Hi there!

Well, as you may have read Sarah has finished her internship and is off to pastures new. Luke has finished his six months here too, and has moved to do the second half of his internship at Minsmere. In excahnge, we now have a new face, in the shape of Kate. So let's see what she has to say....

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Hey all! I’m Kate, Frampton’s new conservation intern; having completed the same…

Howdy folks! And welcome to the Frampton Marsh recent sightings, with me Chris the visitor guy.

Just a quick and basic version tonight. So lets crack on and look at some maps.

The weather forecast looks a tad rubbish for this weekend, so no moth trapping. The highlight last week was a centre-barred sallow, which i can't recall seeing before.

Tomorrow is the last day of my internship here at Frampton Marsh, six months go pretty fast! However there is an extraordinary amount you can fit into six months, and I tried my best to do that. So I thought I’d share a few of the best bits, as I couldn’t possibly cover everything. So in no particular order...

Luke and I went bird watching on the Boston Belle, a day that was supposed to be thunder and rainstorms…

Howdy folks! Chris the visitor guy, once again here with your weekly round up of all that has been special around the reserve.

Two words for you.... curlew sandpiper!

Yes, we've had just one or two of these little beauts. But we'll get onto that... let's start with today and work backwards

Yes, 40+ curlew sandpipers. Sounds like a lot? You haven't seen anything yet....

The 'helice' clouded yellow…

If you have been to Frampton Marsh over the last few days you might have heard us talking about the curlew sandpipers. They’re getting a lot of attention at the moment as our reserve is playing host to around 258 of them (I say around as they just won’t sit still to be counted!). Usual highs are around 20-40. They can mostly be seen happily feeding on the scrapes from the 360 hide, though can be found elsewhere. When…

Howdy folks! Chris the visitor guy here again with your weekly look of what has been happening at Frampton Marsh.

So, let's not much about here. Onto the maps!

Bit of rain put a lot of people off. Which is a shame, as the scrapes were stuffed with godwits and curlew sandpipers.

No map for Thursday, as neither myself nor Sarah closed up. 

Freiston held two black terns, plus various waders including 8 curlew…

Along the path by the visitor centre at Frampton Marsh we have sown a wildflower mix strip. When it’s grown up this will be a fantastic place for butterflies and bees, as well as looking very beautiful. Some of the flowers included are perennial flax, black mustard and sunflowers. The latter have been looking great recently, and are really growing quickly.

Now I’ve always been told that sunflowers rotate during…

It was nearly a case of 'hare today, gone tomorrow' here on the reserve the other day, as one furry friend almost came a cropper.

At this time of year the wardening team are doing a lot of work on the reserve, including clearing vegetation off the islands in the scrapes. And they like to do it right. Rather than just go in there with brush cutters flailing, they take the time to walk through the area first. This…

Howdy folks! And welcome back to the Frampton Marsh weekly sightings. With me, Chris the visitor guy.

No mucking about this week, lets get on with the sightings maps:

There you go!

It will be another moth-trapping weekend this weekend. Trap opening outside the visitor centre at 10 am (ish!) No idea what we'll get. Could be nothing, could be exciting things...

And if you want to get these maps and…

Sometimes you come across an animal that is so devious you just can’t help but admire them, this week, the ruby-tailed wasp. It’s the first time I’ve come across this fascinating little creature as one turned up to an office meeting. They come in some beautiful colours with metallic blues, reds and yellows, the red abdomen giving them their name .They are also armoured so they can roll up into a ball to protect themselves…

Howdy folks! And welcome to the Frampton Marsh weekly sightings. With me, Chris the visitor guy! Your weekly round up of what has been exciting here on the reserve.

And we'll start off where we left off last week. Yes, the white-rumped sandpiper is still about! Sometimes disappearing for short periods (and with some confusion with juvenile dunlin). But as I write this it is *still* being seen from the 360 hide, out on…

Sometimes here at Frampton it is the bigger creatures that get all the limelight. Rare birds always cause a stir, and the recent parade of sandpipers has certainly brought birdwatchers to us. But sometimes we find something a bit unusual on the smaller scale of things.

Last weekend, in the moth trap, we found this...

A rather small moth, you might not have looked twice at it. But this is a 'least carpet', a moth usually…

Last weekend marked this year’s Big Wild Sleepout. A national event hosted by the RSPB, the idea is to sleep outside in natures home and get connected with nature. This could be in your own back garden or for a lucky few, one of the RSPB’s beautiful reserves. We had one here at Frampton Marsh, and this is how it went down.

