Frampton Marsh recent sightings: 10 - 16 February 2020

Time for another sightings blog from Poppy. Let's see what she has to say... 

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Monday 10 February:

We ended up with some very unexpected weather on Monday! Snow, sleet, sun and rain all made appearances. Not only did we have unexpected weather, but we also had some fabulous spots on the reserve. Bank vole and mole were both spotted from the visitor centre, both underneath the feeders. They have made appearances since too. There were also 62 whooper swan spotted on the reedbed at dawn and dusk.

Tuesday 11 February:

It seems we had plenty of raptors about, with marsh harrier (location 1), hen harrier (location 1), peregrine (location 2) and merlin all spotted. The great white egret was back on the reserve at location 3 and has made quite a few appearances lately and a snipe was spotted over by the east hide at location 4.

Wednesday 12 February:

Wednesday was another great day here at #RSPBFrampton! Our volunteer team were working on something rather exciting. Have you seen the new feeder set up? In fact plenty of birds were loving it! Lots of activity around the feeding station, with at least 11 species spotted.

We also had 4 barnacle geese spotted at location 5, several fieldfare in the hedgerow towards the old car park (location 6) and 2 pintail on the scrapes at location 7.

Thursday 13 February:

We had a brilliant day weather wise, with sunshine actually making an appearance. We also had spots of redwing in location 6, the barnacle geese back again at location 5 and more great sights of raptors which included merlin and marsh harrier on the reedbed, 2 ringtail hen harrier on the saltmarsh and a peregrine on its usual perch at location 8.

Friday 14 February:

After the success of the new feeding station shift around, there was plenty to be seen. An inquisitive wren favoured the new log pile and there were always (at least) 4 long-tailed tit on the feeders throughout the day.

We had several pink-footed geese on the reedbed, 3 bewick’s swan spotted from raptor viewpoint at location 9 and sightings of merlin and skylark (location 10). The merlin spot in particular was quite the spectacle, as it was observed chasing a skylark! Lots of people stopped to watch the tumbles and turns of the birds.

Saturday 15 February:

The great-white egret was back again at location 11, spotted close by to spotted redshank. There were great views of 80 whooper swan at location 12, they’re often spotted at dawn and dusk on the reedbed until they move over to fields or the wet grassland throughout the day.

The kingfisher was spotted by the 360 hide (location 3) and further afield were some great sightings of brown hare across the wet grassland at location 4.

Sunday 16 February:

The great white egret was spotted for another day and we also had sightings of a stoat on the pathway towards the old car park at location 6. The kingfisher was also back for another day but moved further up the scrapes and was seen at location 13.

A great regular sighting on the reserve at the moment are the 1000s of golden plover. With so many raptors about, they are often up in the air and providing spectacular views. Often they fill they sky!!

A ringtail hen harrier right in front of the visitor centre was a definite highlight of the day. There were also some fabulous sightings of marsh harrier, sparrowhawk, kestrel and peregrine too! 

This weekend our warden, Toby, is running a fantastic event. This is a brilliant opportunity to join him on his monthly wetland bird count, this event allows for an intimate and personalised walk where you can get tips and guidance on bird identification and experience how surveys and counts are conducted. The next ‘Walk with the Warden’ event is on Sunday 23 February. Not able to make it? He will be doing the same every month for the rest of the year. For further details, check out our Eventbrite page.

That’s it for the sightings this week, but there will be plenty more to bring you soon. You may have noticed some changes recently. We now have our very own, exclusive #RSPBFrampton Facebook and Twitter pages. So be sure to check those out!

If you are coming to visit us, make sure to keep up to date with 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 our hashtag #RSPBFrampton, and also ideally mention @RSPBFrampton. 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. It may also be useful for you to know the weather and tide times for the site, which may well have an impact on what is showing.

Finally, important news if you were planning on visiting us on Friday 6 March. Due to staff training we will be unable to open the visitor centre. The reserve itself with all the paths, hides and car parks will be open. There just will not be anywhere to use the loo or get a drink or snack. You have been warned!