Honey, I'm hooooooooome :D
Quite literally too. This is my first week back after moving house so feet are firmly rooted and looking forward to a busy few months at my second homes, the reserves of Frampton and Freiston.
I'm going to start off this week with no bird sightings and not even a review but a nod to next week and a plea to all to make sure you visit us at LEAST once. We have some fantastic high tides coming and we don't want any of you missing out on this opportunity to see the reserves at their best and heaving with waders!
The tides this weekend are at the perfect time to pop down in the evening. On Saturday you'll be wanting to get here for around 16:30 with the high tide just before 6 and on Sunday a bit later as the high tide is at 18:50. This will ease you in nicely for the fun that starts on Monday, as every single morning tide will be over 8 metres, peaking at 8.42m on Wednesday. If, like me, this number doesn't mean that much on it's own I'll try and inspire you with this nugget. The Freiston realignment usually gets completely submerged on a 7.5 tide or above... There will be nowhere on this side of the Wash for the majority of waders to go other than Frampton and Freiston.
To help you plan your visit I'll give you the details here. Please make sure you are here at least 2 hours before the tide as birds will already be moving.
High Tides
Monday 11th - 07:00 @ 8.00m and 19:38 @ 7.84mTuesday 12th - 07:44 @ 8.30m and 20:23 @ 7.93mWednesday 13th - 08:28 @ 8.42m and 21:06 @ 7.84mThursday 14th - 09:10 @ 8.32m and 21:47 @ 7.57mFriday 15th - 09:52 @ 8.00m and 22:28 @ 7.16m
AMAZING!! Due to it still being light in August, you get two bites at the wader spectacular cherry with the 13th not looking unlucky at all. I'm trying to contain my excitement and stop smiling but I really can't, it's going to be brilliant. If you can't make it in the morning then an after work/supper jaunt will still be worth it. The hardest thing to decide on is Frampton or Freiston and unfortunately I can't offer any advice on that as I'm undecided myself :S The weather may have some influence too as it's not looking to great but drizzle and showers may well bring birds in so don't worry too much.
Please let as many people know about this as possible as these are comfortably the highest tides this year and are 30cm above the highest tides we had in August last year.
And so to the sightings...
A quick summary of the above map.
1. Not really a sighting as such, more a case of anything could turn up here. We've got the water levels just right on Middle Scrape to bring waders in and peak counts from last weekend (and this is from 360 Hide ONLY) include White-rumped Sandpiper - 1 (briefly seen on the 4th but not confirmed since), Little Stint - 4, Curlew Sandpiper - 8, Wood Sandpiper - 2, Spotted Redshank - 5, Greenshank - 2, Whimbrel - 1, Golden Plover - 1, Turnstone - 1, Snipe - 8+, Little Ringed Plover - 4, Dunlin - 200+, Knot - 200+, Black-tailed Godwit - 1500+, Bar-tailed Godwit - 20+ and Ruff 30+. This is THE place to be next week.
2. The Glossy Ibis is often the closest bird to the hide at times and in the afternoon when the sun is over your shoulder the plumage is magnificent.
3. The mild weather has brought the butterflies out in good number and variety. Of interest last week were regular reports of Clouded Yellow and Painted Lady.
4. The wildflower areas are now full of seeding thistles and teasels, attracting large charms of Goldfinch. These are pleasing to both eye and ear and their feeding acrobatics should provide good photographic opportunities.
5. Green Sandpipers continue to be abundant, though their distribution has been reduced somewhat with ditches drying out. Heavy rain over the next few day may spread them out again.
6. We only really know our Snipe numbers are on the up when they get flushed and suddenly 3 or 4 become 15 or more. Look out for them on the island fringes and in sparse vegetation.
7. What will be our peak count of Black-tailed Godwit next week? The tides could well push in over 5,000 of these leggy lovelies. Recently one of regulars broke the 3 figure mark for colour ring reading of godwits at Frampton. Please do keep an eye out and record any that you see. Details of the various ringing schemes that you submit your sightings to can be found here.
8. With Emerald Damselfly being a recent edition to the reserve odonata list, it's worth looking in and around the ditches to add to this record but also to look out for Red-veined Darter and Red-eyed Damselfly.
Hope that's enough for you to be getting on with and to keep you busy over the next few days, sightings and super dooper photos next.
