This week we have been lucky enough to have some gorgeous summer weather so it’s been an ideal week for some wildlife spotting on the reserve.

Here’s a quick rundown of the weekly highlights:

White rumped sandpiper – showing until yesterday on the wet grassland beyond East Hide. No sign today though I’m afraid.

2000+ black-tailed godwits – some still in breeding plumage but probably more failed…

The weather's set to improve over the next few days so I hope you'll be making the most of it. Why not bring a picnic down to Frampton and make use of the picnic benches next to our beautiful wildlife garden this weekend?

Recent wildlife highlights:

Marsh harrier - they're been very active over the last week, with as many as 3 seen hunting at a time over the salt marsh and great views on the wet grassland from…

It's been a pretty exciting week for us at Frampton Marsh as we've had a visitor from across the pond.

The white-rumped sandpiper is most often seen in American, where it has one of the longest migratory routes of any american species.
Incredibly, white rumped sandpipers make a journey of 8,000  miles twice a year, between beeding grounds in arctic Canada to wintering grounds in southern South America.

Looks like…

Well, another week's just whizzed by and it's time for my latest instalment of 'Confessions of an RSPB Volunteer'!

During my second day helping out at RSPB Frampton Marsh I was again blessed with beautiful sunshine - I'm pretty sure it won't be like this every week though!

As my first task of the day, I joined the very friendly Graham (Frampton's full-time warden) on an adventure possibly more…

STOP PRESS!

This morning a roseate tern was spotted for the first time EVER on the reserve.

The roseate tern has a black bill with a redish base, long tail streamers and rosey underparts in the summer, which give them their name.

Less than 100 pairs breed in the UK and they are a Red List, endangered species so to see one here is really special and exciting.

Here are some pictures for comparison. Keep an eye out amongst…

Here we go.  This weeks sightings!

Little Gull-On the freshwater scrapes throughout most of the week. Last seen on Thursday.

Black-necked grebe-Near the east hide. Last seen on Thursday..

Rose coloured starling- Seen flying over the wet grassland and sea bank with the hundreds of other starlings on the reserve at the moment. A tricky one to spot. Last seen on Monday.

Greenshank- 5 greenshanks were seen sighted on the…

Hi, I’m Olie Horton (and this is a photo I took).

I am 15 years young and I have just started my work experience at RSPB Frampton Marsh. I have been visiting Nature Reserves since I was about 5 and when the VC at Frampton Marsh opened, I was overjoyed that we had a fully operational nature reserve so close to my home town of Spalding.

I used to visit Frampton every weekend but now it’s about once a fortnight…

The highlights for this week (and hopefully the weekend too)

Rose-coloured starling - see if yoy can spot in amongst the thousands on the reserve

Black necked grebe - he's still around

Little ringed plover - the first chicks have been seen this week

Little stint - showing on the fresh water scrapes

Weekend weather:

Unsettled: mostly cloudy with outbreaks of sunshine and rain. Bring a waterproof (and maybe some…

I'm Simon Evans  (here's a cheesy picture of me) and I've just started to volunteer at RSPB Frampton Marsh as a 'Practical Work Assistant'.

I plan to give regular updates as to my antics around the reserve, so that if you're considering volunteering you'll know exactly what to expect and can't say I didn't warn you!

First of all a wee bit about myself: I'm 38, originally from Wolverhampton…

The sun came out this morning and so did the bugs. Here's what I saw on a quick walk down to 360 Hide at lunchtime:

Red tailed bumblebee

Lady bird - it was flying so I couldn't count the spots (rspb images.com)

Cinnabar moth - this beauty is a moth that flies during the day in May-August and I spotted it very close by on the path to the 360 Hide.
(rspb-images.com)

Now's a good time to go bug-spotting…

Apologies for the quiet couple of weeks; I've been away. Now I'm back (with a vengence) to let you know why Frampton Marsh is worth a visit this weekend!

Recent sightings:

Marsh harrier - 2 seen over the saltmarsh this morning and 1 or 2 seen throughout the week

Montagu's harrier - 1 reported hunting over the wet grassland on Tuesday

Turtle dove - 1 of these endangered birds has regularly been seen and heard…

Click here to register:

Thanks to overwhelming opposition from the public, organisations such as the RSPB and our fantastic members, the Wildlife Minister -  Richard Benyon - has dropped plans to take wild buzzards into captivitty and detroy nests around shooting areas!

