Frampton Marsh

On yer bike!!

2013-06-18T14:26:38Z

Did you know 15^th-23^rd June is Bike week? This is a national initiative to encourage people to cycle, whether it is for fun or as a way of getting around. As part of this, RSPB staff up and down the country are ditching their cars and biking to work.

Cycling not only has great health benefits, it’s environmentally friendly too. It produces no pollution and reduces congestion on the roads. Climate change is a threat to our wildlife and so anything we can do to reduce our carbon emissions can only be a good thing. I love going out on my bike and have cycled to work a few times including today. It’s a fair distance at 11.5 miles each way but it’s a great start to the morning and I feel like I’m doing my bit for the environment (and my health!).

So if you’ve got a bike hiding away in the back of your shed somewhere why not dig it out and go for a ride?

A redshank is spotted

2013-06-17T14:15:00Z

So what is newsworthy about that? People spot redshanks all the time on the reserve. It was the reason we started here, back in 1984, as it was one of the best redshank breeding sites in the country.

No, I'm not talking about normal redshanks. I'm talking a spotted redshank.

Slightly larger than the usual sort, in winter you might be hard pushed to notice the difference. But at this time of year, birds are starting to pass through the reserve on their southwards migration. They breed up in the Arctic, then spend the majority of the year in West Africa and around the shores of western Europe. A few stay with us over the winter too. But this means the bird is in full summer plummage, jet black with white speckles. Definitely something to be seen. You can even guess at the sex of the bird too. Spotted redshanks are one of the few birds where the female takes little or no maternal interest. Instead she abandons the eggs or chicks and leaves their upbringing entirely to the male.

One spotted redshank was seen briefly yesterday on the freshwater scrapes, another (or the same one?) was on the reedbed this morning. Both times the bird was rather elusive.Spotted redshank by Mike Langman

So why is the bird here? Well, she's probably done her part in creating the next generation and has left. It is quite early to see one, which is why I think it is a female. She might be off on her way down to Africa. Shje might be staying here. Either way, Frampton Marsh is a great home for her (or them) for a bit. Lots of shallow water to look for food in, right by the coast. if it wasn't for RSPB nature reserves provided spaces like this, what would happen to many of our migrating wading birds?

Anyone for a dip?

2013-06-13T10:12:14Z

Do you remember your childhood? Jumping in puddles, kicking up leaves, rolling down hills... All good fun, wasn't it? And something else that was fun was looking for sticklebacks, tadpoles and other creatures in ponds. Well, it is time to relive your youth this weekend, with 'Pond dipping for adults'.

Trawling a net through the water to see what you catch has always been a popular activity for our younger visitors. But often you see the adults getting stuck in, or looking on whistfully from the sidelines. You know they want to do it, but they feel that the kids should have the fun. Well, time to stand up and have your go. This Sunday we are putting on special adults only sessions. This is your chance to go looking for pond snails, dragonfly larvae, newts and diving beetles. There are five sessions running through the day, full details on our events page. So give us a call and come discover what watery wildlife lurks in our pond.

Black is the new black

2013-06-10T15:54:00Z

A few goodies around at the weekend. Curlew sandpiper on the reedbed, male garganey, pectoral sandpiper still hanging around. but over the last few days the highlight has been with our black terns.

Black terns are freshwater terns, as opposed to marine terns like the common and arctic terns. They used to be a common bird in the fens, but the widespread drainage of such places coupled with egg collecting really had a huge impact on them. They now do not breed in the UK, more is the pity. but we do still get birds visiting us during the late spring and early summer. Whio knows, through the RSPB's work in recreating wetland habitats, maybe in the future they will nest again? Smaller than other terns, they have a black body, slate-grey upperside to their wings and white underside. They often have a rather lazy dipping flight, and do not dive into the water to catch fish. Instead they delicately pluck food from the surface of the water.

Up to three birds have been seen around the freshwater scrapes. Something to keep your eyes open for!

Black tern by Neil Smith

What lurks beneath?