The Lesser Yellowlegs did a bunk during the last week of July but was nicely replaced by another 'Yank' in the form of a White-rumped Sandpiper. Much to everyone's approval this one was a much more confiding bird and would often be the closest bird to the hide at times during its stay.
Wood Sandpiper (near) and White-rumped Sandpiper (far) from the 360 Hide.
White-rumped Sandpiper - Steve Keightley
White-rumped Sandpiper - Paul Sullivan
Unfortunately we haven't had a confirmed sighting since the morning of the 4th but with 2 being seen in November last year, we hope that it, or another, reappear.
The Glossy Ibis is still a big draw and has been looking fantastic in the sun from 360 hide.
Glossy Ibis - Antonio Esposito
Glossy Ibis - Mark Holmes
Glossy Ibis (showing active wing moult) - Neil Smith
Up to three Spoonbill have been on Middle Scrape too, the black tips to the wings and extensive pale on the bills indicate that these are this years birds.
Spoonbill - Jill Hall
Spoonbill - Ian Ellis
As always at this time of year it is difficult to filter out the support cast from the highlights as everything is good.
Waders are now returning in good number with the moulting adults now being steadily joined by fresh plumaged youngsters. It is worth reading up on adult and juvenile plumages as knowing the difference between the two can help sort out identification. Most adult birds that we are seeing will be, for lack of a better word, 'wearing' two lots of feathers, their tatty but brightly coloured summer smarts and their dowdy but newer winter wear. The contrast in these two ages of feather can be picked out relatively easily, whereas one of this years youngsters will have a uniform plumage as all feathers are of the same age. I won't go into this too much here but if there is interest I'd be happy to do a seperate blog on ageing and identifying waders. As usual, just let me know :)
A very showy young Wood Sandpiper has been parading in front of 360 Hide where it was joined by up to 4 Little Stints.
Wood Sandpiper
Little Stint - Paul Sullivan
With 27 species of wader seen last month, of which 25 were seen at Frampton on the 28th before 9am and 24 on the 30th, August is off to a good start with 23 recorded already and those numbers will hopefully encourage a visit or two by some of you next week.
We had some great colour ring feedback this week. 3 birds in particualr stand out with 2 having their first sighting since being ringed as chicks in Iceland.
Chick
GR-YR 18.07.00 Blonduos, N IcelandGR-YR 14.02.07 Tagus estuary, Setúbal, W PortugalGR-YR 15.09.07 North Killingholme, Humber, Lincolnshire, E EnglandGR-YR 04.10.07 Tichwell, Norfolk, E EnglandGR-YR 11.10.07 Wader Lake, Castel Espie, Northern IrelandGR-YR 29.01.09 Cley, Norfolk, E EnglandGR-YR 30.03.09 Snettisham, the Wash estuary, Norfolk, E EnglandGR-YR 26.09.12 Frampton Marsh(Reedbed), the Wash estuary, Lincolnshire, E EnglandGR-YR 5.08.14 Frampton Marsh, the Wash estuary, Lincolnshire, E England
Black-tailed Godwit chick RW-YRflag - Astrid Kant
RW-YRflag 04.07.09 Skerdingsstadir II, Reykholar, NW IcelandRW-YRflag 5.08.14 Frampton Marsh, the Wash estuary, Lincolnshire, E England
GR-WRflag 16.07.07 Siglufjordur, N IcelandGR-WRflag 5.08.14 Frampton Marsh, the Wash estuary, Lincolnshire, E England
Freiston Reservoir is a good place to be when the tides peak. Over 70 Greenshank were seen together on there last month and a quick scan on the 7th revealed 4 Common and 2 Green Sandpipers with a dozen or so Yellow Wagtails. A cracking Red Kite shook things up briefly, lifting over 60 Little Egrets up from the realignment and lagoon.
Our first Merlin of the year was recorded this week and Marsh Harriers continue to drift through in good conditions.
Marsh Harrier - Ian Ellis
And as they've been mentioned on the sightings map, we'll finish with some smaller flying highlights for you to look out for in the coming weeks.
Painted Lady - Neil Smith
Ruddy Darters - Neil Smith
Well that's all from me 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. We've also set up a Flickr page for you to share your excellent photographs so please add as many as you like.
The more you're out the more you see - https://twitter.com/BoyWonderBirder
Sounds like a fantastic evening you had Ian. While the tides are on the wane they are still pretty high so hopefully more to come. A quick look at the tides for next month show another set of good 'highs' in the second week of September. Hopefully you won't wait that long to come and see us again though.