Howdy folks! This is your weekly round-up ofd the recent sightings at Frampton marsh (and sometimes Freiston Shore) with me, Chris the visitor guy.

So, what do we have for you? Alas, no great knot. This rare American wader is sunning itself over across the other side of the Wash at Titchwell. Someone go and persuade it to come here?

Which isn't to say we are not lacking interest here. It seems the start of the wader…

From June 20-26 it’s national insect week! This happens every two years and encourages us to learn more about insects and to get involved. So recently I’ve been swotting (not swatting!) up on my insects.

 Insects are animals and there about 1 million different kinds of insect.  Though this is thought to be only a fraction of the actual number of insects, the actual number may be ten times that! That means there…

As I look out of my window, I often see a bumblebee pass, buzzing as he goes. They are the iconic, loveable characters in literature such as Babbity Bumble in the tale of Mrs Tittlemouse and the thousands of bees that stood between Winnie the Pooh and his lunch over the years.

While in cartoons their stripes are whimsical, their colouring is actually a warning that the females can pack a nasty sting. And while we’re…

Howdy folks! Welcome back to the Frampton Marsh recent sightings. Alas, no great knot, which is at titchwell. or Caspian terns, which are at Gibraltar Point. But what do we have for you? Let's have a look...

There is also a lovely male ruff in amongst the knot. Black body, with a full red ruff.

Nice to see the water voles showing again

Oops, I wasn't on duty on Tuesday so no map :(

So that's some…

Since I arrived at Frampton Marsh people have been telling me about the great birdwatching cruise run by the South Lincolnshire RSPB local group aboard the Boston Belle. So after one of our volunteers Norman kindly got us tickets, Luke and I headed out to go and see what all the talk was about. Firstly though, we headed to The Haven cafe with Chris for breakfast. It’s located right next to the boat and I can personally…

Howdy folks! Chris here again with the round-up of the week's sightings. I'm supposed to be taking a party of Beavers pond-dipping in a bit (no jokes please), so with no further ado, let's crack on!

Yes, as you might notice I forgot to put something on it originally!

There was a spoonbill around too.

I'm not quite sure what happened to the sightings from 6 and 7 June. But here is 5 June

After much anticipation bee orchids are beginning to come out here at Frampton Marsh. They are an absolutely fascinating plant which has evolved so that the centre of the flower looks like a female bee. Not only do they look like a bee, they also smell like one. How, you say? Well, the leaves emit chemicals that smell like the females. Not a bad impression either as they are very successful at enticing the males. The…

Howdy folks! Chris back once again with a fresh look of what has been happening on the reserve over the past week.

Right, before we get onto the sightings themselves. First of all a plea. If you are going to visit the reserve over the next couple of weeks and driving down to the bottom car park, please please PLEASE slow down. There are avocets taking their chicks across the road, we don't want an accident.

Also…

Springwatch is back and better than ever. And with the amount of preparation that has gone in it should be the best one yet! We’re now on day four and there looks to be some fantastic sights in store (my favourite is the golden eagle nest). It started in 2005 and has gone from strength to strength since. It has really captured the imaginations of the British public and had become staple viewing for its three week run…

Howdy folks, and welcome again to the weekly roundup of what has been about at Frampton Marsh. I'm going to try to keep this quick, as it is 6 pm and I want to get home...

It’s coming up to half-term now, have you got any plans yet?. Well, just saying you don’t, I have a few ideas.

Starting off with the more biased side of things we have a lot going on at Frampton Marsh! Back by popular demand we have a brand new trail round our reedbed for this week only, with puzzles and clues for your nature detectives to unravel. And naturally this comes with a sweet prize for their efforts…

Howdy folks! Yes, it is Chris back again with a look at the week's sightings.

And we'll start off with one of the big highlights of last week, the broad-billed sandpiper. Which, with grim inevitability, flew off one minute (one minute!) before I arrived at the reserve on Saturday. That is two in two years I have missed now. On the flip side, Site manager John and warden Toby win the 'lucky so-and-so's' award again…

If you remember, a couple of weeks ago I wrote about the upcoming Big Birding Bash. The attempt to see as many birds as possible from within the reserve boundaries in a single day. So how did we get on? Well are you sitting comfortable? Then we’ll begin....

