Howdy folks, and welcome to the last of this current format of the Frampton Marsh recent sightings blog. With me, Chris the Visitor Guy.
Wait, what? The last? Are we stopping doing the recent sightings? Well, no. But there a few changes afoot, which will take effect from next week. First of which is the timing of these blogs. Instead of doing them on Fridays (or sometimes Saturdays), I will be trying to get them out on Thursdays. This way people will have more time to make plans and decide if they want to come to us for the weekend. I'm not sure why anyone wouldn't want to come here, but there you go!
The second change will be that there will no longer be daily sightings maps. Often the species mentioned are in the same place every day, so instead of basically repeating ourselves, instead we will do one big weekly map that shows where things are, then go into more detail underneath. A similar thing will be happening on Twitter, so the feed no longer gets swamped by nothing but sightings maps and lists.
But all of that is to come. So, for what might be the last time, cue the maps...
Well, what do we have. The black-necked grebes were still there, though as usual being elusive. Spoonbills seem to pop in for the morning, then depart elsewhere for the afternoon and then come back for the evening. A weasel was right outside the visitor centre windows. And the BBMF Dakota was doing display flights over Freiston Shore, as it was Armed Forces Day.
Big news for the Sunday. No, not the Hurricane (last one ever built). But the first otter ever seen on the reserve! Followed by the 12th ever red-veined darter for the reserve.
Hobbys have started to be a bit more obvious, and green sandpipers are turning up heralding the start of the autumn migration. Yes, I know, 1 July and already I am talking about autumn.
Tuesday brought the otters back. Yes, otters in plural! We had two of them, chasing each other around the reedbed. The cue to look for them was the behaviour of the gulls, which formed a tight mob above a specific spot, to harrass them. Autumn wheatears have started to show again.
Another red-veined darter for Wednesday. We probably have been getting them before this, just needed people to recognise and report them. So this is what you are looking out for:
This is a male, which are easier to spot. The veins in the wings are, as the name suggests, red. The eyes are red above and blue below, another good feature.
And another full board for Thursday. The leveret was a pleasant surprise for a couple sat having their coffee and an ice cream whilst sat on the veranda. Of course, I can't promise you that if you do the same it will happen again, but worth a try...
So as you may be able to see (once you've zoomed in) plenty there for the weekend.
After the maps come the photos. Which will definitely be included in the new format. First up, that otter. Most of us were too busy stood gawping at it to take any photos, but Toby Carter at least got this one:
Plus this bit
Looking at what has been sent into us on via Flickr, Kevin Waterfield has been busy. Both with the active, such as this young sedge warbler
and the rather more sedate
Jeremy Eyeons has been photographing wader flocks again. This time a colourful bar-tailed godwit in with a mixed bag of waders.
He also took this portrait of a young black-headed gull
Finally, a scenic shot from Neil Smith, of a storm over the sea from Freiston
Looking to what events we have coming up...
This Saturday morning, because the weather and reserve are looking so good, Toby the warden will be leading a special two-hour tour. Starting at 7 am, places cost £15.
Flowers are everywhere at the moment, but do you know your selfheal from your St John's wort? We will have a couple of wildflower walks, led by a friendly guide, the first of which is next Sunday.
Also next Sunday our 'Guide in the Hide' Les will be leading another of his Summer Strolls. Starting at 2 pm, places cost £6.
Then on 19 July we have the first of three wader ID courses, run by the wardens. They will help you separate your dunlin from your curlew sandpiper, and your bar from your black-tailed godwits with plenty of expert advice.
So there you have it! 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. 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.
All the best, take care, and I will catch you next time. With the new look blog!
Chris