As I drove into the car park this morning, I spotted one of the regular birders, and hopped out of the truck to see if he’d seen much during his morning walk. Standing in the rain, I wasn’t disappointed as he told me he’d seen four marsh harriers and a hobby over the saltmarsh and that there were at least three spotted redshank on the freshwater habitats. It sounded like a good start to the day.
I went into the Visitor centre to do the cleaning before opening up. The weather soon cleared, and although windy by the time 10 o’clock arrived the rain was gone. Jennifer (Volunteer) joined me for the day but the start was rather quiet so she made a start on sticking labels on more of our new leaflets, whiles I identified the waders wandering about on the reedbed to add to the sightings board. Some of today’s highlights included common sandpiper (3), curlew sandpiper (3), little stint, dunlin, black tailed godwit, and lots of ruff. One visitor came in during the morning excited to tell us a little gull had flown into the scrapes.
Photo: Visitor centre at Frampton Marsh - RSPB Images (Andy Hay).
Just before two I headed off to the office to grab that important essential – milk! However, this was timed perfectly with the sudden heavy shower, and I returned to find a few people sheltering in the Visitor centre drinking hot chocolate and coffee. As the rain subsided they made their way back out to enjoy the rest of their visit. Whilst, in the Visitor centre, there was quite a bit of pointing this afternoon, but for once it wasn’t always the wildlife that was during interest but the views of rainbows in the sky…and maybe the hope of a pot of gold?!
One family came into during the afternoon, it is great enjoying others experiences of Frampton Marsh. The two year old wandered in and whilst his older sisters were watching swans in the telescopes, he made it clear what he wanted to see “Quack quacks”! – luckily we there are plenty of them around including large flocks of wigeon and teal, although it soon became clear that Canada geese and greylag geese were good enough for this little fellow! It was great to see children being given the chance to experience nature from a young age.
Sometimes visitors come in with the most wonderful descriptions of what they have seen. This afternoon that included a gentleman who was enthusiastic about the flocks of goldfinches which can be found in the bushes along the edges of the paths. He described a bush of these colourful birds as looking like baubles on a Christmas tree. What a lovely thought…maybe it isn’t just the shops and supermarkets that think we need to be thinking about Christmas in September?!
Photo: Goldfinch - RSPB Images (John Bridges).
But my favourite moment of the day came as I watched a pair of mute swans in the nearest ditch to the Visitor centre. Suddenly as they climbed onto dry land the sun shone on them like a spotlight, making them shine a brilliant bright white, and they shaked their tail feathers – as if doing a mini dance. Its moments like these that make the work we put into managing the reserve at Frampton Marsh rewarding, so please come and share the wildlife of the reserve with us.