Hello hellooooooo. Sightings are here and thank you for you patience :)
Here are the links to our sightings maps from the past week >> Sunday 13th Monday 14th Tuesday 15th Wednesday 16th Thursday 17th Saturday 19th, Sunday 20th.
The main highlights were the Snow Bunting seen from the 360 Hide and also from the sea bank viewpoint. Our party of Bearded Tit remain, but in this weather are best looked for with ears rather than eyes, and the same goes for our Cetti's Warbler too, but that's the case all year round as they are very skulky indeed.
Another wonderful week for raptors with Merlin, Peregrine and Hen Harrier seen daily. You'll see why we're so popular with our winged hunters later.
This is a super dooper quick sightings round up so unfortunately no 'what to see map' for this week but it won't be too dissimilar to the one from last week.
Key birds and places to look for them are:
The Whooper Swan have now settled into roosting on the reserve but there aren't lots at the minute. Early starts or late finishes are needed if you want to catch up with them. Another option is to scan the fields to the South of the Cross Bank and check there as they will often spend the day grazing on the crops.
Whooper Swan - Neil Smith
A scan of the those fields may also turn up some pink-footed geese, but recently you would have just as good a chance seeing them on the Marsh Farm Grassland as over a hundred have been out there. occasionally under the watchful eye of a Peregrine.
Pink-footed Goose - Neil Smith
I mentioned before about the regular birds of prey on the reserve and that's down to the sheer abundance of potential meals. The reserves is absolutely heaving at the minute and we're not even nearly at capacity. Check out some of the images below and videos in the blue links to get a feel for the thousands of birds that currently call Frampton home.
An absolute chocca Middle Scrape! - Dean
Wildfowl a plenty - Neil Smith
Middle Scrape explodes- Dean
And here are some brief video clips to give you a little feel for the numbers we've had. This is a very full Middle Scrape and these are whirling over the Roads Farm grassland. Steve took this great clip of Wigeon being remarkably unspookable, an experience that visitors are getting more and more as this usually wary species gets used to people.
And when you have as many birds as we do, there's often something a little different to find in among them. John found this partially leucistic carrot billed Lapwing on an early morning walk. We've not seen it before and it's not been reported so if you have seen then please let us know.
Lapwing doing it's best festive snowman impression - John Badley
But it isn't just odd Lapwing to keep you entertained on the wader front. As well as a couple of Spotted Redshank out on Roads Farm, there are plenty of ruff to be found too. While they can be tricky to separate from Redshank on the ground, in flight the lack of a white trailing edge in the wing and big white rump make it much easier.
Ruff - Neil Smith
Likewise, one of the best ways to separate godwits is in flight. Bar-tailed Godwit are much plainer in flight, looking more like a Curlew or Whimbrel with a white rump and plain wings. Black-tailed Godwit however are much more striking. They should really be called black(and white)-tailed (and winged) godwits due to those wonderful stripes.
Black-tailed Godwit - Neil Smith
With all our crops having matured nicely there are plenty of seeds around and where you have seeds you have things to at them, both feathered and furry. While Merlin and Sparrowhawk will have their eyes on the finches and buntings, the rodents will have to have their wits about them too.
Kestrel - Neil Smith
This Barn Owl got a few of us going back through the books to double checked for the dark-breasted race of Barn Owl. Fortunately former Lincs Wash Reserves Assistant Warden Paul French is pretty switched on when it comes to bird id and wrote a fantastic paper in British Birds on how to separate them. We know now what to look for if one does turn up, check out the feet....
Barn Owl - Ian Bollen
You may usually associate the Green Woodpecker with open grassland and tall mature trees, well I do at least, so it may come as a surprise to know that we get them regularly on the coast here at Frampton. They are usually heard or seen from behind as they undulate into the distance, so Alan did fantastically well to catch this chap (red in the moustachial stripe, females are all black) perched up.
Green Woodpecker - Alan Brewster
And on the subject of separating males and females, check out these Stonechat pics. The males are much darker in comparison to the much paler females. Have a look for them round the back of the reedbed and in North Scrape.
Stonechat (male) - Macca
Stonechat (female) - Neil Smith
There are only a couple of Stonechat about but lots and lots of Fieldfare along the Cross Bank and hedgerow. The branches are currently laden with berries but they won't last long with the number of thrushes guzzling them down. 'Leave some for the scores of Waxwing dudes!!'
Fieldfare - Mark Holmes
But if you can't get out and about then worry not, the Visitor Centre is a still a hive of activity with the feeders attracting dozens of sparrows and finches. A new bird table has brought them in even closer and with rising water levels you can also expect to see Teal and Wigeon grazing just outside the windows.
Goldfinch - Macca
And just before we go, we're incredibly proud and flattered to announce that we've been nominated twice in this years Birders Choice Awards. We are in category 5 - 'Birds in the News' for the incredible invasion of Curlew Sandpiper we had in August (if you'd like a reminder of those few days, read the BirdGuides article or watch Jack's excellent video summary) and also in Category 7 as 'Site of the Year'. If you've been to Frampton, had a great day and think we're worthy of a nod in either or both categories then please click this link and tick our boxes.
That's all from us 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. Alternatively if you enjoy taking pictures and have a Flickr account then please join our group and share your images with everyone. If you are thinking of paying a visit from near or far please do check out the tide times which can make a big difference to both numbers and variety of birds seen on the day.
The more you're out the more you see - https://twitter.com/BoyWonderBirder