Howdy folks! Welcome back to another edition of the Frampton Marsh recent sightings. With me, Chris the visitor guy.
Gosh, the weather seems to have gone a bit nice. April showers are somewhat lacking of late. I'm sure that will change now I have tempted Fate though! So, what has been about? Let the maps commence...
As you can see, the summer migrants are definitely coming in with swallows, sedge warblers and yellow wagtails. on the other hand, we have some winter birds here too, like the pink-footed goose (possibly a poorly bird left behind).
The bearded tits are quite tricky to find. Try either at the western end of the reedbed, or over by the old car park. If there is not too much wind (early on is best) you may even be lucky to get a view like this:
Photo by Anthony Bentley
The water shrew was only the third to be seen at the reserve, a good record!
Hrm, for some reason sightings were a bit hard to come by on Tuesday. Oh well...
Ooh yes, this was a good day. As is often the case the status of the stork is pretty iffy. There are various escapees wandering around the countryside. But it was great to see it. Followed not too long after by a red kite. A ring ouzel at the end of the day was just the icing on the cake. This seems also to have been the last time any whooper swans were seen.
Meanwhile at Freiston, an Iceland gull. As captured in this video by Jack Dawson: http://tinyurl.com/kcjbpny
In case you are wondering about #6, a stoat tried to make a meal of a redshank and grabbed its leg. Cue a tussle, with the eventual winner being the bird which got away.
Yes, 1 April brought in the first sedgies and yellow wagtails for the year. No fooling!
So, do we have any other nice photos? Well, try this little ringed plover on for size. Taken by Anthony Bentley
Or this smart male reed bunting, by Matt Robinson
Or this ruff by Jeremy Eyeons
Looking ahead, it is set to be a warm and sunny weekend. Which probably means we'll be busy with lots of kids doing the Easter egg trail.
On Monday, advance warning that the old/bottom car park will be closed all day for some maintenance. Please park in the main car park only.
As a reminder, you can keep up to date with sightings via our Twitter feed. Please let us know your sightings too, use #RSPBframpton (or #RSPBfreiston) and @ mention us. If you have good photos, please do post them on our Facebook and Flickr pages.
So, there you have it. I wish you all a great week of birdwatching. Stay safe and I will catch you all next time.
Reedbed, freshwater scrapes, saltmarsh and wet meadow. Frampton Marsh has it all! Come and pay us a visit soon.