Long time no see online Framptoneers :) Hope I find you all well as I stand in for chris for this weeks sightings round up and try to keep the standards up.
Will very quickly pass on this weeks maps which you can find in the links here >> Saturday 5th Tuesday 8th Wednesday 9th Friday 11th
The map below is what you'll want to be looking out for if you visit this weekend. This is made up of all of this weeks most regular sightings so gives you the best chance to be in the right place at the right time to see some of our more unusual birds. As you may have noticed, not on the list are the long-billed dowitcher and glossy ibis which haven't been seen for a good few days now.
Hopefully all of the above will be achievable during a visit. Plenty of visitors have managed to get to see all of these over the last few days.
The images below captures the best of Frampton at the minute.The car park field is absolutely HEAVING with wigeon. There are currently over two thousand feeding within metres of the fence line. Not only is this a wonderful visual spectacle but the whirring engine like sound as they take off made a few people jump today!
Wigeon - Steve Clayton
While wigeon dominate the grassland, their slightly larger and darker cousins are burbling away on the salt marsh. Brent geese had a terrible breeding season last year so it's good to have them back in such numbers.
Dark-bellied brent geese - Steve Clayton
And how do we know if brents have had a good or poor breeding season in the far north of Siberia? By looking for the stripey ones. In Andrew's excellent image below you can see both the bottom left and bottom right birds have obvious white lines on the flight feathers. These are juveniles, birds born this year, and the ratio of these birds to the plain backed adults give an indication of a breeding season. There should usually be between 15-25% of juveniles seen in a flock. Last year it was often less than 2%! The good news is that while we can't control what happens in northern Russia, we can ensure that conditions are right for them through the winter here.
Dark-bellied brent geese - Andrew Thompson
With bird numbers building on the reserve, it's no surprise to see the winter 'Raptor Spectacular' starting to establish. 7 species of birds of prey were seen from the Visitor Centre today, the highlight being two flybys over the reedbed by a ringtail hen harrier. If you want to try and catch up with some of these masters of the sky then check the map at the top of the blog for the best spots. You may even be lucky enough to some photos as good as Oliver's!
Peregrine - Oliver Woodman
Hen harrier - Oliver Woodman
If big birds aren't your thing then worry not, we cater for the wee ones too. Our crop strips to the north of the Reedbed and in North Scrape are heaving with finches. The mixed flock of goldfinch, linnet and greenfinch is well over 500 with a few reed bunting, skylark and even a stonechat or two, like the one Jeremy found below, mixed in. Needless to say, this is often the best area to find merlin and sparrowhawk while we can expect barn owls to start hunting regularly there soon.
Stonechat - Jeremy Eyeons
And lastly, it seems that it isn't just our visitors that enjoy the spectacle from the sea bank. Terry caught this Crow taking 5 minutes to puzzle over the difference between redshank and spotted redshank earlier this week.
Crow - Terry Stanton
And just before we go, we're incredibly proud and flattered to announce that we've been nominated twice in this years Birders Choice Awards. We are in category 5 - 'Birds in the News' for the incredible invasion of curlew sandpipers we had in August (if you'd like a reminder of those few days, read the BirdGuides article here) and also in Category 7 as 'Site of the Year'. If you've been to Frampton, had a great day and think we're worthy of a nod in either or both categories then please click this link and tick our boxes.
That's all from us this week. Enjoy your weekend everyone, and if you can't wait 7 days to know what's going on here, keep your finger on the Lincolnshire Wash Reserves pulse by following us on Twitter and giving us a ‘like’ on Facebook. Alternatively if you enjoy taking pictures and have a Flickr account then please join our group and share your images with everyone. If you are thinking of paying a visit from near or far please do check out the tide times which can make a big difference to both numbers and variety of birds seen on the day.
The more you're out the more you see - https://twitter.com/BoyWonderBirder