It's hello from him....

We've a new face around the visitor centre at Frampton Marsh. Murray is our new Visitor Services intern, here for 6 months to learn all about how best top show off wonderful wildlife to the public. I'll let him introduce himself...

...and it’s hello from me!

 I can’t believe I’ve been here two weeks already but for those of you who’ve yet to meet me, I’m looking forward to saying hello, and for those of you who have, thank you all so much for such a warm welcome to Lincolnshire. I’m Murray Brown and I started as the Visitor Experience Intern on 16^th March, working predominantly under the tutelage of Chris Andrews. I’ve been passionate about birds and wildlife since childhood but if you’d asked me in my teens if I’d ever get more of a kick out of enthusing others about wildlife than seeing rare birds, I’d have laughed. Now I can genuinely say that wide-eyed “wows” from children enjoying wildlife spectacles, or visitors grinning simply because they’re at one with nature, really do give me more of a thrill.

 I’ve already fallen in love with the stark beauty of this place and its wildlife, going about its life-and-death business under those vast, atmospheric Fenland skies. Highlights so far: seven species of raptor, including some awe-inspiring aerial hunts by merlins and peregrines and the ghostly male hen harrier quartering the saltmarsh, the trumpeting herd of whooper swans and huge skeins of brent geese, and of course our resident barn owls, one of which was actually hunting in the garden of my farmhouse accommodation one evening! A flock of seventy twites perched up in an elder bush in the sunshine at the lower car park, chattering and calling in that nasal way that only twites do, won’t be forgotten in a hurry. After just two weeks the bird list stands at 91.

 As you can tell, I’m loving the wildlife and again thank you to the staff, volunteers and visitors for making me feel so at home. I’m really looking forward to the next few months, working as a member of the reserves team, and engaging with members of the public to enthuse them about the RSPB, wildlife, and in particular about why the team here is so proud of the Lincolnshire Wash Reserves.