The water level balancing act is paying off big time with birds spread right across Frampton. Numbers and variety are pretty impressive but words on a screen don't do either justice so make sure you pay us a visit as soon as you can.

Here are the daily sightings sheets for past few weeks to give you a flavour of what's been around and what's still to be found.

16 January - Highlights were very brief sightings…

The first sightings blog of the year kicks off with a bit of a **NEWS FLASH** While not exceedingly rare as individuals, there was a group of 32 European white-fronted geese on Marsh Farm today. A quick look on BirdGuides shows this to be the largest county count in 4 years. 

What was interesting to note was eight out of the 32 were juveniles, a much better ratio to adults than our poor dark-bellied brent geese. They…

What a couple of weeks!! The reserve is looking better and better and we know this because more and more birds are loving it here! This is when management really kicks in and we hope that by putting water in the right place at the right time we can hopefully hold onto all these birds right through to Spring. Without careful management we could easily lose all feeding resources in one area without having planned to offer…

It was an early Christmas present for us here at the Lincolnshire reserves. Last weekend, the results were announced of the 'Golden Welly' Competition. The is an annual contest between RSPB nature reserves. The idea being to encourage wading birds there, so people can see them (and so that they might also breed) or use the reserve as a valuable refueling stop during migration. The rules are pretty simple. The counting…

A blustery couple of days has seen far more birds (18,000+) than visitors, but for the lucky few that braved the conditions, their efforts were well and truly rewarded.

1. 'The early birder sees the swan', so goes that timeless Frampton saying that I just made up. Between 12 and 20 Whoopers are roosting with us at the moment and seeing them is as hard as counting them as they are nearly nocturnal in their arrival and…

 An up and down week on the weather front has seen some wonderful sunny days, interspersed with some very blustery and chilly ones. It's actually winter!! The birds have been a bit more consistent though so lets see what we've got and where we've got them.

1. Whooper Swans continue to roost on the reserve in the evening, though they will often come in after dark and leave before day break so you need…

A double dose of sightings for you this week so we'll skip the waffle, for once, and get you up to speed with the map. 

1. We've had a small party of whooper swans roosting on the reservoir but you need to get here early or stay till dusk to see them. Last year we had over 50 on a regular basis so lets hope this small group attract a few more in.

2. The burbling brent geese are now a regular and fantastic…

Hello Framptoners and Freistoners.... Did you miss me? In the unlikely even your answer yes, then I apologise for my absence, annual leave and annual report and some bits and bobs not going to plan have kept me uber busy. If your answer was no, then I apologise for returning, A big thank you to Chris for doing an excellent job of keeping you updated. Shall we start with a map?

1. We've had nearly a score of whooper…

Hello again,

Sorry, still no Toby. So another simplified version of the weekly sightings. Not assisted by all the manky weather we've been having, which has made birding a tad on the tricky side.

Right, waterfowl. Whooper swans are about. Up to 24 of them. Quite a few feed on the farmland just off the reserve then fly in to roost, so early or late are the best times. On the grassland reservoir there have been a…

Hello again!

Toby is away on leave this week, meaning we are on a skeleton staff. So I'm afraid you have to put up with my bare bones approach to sightings. Hopefully it won't spook you too much, otherwise I'll have to employ a ghost-writer.

Ahem, right. The site manager has told me I'll get sacked if I do any more Halloween style puns. So onto the sightings...

Well, lets start with a few regulars…

Hello!

You may have noticed a drop off in the recent sightings blogs recently. Toby who normally does them has been snowed under with work over the past few weeks. So I thought I'd better do a quick catch up.

Let's start at Freiston Shore, rather than at Frampton Marsh. Turns out that 14 October was a bit of a red letter day. It started off with a bit of sea watching in the morning revealling a Slavonian gr…

There is a week of half-term holiday Halloween hi-jinks at Frampton Marsh site, and we are dying to see you!

Starting on Friday 23 October and running every day through the holiday, you can follow a spooktacular treasure trail around the reserve.

