Yes, OK. Looking out of the window with yet more snowflakes floating down, you might be forgiven for thinking that Thursday's hailing of spring was a bit premature. But on Friday we had another sign that things are indeed changing.
Over by the East Hide a wheatear was spotted. Slightly earlier than in previous years too! Wintering in North Africa, these are often some of the earliest migrants to come back into Britain. They don't usually hang around this area so much, preferring to breed in northern and western parts.
Wheatears are just a little bit bigger than robins, with a very upright stance. Males have a grey back, black wings, an orange flush on the chest and a black bandit mask. female birds look similar, only without the mask and being more of a dull sandy brown colour than the well marked males. The name 'wheatear' comes from their plumage. A politer form of "white ***", referring to the white rump patch which they show as they fly away. Always good to have a bird named after the most common view!
Wheatears by Mike Langman (rspb-images.com)
Also around on Friday was a jack snipe, the smaller cousin of the snipe. Similarly skulking and quiet, they rely extensively on their brilliant camouflage to remain undetected. The chap who found it almost trod on it, before it flew up from under his feet, zig-zagged around then then plummeted back to the ground again.
Sunday provided a report of a dozen redpolls, sitting in the hedge by the visitor centre feeders. And also of a red kite, circling around over the reserve. Probably a wandering bird from the population that was introduced in Northamptonshire in 1995 (and which I used to work with before taking up the post here).
Reedbed, freshwater scrapes, saltmarsh and wet meadow. Frampton Marsh has it all! Come and pay us a visit soon.