Howdy folks! And welcome back to the Frampton Marsh recent sightings. With me, Chris the visitor guy.
What do you mean "who?". Yes, yes, I know it has been a while since the last of these. I have been off on leave again. Hey, it was my birthday, give a guy a break! Anyway, I am back now and normal service should be resumed from here on in.
So, let's not muck about, what's about? Cue the maps....
Sorry about the blurriness! So yes, a purple sandpiper is pretty unusual for us, so it was great to have one of those on North Scrape. Here is a photo of it by Tom Hibbert.
Toby our warden got the bonus short-eared owl whilst checking on the state of the reedbed paths. Good news, they are starting to dry out again after the recent, er, dampness!
If you are wondering what a black brant is, it is the American version of a brent goose. Recently been recategorised as a separate species. We get a couple annually at this time of year. Though you do have to search through a couple of thousand brents to find them! In a similar vein, white wagtails are the continental version of our pied wagtail. Though these are not different species. Tuftchard is Toby's pet name for a tufted duck crossed with a pochard.
Sorry, no maps for Wednesday or Tuesday.
That was the first wheatear of the year on Monday. Another sign of spring!
Another first for the year on Sunday, with the first swallow. Still numbers of winter birds though, such as the brambling and whooper swans.
Again, signs of summer to come with the garganey which actually turned up on Wednesday 15 March. That was a good day for rare birds, as this cracking firecrest turned up at Freiston.
Photo by Steve Keightley
And that is pretty much that. It is nice to be back again. As always, enjoy the week's birding, stay safe and I will catch you next time!
Reedbed, freshwater scrapes, saltmarsh and wet meadow. Frampton Marsh has it all! Come and pay us a visit soon.