Bit of a fast and furious blog this week as I've been out on site with a digger since 07:30 and only just got in the office and my tea's in the oven!!
So lets get to it. Quality over quantity this week. The Great Northern Diver remained at Freiston from last week offering good photographic opportunities on occasion but it get's knocked from top spot by wildfowl this week.
Great Northern Diver - Neil Smith
A trio of interesting sightings were on offer with one lingering from last week and two fresh in. The Australian Wood Duck continues to attract interest as it feeds out on the grassland with the Wigeon. Our regular party of roosting Whooper Swans has been joined by 2 Bewick's Swans. These can be seen on the reserve at dawn or dusk and during the day they are best looked for from the cross bank in the fields to the south. Completing the trilogy were a quartet of European White-fronted Geese that arrived on Wednesday, tagging along with our resident Canada Geese. Away from these three we had a wonderful Pink-footed Geese movement on the morning of the 10th. Hundreds were seen moving out of The Wash and heading north west, with many being seen passing over head throughout the county later in the day.
Australian Wood Duck - Ian Ellis
Bewick's Swan - Ian Ellis
European White-fronted Geese - Ian Ellis
Keeping with geese I was fortunate enough to pick out a colour ringed Dark-bellied Brent Goose with colour rings on. This bird had been caught in August 2006 in Siberia and had spent the winters since then around Holland and Denmark. It wasn't seen at all last year and this is the first time it's been recorded in this country! Not quite sure how to do pdf conversions into blog posts but will have a head scratch and hopefully post it next week.
Dark-bellied Brent Goose L7B8 - Toby Collett
And just to finish the wildfowl off we have a STOP PRESS sighting with a stunning male Red-crested Pochard found in front of the Reedbed Hide this morning. This is a second for Frampton and the first male. This has been associating with other Pochard as well as our long staying Scaup pair. The 7 Snow Bunting have proved elusive but are still reported daily on the islands.
Raptors still prove to be a big draw with Peregrines harassing each other over the scrapes, Merlins speeding over the grassland, Hen and Marsh Harriers quartering over the salt marsh and Barn Owls patrolling the ditches at dusk.
A Chiffchaff was an excellent January find by Dan in the hedgerow that borders the public footpath on the 12th and was seen again on the 15th.
A Jack Snipe has been regularly seen, though difficult and patience needed, from the gate behind Reedbed Hide that looks over Middle Scrape. There is some short vegetation on the right along the fringe that leads up to the hide.
It is there, promise.....
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The more you're out the more you see - https://twitter.com/BoyWonderBirder