Howdy folks, and welcome to another edition of the Frampton Marsh recent sightings. With me, Chris, the visitor guy.
So, its a bumper excitement packed edition this week. Strap yourself in, and we'll start with last weekend...
Yes, that is a long-billed dowitcher that is taking pride of place on the board. A rare American wader that looks a bit like a snipe-sized godwit. But don't take my word for it. Check out this video from reserve regular Dan:https://twitter.com/PrecipiceNewton/status/783723865910444032
Or indeed this photo by 'Fenbirder' on Twitter
You can see where it gets the name can't you?
This nice bird was another reserve first, and the thirty-fourth species of wader seen feet-down on the managed part of the reserve since April. Not a bad tally!
Unfortunately, it did also prove to be rather elusive. Not helped by the manky weather. Still, it has hang around, as the next few maps will show. Though apologies no map, for Sunday.
Sunday did have the return late afternoon of the dowitcher, alsoo 2 ring ouzel, brambling and a wood sandpiper, plus the usual suspects such as curlew sandpiper and little stint.
Monday then....
So the dowitcher had nipped over to Freiston Shore for the morning, but came back later on in the day. Lots of yellow-browed warblers around in the country, and we were feeling a bit left out. But one popped up in the carpark, so that was nice.
Ooops, no map for the Tuesday either. Mostly more of the same with one important distinction, a grey phalarope on the wet grassland to the north of the old car park and it's that Dan again with some video footage...
https://twitter.com/PrecipiceNewton/status/783326103851106306
How about Wednesday?
Oooh, bearded tits! More ring ouzels and the first whooper swans of the year. The firecrest and sooty shearwater show what i have been saying for years. that at this time of year it is well worth taking a bit of time to walk all the way down to the river mouth. Nowhere near enough people do so, and all the bushes that line the path are horribly underwatched.
On to Thursday...
Yes, the phalarope returns!
Right, finally onto today....
The merlins were especially good. A female was using the reedbed tree as a perch on and off through most of the day, before being joined by a male. The dowitcher showed reasonably well, except for when I went to look for it, of course! Tree sparrow numbers on the centre feeders were impressive, 25 is probably a very conservative estimate. There were also nice close views of a water rail. And yes, it's the Dan Cam again...
https://twitter.com/PrecipiceNewton/status/784437667362660352
So there you have the week.
Now normally I just end it there. But I'm doing a quick look ahead. For starters, lets look at the weather, taken from the BBC website.
So that is cloudy with north-easterly winds for pretty much the next week and a bit. Great for getting those migrating birds in. This is a brilliant time for getting down here. Who knows what might turn up. High tdes over the next few days are low, but at least at a civilised hour, so that is helpful too.
So hope to see you all over the next few days down here at the reserve. Either way have a great week, take care, and I'll see you next time.
Reedbed, freshwater scrapes, saltmarsh and wet meadow. Frampton Marsh has it all! Come and pay us a visit soon.