Hello everyone,
We are back for another week with our lockdown sightings blog, with observations recorded by Anthony (Assistant Warden) while out on essential visits to the reserve between 4 May – 8 May. Despite some very slight changes in lockdown restrictions, the reserve remains closed to the public for now. Our priority is to ensure that we only re-open when we have everything in place to keep our members, visitors, volunteers and employees safe. We must also make sure that the wildlife that calls our site home is ready to receive attention after a couple of months completely on its own. With reports of rare species nesting on and near busy paths, it's going to take us some time to make sure they are safe too. We ask that you bear with us in these difficult times and check our website and on here regularly for updates. Thank you. For now, we can still bring you the latest sightings.
Anthony:
Two words, LAPWING CHICKS!
Yes, we’ve finally got some Lapwing chicks at Frampton, the first were seen on Monday morning and as of Thursday there were around 20 chicks. Most are inside the predator fence which is an indication that it’s working. I’ve recorded some species that have probably been on the reserve since forever but have never been documented/identified formally. I’m fortunate in that I’ve been allowed to carry out informal counts of breeding birds whilst on my essential visits. Breeding numbers so far…
Avocet – 85
Cetti’s warbler – 7
Lapwing – 25
Reed warbler - 22
Turtle dove – 3
Blackcap – 7
Chiffchaff – 2
Lesser whitethroat – 1
Ringed plover – 3
Willow warbler – 1
Black-headed gull - c400
Corn bunting – 1
Little ringed plover – 10
Sedge warbler - 33
Whitethroat - 1
We’ve also had a couple of year ticks (highlighted red) and another first for the reserve for myself, a stonking male redstart!
4th May
5th May
6th May
7th May
Cuckoo – 1
Wood sandpiper - 1
Wood sandpiper – 6
Bar-tailed godwit – 133
Spotted redshank – 1
Curlew sandpiper – 1
Red kite – 3
Whooper swan – 1
Spotted redshank – 2
Grey plover – 8
Little stint – 1 or 2
Greenshank - 9
Little stint - 1
Redstart – 1 male
Follow this space for more updates on breeding bird activity and wildlife sightings at Frampton Marsh.
Thank you for reading, stay well and stay safe.