Apologies for the relatively late notice but if you've never been to Frampton or Freiston or only visit a few times a year, THIS weekend could be spectacular. I've been following the weather and tide times and if the birding gods are feeling generous then we have a weekend of the years highest tides at good times with the bonus of favourable winds. It could be a birding jackpot! First thing to do is check the tide times. Go here and click on any of the next 5 days. We are lucky in that a early start could see you get a whopping tide in followed by a full day in the field and another high tide in the evening. The tides are higher in the morning so my recommendation would be to be at Frampton first thing, enjoy the tide then bird for the rest of the day before heading to Freiston 2-3 hours before the evening tide.
Here are some fantastic images from our Flickr group to try and stir your birding loins.....
Anthony Walton
Steve Keightley
Nathian Brook
Christine Booth
As you can tell from the photos, not only will you get the spectacle of thousands of birds, you will also get to marvel at their plumages too. Many will be in transition from their summer finery to their drab winter colours, non-breeders will already wearing their greys while this years youngsters will all be looking eat and tidy. At Frampton you will get more variety with the bulk being black-tailed godwits and a supporting cast of plenty of dunlin, ringed plover, golden plover and lapwing. A few niceties will include ruff, wood sandpiper, little stint and curlew sandpiper but if you want numbers and WOWZA factor then Freiston will blow your socks off with oystercatcher, knot and redshank totalling several thousand. Extras here will consist of grey plover, turnstone, bar-tailed godwit and dunlin. If you had to pick one over the other I would ask you to toss a coin as both will be excellent so please try and make a day of it and get to both. Frampton in the morning and Freiston in the evening.
That's all from me for now. Hope your weekend at the reserves turn out to be as good as I've built them up to be. If you do visit this weekend and have a great time, share it with us and our followers on Twitter or post a picture and comment on our Facebook page. The excellent pictures you see above are all from our Flickr page so if you take any then please join our group and share your images with everyone. Finally, pick your day and check those tide times. Getting up half an hour earlier or staying that little bit longer could make a big difference.
The more you're out the more you see - https://twitter.com/BoyWonderBirder