Frampton Marsh recent sightings: 13th - 19th May 2017

Howdy folks! Welcome back to this week's recent sightings blog post. With me, Chris the visitor guy.

Well, its all a bit wet out there today, but the weekend doesn't look too bad. So should you come birdwatching with us? Of course you should! Here is what has been about over the past week.

Well, last Saturday was a stonkingly good day. We ran out of space on the sightings board! Just have a look at this:

Phew! What a lot of sightings. A personal favourite of mine was the showy whinchat that gave such good views that even I could get a photo...

Hmm, I am not going to win any prizes, am I? Don't worry, we have much better photos lower down.

Two special visitors on the day were Clare and Wayne Gillatt, who were attempting to break the record for most bird species seen in Lincolnshire in a single day. They had a tough task as the record stood at 128 but, with the help of our fantastic birds, they did it and got 131!

Compared to all that, surely Sunday would be something of an anticlimax?

Er, that would be a no. A real good rarity in the form of a broad-billed sandpiper, the third year running we have had one here. Alas, this one didn't stay for long, disappearing soon after it was found, much to the annoyance of everyone coming to twitch it!

Also something of an annoyance was the dotterel which flew in off the sea and headed inland that evening, 30 seconds before I reached the same spot and so did not get to see it. Grrrr!

Well, the sandpiper might have disappeared, but Temminck's stints have hung around. Though do be wary of little stints as we have a number of those too.

As you can see, the bearded tits are also being regularly seen.

What isn't mentioned is the truly impressive numbers of dunlin and ringed plover around, with over 1000 of each!

That should hopefully whet your appetite. Now to make it really keen with some lovely photos!

This singing corn bunting was captured by Stuart Carlton. Trying to find one? Head to the north side of the reedbed. There is a bit of a Spinal Tap bird here, the volume really does go up to 11!

Talking of that side of the reedbed, on Saturday there was an unusually showy grasshopper warbler there, as shot by Alan Brewster

Stuart's sedge warbler seems a bit grumpy about the attention it was getting!

But enough of the small brown birds, you cry. Give us something with some colour. Fair enough, Alan Brewster supplied this absolutely cracking yellow wagtail photo

Also looking good in yellow, the Canda geese have had goslings. Thanks to Terry Stanton to the 'Awwww' photo of the week

Malcolm Graham was just in the right place at the right time for this common tern with its dinner

And finally, because we do like all of nature, some stunning roe deer photos from Steve Keightley

Right, that pretty much covers that.

So, you want to come and visit, don't you? Yes you do! Especially towards the end of the week. there are some brilliant high tides coming. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday next week look especially good, with high tides at 5:40, 6:30 and 7:20 pm respectively. There will be a LOT of birds about, come have a coffee in the centre then head out on the reserve to enjoy the spectacle. Or of ourse come this weekend, the weather looks to be a bit drier from what it has been today.

If you are going to visit us, you can keep up to day 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.

This pretty much wraps up another edition of the sightings blog. I hope you all have a great week of birdwatching, take care, and I'll catch you next time.