After settling in and getting all our tents set up and ready, we started with a dream…

Howdy folks! And welcome to the Frampton Marsh recent sightings. With me, Chris the visitor guy. And do we have some sightings for you?

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Er, yes, actually we do! But first, a bit of a correction. You may remember last week we finished off with a white-rumped sandpiper. Er, we aren't sure about that any more. Some observers were very postiive, but as yet we've seen no photographic evidence and there was a lot…

While September is usually the best time for numbers and variety of waders on the reserves, we have hit a little purple patch and through some good planing and management of our water levels, we have some excellent feeding opportunities across the reserve, which in turn has brought in some great birds. On the 23rd a Pectoral Sandpiper was found on Middle Scrape. Unlike the white-rumped sandpiper that had been reported…

Here at Frampton Marsh we are known for some rare species that come to visit, we currently have a broad billed sandpiper and a pectoral sandpiper just outside our 360 hide. But a Psyduck is a first! Pokémon go has been taking the world by storm over the last few weeks, getting people active trying to catch them all, and quite a few have been found on our reserves. Now when we find something unusual at Frampton Marsh we…

Howdy folks! And welcome back to the Frampton Marsh recent sightings. With me, Chris the visitor chappy. So what do we have for you this week?

Well, it had been seeming to be a bit quiet of late, hadn't it? Oh boy, did that ever change over the last couple of days....

It was evidently so exciting, I couldn't even focus! And was without other good things like ruff, knot, whimbrel, summer plumage golden plover,…

School’s almost out, the six week holidays are upon us and there’s plenty to do at Frampton Marsh. Now where do I begin?

The tennis has finished, the football has finished but the biggest event of the year is still to come. Get ready for the Wildlife Games! (What did you think I was talking about?) The action isn’t just for the animals anymore. Follow the track to find all ten events in the wildlife games…

Howdy folks!

Welcome to the weekly round-up of sightings with me, Chris the visitor chappy.

So, what do we have for you this week? Onwards to the maps!

On the same day, there was a young wheatear at Freiston Shore which reserve regular Dan managed to film: https://twitter.com/PrecipiceNewton/status/753245218779041792

Er, yes, please ignore the 'Friday' there, was my mistake!

As you’ve been walking round the reserve you may have notice some dragons flying around. Well dragonflies, though the closer you look they almost seem as mythical! They are fantastic fliers, able to change direction in any direction with great agility. The other thing you’ll notice when you see a dragonfly is their beautiful colours. With over 3000 species of dragonfly worldwide, you can find one in any colour you like…

Howdy folks!

Welcome back to the Frampton Marsh weekly sightings blog. With me, Chris the visitor guy. So, what do we have for you this week?

Well, if you follow us on Twitter or Facebook, you will know we had a bit of a to-do yesterday with some little ringed plover chicks in the car park. The family is now on the reedbed, thank goodness! Very cute, but try spotting th chick in this photo. Then imagine how hard it…

Back in May we welcomed members of the Lincolnshire Bat Group to the reserve. RSPB staff and volunteers assisted them in carrying out a survey to see which bats use Frampton Marsh as a feeding ground.

The exciting news is, despite a rainy night, five different species of bat were detected, including three which had never before been found on the reserve! The bats were

• Common pipistrelle
• Soprano pipistrelle*
• Nathusius…

It’s that time of year again and we’re less than a month away from the Big Wild Sleepout! For those not in the know it’s an annual event where we have walks and activities and have the unique experience of camping out on the reserve, not to mention an insight into what goes on when the sun goes down and the night comes to life!

After the visitor centre closes at five o’clock we’ll be going for a walk…

Howdy folks! This is your weekly round-up of what has been spotted at Frampton Marsh (and sometimes Freiston Shore) by me, Chris the visitor guy.

So, what do we have for you? Well, as we get into the end of summer... wait, what? Well, yes. From the birds point of view we are heading rapidly towards autumn. We've had the longest day and things are already starting to move on their autumn migrations. Cuckoos are either…

We do like a bit of art, here at Frampton Marsh. And I'm pleased to say we now have something new for you to enjoy. Students at Boston College have created sculptural textiles work, inspired by a visit to the reserve. Obviously these would not last long exposed to the elements. So photos of their creations have been taken, and are now on display in our 'art lecterns' around the Reedbed Trail. Come and see for yourself…