If you needed any proof that your campaigning makes a real difference to wildlife, here it is.

Thank you so much to everyone who Stepped Up and contacted their MP about this…

Visit www.rspb.org.uk/freistonshore or call 01205 724 678 for more information and to book. It's going to be great!

We had our reserve annual review yesterday, with staff from HQ (Bedfordshire), regional office (Norwich) and of course here. We lost our ecologist Graham for a while as he dived off into the 360 hide to see a Temminck's stint. We do seem to have done well for this diminutive little wader in the past few years with sightings of up to eight birds. Temminck's stint breeds across Scandinavia eastwards and one or two even…

The Government organisation Defra has recently announced that, due to pressure from the pheasant shooting industry, they plan to invest £400,000 in destroying buzzard nests and capturing adult birds. These wild birds will then be kept in captivity.

Martin Harper, Conservation Director for the RSPB, has put the nonsense of this plan into a few crucial facts:

 - An independent report by the British Association for…

On the down side: the black-winged stilt has not been seen today.

On the up side: the black-necked grebe is still about, as are the curlew sandpipers and wood sandpipers (2 around today) and at about 4.30 this afternoon 2 black terns arrived on the reserve, in full summer plumage. Beautiful!

Hello from Frampton,

We’ve had a windy day on the reserve, with north-easterly winds reaching 15mph at times.

Having said that, the wildlife hasn’t been blown away and there’s plenty to see.

Today’s sighting highlights include:

Black-winged stilt x 1

Black-necked grebe x 1

Curlew sandpiper x 25 (The highest British spring count on one site for at least 11 years)

Greenshank x 1

Garganey…

Black plumage seems to be the fashion on the Frampton bird-walk this season. With black-winged stilts parading the reserve for almost three weeks now and a black-necked grebe arriving this week I'm expected black vulture and black kite any day now...

Ok, so maybe not, but there monochrome madness is spreading to other parts of the reserve as well. Blackcaps can be heard singing in the hedgerows, dozens of black-headed…

Sunday afternoon saw seven budding artists settle down in the Visitor Centre for a 'Beginners' Wildlife Sketching' class with new volunteer Fran.
We had a go at drawing landscapes, birds on the feeders, in the water and even in flight (very tricky)! There was lots of chatting and comparison and the time just flew by!

This was the first sketching class we've run at Frampton but it was such a success that I…

No, I haven't been having a sneaky tipple before opening up the Visitor Centre..and my binoculars are not broken either...

You may have heard that a black-winged stilt which arrived at Frampton Marsh a couple of weeks ago has been hanging around, giving great views to visitors.

You may also have heard that last night he scooted off; a leggy white dot receeding into the distance.

Well he's back! And he's brought…

Hello,

We have had another busy day at RSPB Frampton Marsh. With breeding bird surveys, cows escaping and blogs to write, the day has been full of variety!

Today's sightings highlights:

Dark- bellied brent goose 600+

Scaup 1 drake

Garganey 1 drake

Goldeneye 2

Marsh harrier 1 male

Avocet 60+

Black-tailed godwit 29

Whimbrel 19

Curlew 52

Little ringed plover 2

Ruff 18

Sort-eared owl 1

Swift 25+

Swallow…

Hello,

It has been a wet day so far today, on the reserve. Despite the rain (forecast said fine!) lots of visitors have spent the day with us, seeing some great birds along the way.

Today's sightings

Highlights have included:

Brent goose 600+

Scaup (drake) 1

Garganey (drake) 1

Fulmar 1

Common tern 1

Arctic tern 3

Avocet 66

Black-tailed godwit 120

Bar-tailed godwit 1

Black-winged stilt 1

Whimbrel 1

Hi,

Today's highlights have included:

Barnacle goose 2
Brent goose 450+
Arctic tern 10
Little gull 1
Buzzard 2
Marsh harrier 1
Avocet 40+
Little ringed plover 1
Black-winged Stilt 1
White wagtail 1
Yellow wagtail 2
Tree sparrow 22
Corn bunting 2

Cheers,

Simon.