If you are brave enough, you can pick up an entry sheet from the visitor centre before setting off around the surfaced trails. If you answer questions correctly you win a sweet…

The success of the avocet as a breeding bird in the UK goes hand in glove with the growth of the RSPB as a conservation organisation. On the weekend of the charity’s Annual General Meeting, it has been revealed that our emblem the avocet, once extinct as a breeding bird here, has enjoyed a record breaking year across RSPB reserves. Nature reserves are only part of our programme but such an important part; with key roles…

A thoroughly busy few weeks has seen little activity on the blog front (sorry) but big changes and improvements on the ground (you are very welcome). We've had some jolly good birds in the last few weeks including a reserve 1st, a couple of 2nds and a 5th among some good views and numbers of our regulars. We have also welcomed back some winter faces too. 

Here's a quick shot of what we've been up to out on the reserve…

An exciting but frustrating week, well one day at least, on the reserve. The day in question was the 8th of September and a routine scan of South Scrape turned out to be anything but when a pale and elegant wader sent alarm bells ringing. A stunning non-breeding/winter plumaged Wilson's phalarope shimmied on the water before stalking behind and island, never to be seen again :( A few more details can be found her…

Have rediscovered this blog that I wrote and didn't post after the work we did two winters ago. Have now tweaked it t be relevant to the work we're now doing on North Scrape. I will give you a basic breakdown of how scrapes are managed and why it's so important to do this work.

Scrapes – Water management

This is the most complex and technical part of the current work and ongoing managment, so please…

Another super busy week has not left me time to compose the weekly sightings map but I will share our daily maps in all their out of focus, dirty lensed, scraggly handwritten glory, sorry. Hopefully they are better than nothing.

For those regular readers and visitors, my tip off about the weekend and tides was spot on! We had an exceptional Bank Holiday with migrants arriving thanks to the weather and huge numbers…

Unfortunately I was away once more last Friday so will rattle off a very quick post using some of the weeks daily sightings maps. Well it will pretty much be just the daily sightings maps but I hope you find them better than nothing. 

August 21st

August 22nd

August 23rd

August 25th

August 26th

There have been some massive high tides this week and will hopefully be able to compose something for you on Friday about…

Apologies for the relatively late notice but if you've never been to Frampton or Freiston or only visit a few times a year, THIS weekend could be spectacular. I've been following the weather and tide times and if the birding gods are feeling generous then we have a weekend of the years highest tides at good times with the bonus of favourable winds. It could be a birding jackpot! First thing to do is check the tide times…

Try singing the Christmas carol without this line – it just doesn’t work! Yet imagine sitting around the Christmas tree with the children explaining that, not so long ago, the mythical turtle dove was once a breeding summer visitor that was relatively common. 

Now let’s hear the shocking facts. Visitor Experience staff do lots of talking but underlying the words is the hard-earned scientific data on which…

Thank you all for your patience regarding sightings over the last few weeks. I have been away from work, on courses and generally thoroughly busy with breakdowns and management. Fortunately we have all the links at the bottom of the page to keep you up to speed with what's going on here on the reserves. A very quick summary this week with our sightings map, some pointers for next week and BIG heads up for NEXT weekend…

Sounds like a children’s book doesn’t it? Well we were delighted that over half the participants on last weekend’s RSPB Big Wild Sleepout at Frampton Marsh were children. This fantastic, family-focused event on Saturday night provided visitors with the unique chance to sleep out on the nature reserve under vast, star-spangled, Fenland skies. People came from far and wide to take advantage of this opportunity and to take…

 Waders continue to dominate the highlights this week with a good spread across the reserve and over at Freiston too. Let's see what's where....

 1. The turtle doves haven't been as noticeable in recent weeks. We have our fingers crossed that it's because they're having a second brood after successfully fledging the first lot. 

2. The first juvenile wheatear of the autumn arrived early in the week…

If there’s a lot of action on and around the reef, we scuba divers might describe it as “pumping”. Well Frampton Marsh has certainly been pumping recently. For the dedicated birders (including myself), there’s been a mouthwatering variety of waders on the reserve. If you’re at all interested in birds, you must have a look at our warden’s recent sightings blogs. Toby’s comprehensive account of what’s about (with a very…

Waders will be our headline subject for the next few months and will no doubt continue to increase in number and variety after a good showing during the 2nd week of July. A summary of what we've had and what you can see is all tied in nicely to the sightings map.

1. Well it can't all be about the waders and there'll always be room for these guys. One of the most asked for Frampton favourites, our turtle doves continue…