The big news of the week was the absolutely unbelievably gorgeous white-winged black tern that was found on the 5th. A few managed to get down to see it the evening it was first seen and this seemed the wisest move as our two previous records (3rd of September last year and July 25th in 2012) had hung around for less than half an hour. Fortunately/luckily it was still around Monday morning and in bright sunshine delighted…

We don't usually do this but as it's still here, it looks INCREDIBLE and we've had some great pictures submitted to us then it's worth a post on it's own, so may we now present to you Frampton's 3rd record of white-winged black tern. 

 
White-winged black tern - Neil Smith

 
White-winged black tern - Neil Smith

Our previous two records were of an adult on the 25th of July 2012 for 20 minutes and a…

Just a quick heads up to any new readers or regular readers that have enjoyed the down time, it's about to get pretty wader heavy from here.... July is where we welcome back returning birds from their northern breeding grounds. Numbers will increase on a daily basis so each morning new birds are on the reserve to found and enjoyed. The map below will hopefully point you in the right direction to get the best out of your…

Before we start I must throw out a word of caution. There will be access restrictions in Boston over the weekend that will put big diversions on for anyone coming from the south and going to Freiston, or anyone from the north going to Frampton. More details can be found here. If you have any queries then please get in touch via this blog in the comments below, Twitter, Facebook or give the office a call on 01205 724678.…

We had some special visitors yesterday at the reserve. Four colleagues from our Scottish headquarters are cycling all the way from Edinburgh to London, to attend the climate change rally on 17 August. That is 520 miles of pedalling. Along the way they have been visiting RSPB reserves, to find out what effects global warming will have on our countryside and wildlife. Then at the rally outside parliament they will be asking…

Thank you all for bearing with me on the sightings front. It has been a hectic few weeks that has seen me off work for the last four Fridays of the month for one reason or another. Big thank you to Murray for doing the honours and getting something out last week. Lots to get through this week so will crack on with the map

1. The white-rumped sandpiper has been with us since the 30th of May has been favouring this…

So did all that singing, scrapping, showing off, strutting around and nest-building pay off? Oh yes! There’s definitely a baby boom going on here at Frampton Marsh. 

Mute swan cygnets and Canada goslings can be found on the freshwater lagoons and ditches and a family of shovelers has been frequenting the wet grassland and pools near the lower car park. Mallard ducklings come very close to the visitor centre, delighting…

The white-rumped sandpiper that arrived on 29^th May was reported yesterday and is, we believe, still with us. Look for it on the wet grassland between the lower car park and East Hide among the numerous dunlins and ringed plovers. This area is also still producing regular sightings of curlew sandpipers (including some fine brick-red, summer-plumaged individuals), little, and more elusive Temminck’s stints. Little ringed…

It's Friday. It's gone 5 o'clock. No, not time for Crackerjack (and my word, that dates me...). But it is the start of the half-term holiday. Hurrah!

Well, maybe not hurrah. You may well be a parent or grandparent wondering what on earth to do all week with some excitable kids. Well, why not bring them down onto the reserve?

Running all through the holiday we have got one of our wonderful treasure trails…

One of the winged creatures that is currently much in evidence here at RSPB Frampton Marsh reserve is the orange-tip butterfly. Look for them along the hedgerows and lanes and around damp grassland areas. Adults are first seen in late April to May and later this month and during June, they will be laying their bottle-shaped eggs beneath the buds and flowers of the caterpillars’ foodplants such as garlic mustard and cuckooflower…

As you may well know we are having an all singing all dancing super dooper public art day on Saturday 23 May. 

If you've not heard about the sculpture then check out the development blogs here, here, here and here. 

Obviously something as incredible and substantial as this can't just be plonked on the reserve so we have some preparation to do. The path to the 360 hide will be closed until the evening of April…

There’s a new addition down at the reserve. One who loves to play games!

Dilly is a small yellow duck. She heard how lovely the reserve at Frampton Marsh is, and has come to stay with us. She loves to go swimming on the ponds, dabbling around for food and meeting all the other birds. But most of all, she loves to play hide and seek.

