Frampton Marsh recent sightings: 23 - 29 September 2017

Howdy folks! And welcome back to the Frampton Marsh recent sightings blog. With me, Chris the visitor guy.

As is by now traditional, we will kick off with the maps from the last week

First few pink-footed geese of the year starting to drift through... Oh, and it was the Wetland Bird Survey day. Count of black-tailed godwit? 6900!

Lots of stuff about. Nice to see clouded yellow butterflies still around too. If you are interested, the Dakota is one that was flown by the Royal Canadian Air Force in the second world war, and is now flown by the Battle of Britian Memorial Flight.

Double flycatcher action behind East hide! Plus a trip pipit at the river moth. The walk down to the river mouth is often underwatched, who knows what else there might be lurking down there.

More butterflies..

Willow tit, if confirmed, would be an incredibly good record for the reserve.Certainly small stuff about, there was a possible yellow-browed warbler in the same sort of place too, though never pinned down.

Hang on a minute.... TWO great whites? Er, well yes. Turns out there is at least two. Possibly even a third, out on the saltmarsh. These egrets are a bit like buses...

There was a south Lincs RSPB group boat cruise on this day too, which saw a juvenile black tern at the river mouth

First white-fronts of the year today.

And now the traditional photo extravaganza!

White the great white egret(s) were attracting a lot of attention, the little egrets are always worth a look too. Derek Lees was seeing double twice over when he caught this pair, neatly mirrored in the water surface.

Of course one of the reasons for all the egrets and herons is the supply of fish. This grey heron seems to have hit the jackpot! Photo by 'andyno43'

Of course it isn't just fish in the water, invertebrates live in the mud under it too. This great photo by Derek Lees shows very nicely the flexible tip to godwits' beaks. It gives it a really strange look, doesn't it?

Mind you, you can do more than look for food in water, you can bathe in it too. Like this yellow wagtail, captured by Howard Birley

Best keep a sharp eye out though, there is always someone watching you... Kestrel by Steve Dawes

In which case, it is best to stick with your mates, and watch each others backs. Like these starlings, photographed one evening by Neil Smith

If you are coming to visit us, you can keep up to date 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.

I hope you all have a great week, take care, have fun, and I will catch you next time.