 Chris and Dan go to the Nature Reserve

It is very early on Saturday morning. Very, very early. Chris opens his eyes and looks at his alarm clock. It says…

One of the visitors to Frampton Marsh recently that has been causing quite a stir is the turtle dove. They are an absolutely beautiful bird, looking a little like a collared dove in fancy dress (or maybe that’s just me!). They are causing quite a commotion with our visitors, some of who come especially to see them. This is because not only have they just arrived but that there are only a few breeding pairs total that…

Howdy folks! Yes, its Chris back again with another round-up of the week's news here at Frampton.

I'm going to have to apologise to start with to all those lovely people who sent in their wonderful photos. They were great! Unfortunately I'm writing this from home, as I'm on a day off, and don't have access to them. I might edit them in next week if I get a chance.

Right, yes, birds. And two main…

Last month I was fortunate enough to travel down to Cambridge to the new David Attenborough building, whilst on a course with the RSPB. Whilst there I learnt more about the purpose of the building, which has been named after the famous naturalist, and what they hope to achieve there. It has been built to work as a hub where leaders in conservation can work together to tackle the problems facing us in conservation today…

Howdy folks!

Welcome once again to another set of weekly sightings from Frampton marsh. And lets kick off with the headline news, a black-winged stilt! First seen on Tuesday, it has been delighting visitors since. Except on Thursday when it wandered off. Back again today though, and isn't she lovely?

Photo by Jonathan Savory

As alluded to before, Thursday the stilt was notable by its absence, but a flyover pair…

We've been a little slow letting you guys know about our wonderful Mediterranean visitor. A gorgeous female black-winged stilt was found at Frampton on Tuesday and is still present today. 

We have a pretty good track record for this species with sightings in 4 of the last 5 years. Our management at Frampton, and at many of the RSPB's other wetland reserves, has an eye on the future of species affected by climate…

Luke is our current conservation intern. Though from this latest blog, he seems to have missed a calling in philosophy as he asks "What's going on?"

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In the visitor centre, today’s fifth cup of tea firmly in hand, I’m looking through the glass to the wide vistas beyond. It feels like the glass is a window to another world; a wild one with many…

A small team of upstarts, taking on the old established favourites. Hmmm, now where have I heard that before?

Leaving aside the dramatic achievements of Leicester City, we are into competition time here at Frampton Marsh. Not one, not two, not even three but four contests are, or will be, underway.

We will start with the one we are reigning champions in. The Golden Welly. Awarded to the RSPB reserve who gets the most…

It is time for another blog from Sarah....

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I have now been an Intern at Frampton Marsh for almost two months and during this time I have had the opportunity to meet many interesting people. Many of whom have travelled hundreds of miles in the pursuit of their passion for birds. However one visitor has a particularly cool story, Gary Prescott, also known as the Biking Birder.

Howdy folks! Chris here with another weekly round-up of the week's news. Well, that weather's not been doing us any favours, but there's some gold in them thar hill...... er, flat bits. So let's move 'em on and head 'em up. Time to get stuck into the maps:

Really rather windy out there today, but lots of swallows over the reedbed and a number of swifts too. Not mentioned on the map was the common…

Hello again, time for another weekly round-up of the bird news from Frampton. Here so you can decide where to go on reserve to see the most birds (hint: all over!)

Ahem, yes. You might notice I had to do a late addition! The whimbrels have been very mobile, moving all around the site. Whimbrelling free, I suppose you might say!

That is the first wood sandpiper of the year. We've been rapidly ticking off the summer…

As I make my rounds on the reserve, I often over hear "Is it, isn't it?" discussions and also get asked directly "Which is which?" for some of the more similar species. 

With this in mind I'm going to have a crack at some relevant species that seem to cause the most frequent confusion, and the first in this series will be the two small plovers. Little ringed plover is on the top, ringed plover…

Ah, the famous Monty Python quote. Read on, our intern Sarah will tell you more....

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"True hope is swift, and flies with swallow's wings" – William Shakespeare

One of the birds that are now starting to arrive this spring is the barn swallow; a few have been spotted around the reserve already, and more will be on the way soon. They are easy to identify, with striking bright…