Howdy folks, and welcome back to the Frampton Marsh recent sightings.
So, what has been about in the past week? Well, here is Toby with the video round up. or we can fire up the time machine and look at a few maps...
Not too bad a day last Saturday, plenty of interest around. Sunday on the other hand was a lot of snow and not many birds. So no map for then.
The male hen harrier(s) have been quite showy of late. We think there are at least two scooting about. There was definitely one just off the reserve to the North on Tueday. Alas, nothing really spotted ON the reserve that day, so again, no map. Better times the next day...
The white-fronted geese tend to hang out with a small flock of pink-footed geese. Sometimes on the fields on the way into Frampton reserve, but also over at Freiston Shore. At the latter the small party of snow buntings can still be found at the grassland reservoir. They have been very faithful to that spot. The pintail numbers there are impressive too.
Yes, still there on the Thursday too! Back at Frampton the 'plovercane' is still in full force providing a wonderful sight as thousands of golden plover cascade into the air when disturbed off the wet grassland by marauding merlins or prowling peregrines.
And more of the same on the Friday.
So, any nice photos? Well, of course...
Rod Smith got this shot of the snow buntings at Freiston Shore. He also caught just a few of the pintails there
Meanwhile, it might seem a trifle cold out, but spring is in the air. Lots of our resident birds are singing already, we've even heard an early skylark. And Jeremy Eyeons found these teals engaged in a bit of courtship. Go on, give us a kiss!
Talking of the ducks, David Suddards shows here just how lovely a male wigeon can look. The bright colours on the head contrast with the delicate and fine patterning on the wings.
He also captured this tree sparrow at the feeders. it has been a quiet winter for tree sparrows there, but it just shows there are still some around.
So that is about it for this time. If you are coming to visit us, you can keep up to date with the sightings by following our Twitter account. No need to have an account yourself, we make it so everyone can see it. If you do tweet yourself, please remember to use #RSPBframpton so we can see what you are posting, and also ideally mention @RSPBNorfolkLinc. If you have any good photos (or video, or even artwork) we'd love to see that too. Tweet it, or share it on our Facebook page or our Flickr account.
Oh, and do remember to do the Big Garden Birdwatch. Also, from next weekend we'll be planning to expand our food selection in the visitor centre. Filled rolls coming soon!
So take care, good birding, and I'll catch you next time!
Reedbed, freshwater scrapes, saltmarsh and wet meadow. Frampton Marsh has it all! Come and pay us a visit soon.