Dilly poses for the camera

Every week Dilly will be hiding somewhere new around…

...and the inspiration for this week’s reflections from Frampton Marsh comes from Roly Lloyd from Adelaide, South Australia. Roly visited us this week with his brother who resides in the UK, and who is a member of the RSPB, so I thought I’d give it a go to get Roly enlisted too.  I was delighted to find that Roly is already a member so thank you Roly for your support from the other side of the globe and also…

We know that RSPB reserves are a great place for birds (and other wildlife). But how good can they be? Well, last weekend I decided to find out by doing an all-day birding marathon at Frampton Marsh. The task I set myself was simple, to see as many species of bird from within the reserve boundaries as possible, just in one day. Here’s how it turned out

4 am: Alarm goes off. Hells bells and buckets of blood! What…

And here, as promised, is this weeks sightings. As with recent weeks we'll get straight to the map.

1. Turtle doves are purring away in the hedgerow. Look back along the paddock/towards the footpath bench from the track next to Marsh Farm reservoir to try and see them perched out in the open.

2. A recent influx of whinchat into the country has seen a couple make landfall here and what crackers they are.

3. The…

Big apologies as I thought I'd posted this last week :( Sorry. This weeks post coming up this evening.

1. Our first turtle doves are back. This is a species on the brink and although we have had 4 pairs breed for the last two years, this is not a number we expect to retain over the years. For more information on turtle doves and why they need our attention and support, have a look here. 

2. The black brant…

In the latest of his blogs, Murray muses on some recent survey results

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“The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature.” - Alfred Austin

Many of you will have been one of nearly 600,000 people across the UK who took part in the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch in January. This is the world’s biggest wildlife…

Something new from Murray...

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I’ve been racking my brain as to what to use as a theme for this week’s blog. A ten minute walk from the Visitor Centre here at Frampton Marsh and the answer was perfectly clear...write about everything!

 The reserve is becoming very green and is just humming with life and with this glorious weather, it feels like spring is slowly turning…

We are pleased to announce that the visitor centre now stocks a selection of ice creams from Dennetts of Spilsby. Dennetts have been producing their renowned ice cream since 1926. Homemade using their own traditional recipe, Dennetts use local double cream and milk from Lincolnshire and natural flavourings to create their rich, delicious dairy ice creams.

Whatever the weather outside, they’re good enough to come in…

A brief and quick one from me this week with lots of underlined clicky blue bits for you to look at. Have been super busy on the reserve tweaking water levels and making sure we're where we want to be for the next 3 months. Getting it wrong now with birds starting to nest will set the tone for the whole season but fortunately all is looking exceptionally good with birds absolutely everywhere!!

We'll start with our…

So Easter has been and gone, eggs have been eaten and just as the schools are looking to get busy again, so is the reserve. There is SOOO much going on at the minute! All our resident birds are setting up territories with many building nests and some on eggs already. We are now adding to this with new birds coming in. Check the arrival poster below to see what's been seen and more importantly, what's still to be found…

We've a new face around the visitor centre at Frampton Marsh. Murray is our new Visitor Services intern, here for 6 months to learn all about how best top show off wonderful wildlife to the public. I'll let him introduce himself...

...and it’s hello from me!

 I can’t believe I’ve been here two weeks already but for those of you who’ve yet to meet me, I’m looking forward to saying hello, and for those…

Hello, 

A belated blog as we've had some web glitches while we get up and running with our snazzy new website. Alas I don't have oodles of time to go into details so hopefully a snippet of links will get you up to speed. Here are our daily sightings maps from last week and a couple from the start of this week 

March 21st

March 22nd (an amazing day for whooper swan movement with several groups heading over in a…

I like to think we don't blow our trumpet as much as we could and that you guys don't mind a little fanfare whenever it's due, and I think this is one of those times! You may remember my references to Patchwork Challenge in a few blog posts last year and I can give you a hugely positive update on how Freiston and Frampton are faring. In January John had a fantastic start, gaining the most points and second…

The two big highlights of the week were near misses that escaped the masses including a bit of a *stop press* flyover rough-legged buzzard from this morning (13th - letting you all know outside of the 6-12th March window, I'm just to good to you sometimes) and 2 reports of great white egret, the first on the 9th on North Scrape and then on Marsh Farm wet grassland on the the 12th. There's a good chance that the egret…