Frampton Marsh recent sightings: 10 - 16 September 2016

Howdy folks! And welcome to another edition of the Frampton Marsh recent sightins. With me, Chris the visitor guy.

So what do we have in store for you this time?

Well, for starters a few less maps than usual. With the departure of Sarah my intern, my days off are being covered by other members of the Frampton team, and I need to persuade them to start sending me photos of the sightings board. So apologies for the lack of info on Monday and Tuesday. But lets look at what we do have...

It was a bit wet today, so not many people out looking for things. Still the kingfisher is a nice sighting, becoming increasingly common to see as birds head towards the coast for the winter. They have been sitting on the perch in front of the visitor centre too. No-one has got a photo of one there yet though, so a challenge for all the photographers out there!

The Lapland bunting sighting is quite nice. These little birds arrive from their Scandinavian homes any time between now and mid-October. Tricky to catch up with though, unless you know the calls.

 (Photo by Neil Smith, not the bird on the day)

So, Wednesday...

We haven't shown you a nice picture of the bees yet, have we?

Thanks to John Marshall from Wakefield RSPB group for this photo

Right, and here's the info gap. Er, sorry about that. I do know however an osprey was seen on the Tuesday...

So, last weekend:

So quite a few migrants in, possibly brought in by the previous day's bad weather...

That's a pretty full map! Most things were down on the deck though, as it was raining for most of the day. The barn owl was a nice surprise, passing within feet of the visitor centre windows. Later on in the year we often get owls doing that, but it is much rarer at this time of year. 

 (Photo by Neil Smith)

And that was the week that was. Oh, other than to mention the world's luckiest field vole. Which narrowly missed being accidentally sliced by Kate whilst she was brushcutting on the islands in the scraps. The blade came so close that it actually shaved off some of its whiskers.

Right, and now here's a really important bit. the morning tides for the next few days are HUGE. Seriously big. This will push all the birds off The Wash and onto the reserve (or indeed onto Freiston Shore). It will also cover the saltmarsh, something which doesn't happen very often at all. You generally need a tide of over 8.2 metres to do that. so lets see what they are going to be like...

Saturday -  6:58 am (7.99 m) and 7:33 pm (7.80 m)

Sunday - 7:39 am (8.27 m) 

Monday - 8:20 am (8.37 m)  wow!

Tuesday - 9:02 am (8.26 m)

Wednesday - 9:45 am (7.91 m)

I've only mentioned the evening tides on Saturday because although they are still big, they are after dark so you won't get to see anything! And it definitely is a sight to be seen. If you like birds, get yourself over to one of the reserves to see it happen! There is every chance staff will be out on the sea bank at Frampton on the Monday, maybe see you there?

Anyway, I hope you appreciated the weekly sightings. I have the next five days off. Woohoo! Hopefully my colleagues will take the necessary photos for next week's blog. So have a good week, take care, and I will catch you next time!