Frampton Marsh recent sightings blog: 27 April - 3 May 2019

Howdy folks! Welcome back to another edition of the Frampton Marsh recent sightings. With me, Chris the Visitor Guy.

Enough yapping, how about some maps?

Last Saturday was a wee bit on the windy side, which did cut down on the sightings. First hobby for the year was nice though, and completed our list of summer migrants.

As you can see, Sunday was a bit calmer, and hence a bit more busy!

The turtle doves have definitely made it back now, you may note a couple of hot spots. Difficult to say when and if they are visible, but in calm enough weather you ought to be able to hear them purring, especially in the morning and evening.

Not sure what happened with the board, but for the above for Tuesday 30 April, the key is: 1. turtle dove; 2. garganey pair; 3. grasshopper warbler, hobby and corn bunting; 4. short-eared owls; 5. spotted redshanks; 6. Cetti's warbler; 7. wood sandpipers; 8. greenshank; 9. mixed godwits.

Alas, no map for Wednesday. I do know that after an absence on the Tuesday, the long-billed dowitcher was seen. 

Damper weather the last two days meaning sightings have dropped again. But it should be better weather on Sunday and Monday. Just in time for Sunday's dawn chorus walk, which still has a few spaces!

OK, time now for a few photos. Just three contributors this week. We will start with Mark Johnson. Here are a lapwing, a colourful black-tailed godwit, a skylark, a brown hare and a flight of brent geese.

Jeremy Eyeons graces us with two summer migrants. A whitethroat and a yellow wagtail.

While Ian Bollen gives us a singing corn bunting and a stunning drake garganey. Just look at that eyebrow!

After last wee's announcement, I would like to remind you about our FREE birdwatcher's competition running through May. 

May is possibly the best birdwatching month of the year, and may places do a 'big day' competition of trying to spot the most birds in a particular day. Well, we'd like to do something similar, but subtly different. After all, what if it is raining, or you have other commitments on the chosen day. So, instead we are going to have the May Day Challenge. See how many species you can see in a day, in May. No restriction on which day, and you can try as many times as you like. There are a few basic rules of course:

1. Full species only, according to the BOU British list
2. Birds should be seen whilst stood in the wider Frampton Marsh reserve area (ie the RSPB reserve, and the path down to the river mouth)
3. Birds should be seen only whilst stood in areas accessible to the public
4. Rarities must be confirmed via photographic evidence or by an independent observer (ie not your mate Fred), and reported to reserve staff (either in the centre, or through Twitter)

Day lists (and photographic evidence) can be sent to lincolnshirewashreserves@rspb.org.uk and it would be great if you can submit them as you go along. That way we can have a running leader board. At the end of May we will reveal which was the biggest list and award the prize, on which no expense has been spent. So what are you waiting for, get cracking!

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!

Chris