2013-06-07T15:26:00Z

Now we've got the pond dipping up and running, I've been doing some research on the pond life you might find. We have a range of creatures in our pond including smooth newts, water boatman, lots of sticklebacks, diving beetles, freshwater shrimp and dragonfly nymphs. All of these animals are amazing in different ways. Dragonfly nymphs can live for up to 5 years before they're ready to become adult dragonflies and are quite fierce predators, hunting other aquatic invertebrates with their extendable jaws. Water boatman have long hairy hind legs to help them glide through the water. Diving beetles spend a lot of time in the water but can fly. They usually fly at night and use the reflection of moonlight to find new water sources. Why not come along and see what amazing creatures you can find?!

Water boatman (Chris Shields, rspb-images.com)

Long-legged beauties grace reserve

2013-06-03T09:58:00Z

No, we haven't been visited by Kate Moss and Helena Christensen (more is the pity). Instead we had news early this morning that two black-winged stilts had appeared on the reserve.

Black-winged stilts are rather elegant wading birds that winter in Africa but breed in western Europe. Britain is very much at the edge of their range, and the UK gets a few records every year. Most famous of these was 'Sammy', who stayed at Titchwell for an incredible 13 years.

They have incredibly long red legs (which gives them their name) and a shining white body with black wings. The female has an all white head, the male has grey on the back of the head. they are mostly likely to be found picking their way around shallow pools, in search of their insect food. Ours spent their time at the weedy margins of the reedbed, giving very close views indeed. So much so that one chap complained they were too close to focus on with his telescope!

Drawing by Mike Langman

With global warming, who knows. In the future we may just start to see some breeding birds. They certainly seem to be sighted more and more these days. Of course, with global warming we are also likely to get a rise in sea level, drowning out the very coastal wetlands they would like to nest in. Which is why some of the work by the RSPB in preserving coastal habitats is so important.

And just like buses, one rare bird appears and we get another sighted. Out on the freshwater scrapes at this time was a pectoral sandpiper. This is a bird that lives in Siberia and North America, so it had got quite lost! Thought about 50 or so do turn up in the UK each year. Mostly young birds, caught up in weather systems during their first migration.

So, with the sun shining, all in all it was a pretty good day!

Fun and Frolics

2013-06-02T16:55:00Z

It was a great family fun day here at Frampton Marsh, even the sun came out! We have regular family fun days throughout the year, where kids can come and do craft activities in the visitor centre and have a great time doing so. Today we were making pipecleaner dragonflies, making bird feeders from apples and creating origami frogs. Facepainting also happens, great to see what the kids want to be!

Photo by Simon Rummery

But today was a fun day with a difference. Thanks to Transported, the project aimed at getting the arts into South Lincolnshire, we played host to theatre group Pestiferous. They came with their amazing show "Nerdy Birdies". Birdwatchers transformed into the very birds they were watching, and proceeded to put on a cabaret. Trust me, if you have never seen a trio of vultures grooving to C&C Music Factory, or a canary doing the can-can (and a 6 foot bearded one at that) then you haven't lived. Even the cows in the next door field came over to have a look!

Photo by Simon Rummery

Our next family fun day is on Sunday 14 July, and we will have another arts project in. This one slightly less energetic maybe. We have a local artist demonstrating the natural dye woad and its uses. both traditional and with a more modern bent. Hope to see you there!

Hello Mr Blue Sky

2013-05-31T07:17:26Z

Well, not actually today. Still rather grey. But the last weather report I saw for the weekend looks somewhat promising for decent weather. So what might you find if you come down to Frampton?

Well, on the birds front, three curlew sandpipers are being regularly seen on the wet grassland. One in full breeding colours too, very nice! A spoonbill is often on the scrapes and the turtle doves are still in the hedgerow. Mediterranean gulls are now being seen again from the reedbed hide, in amongst their black-headed cousins.

Plenty of cute avocet chicks about too, including on the island right in front of the visitor centre. Lapwing chicks and gull chicks are about too. There are cygnets, coot chicks (which I personally call cootlings) and yesterday the first sighting of mallard ducklings.

If you are bringing the kids, there is great stuff for them to do too, as well as seeing the cute chicks. Our self-guided pond-dipping is running, a chance to investigate a weedy watery world. We also have a treasure trail. You can follow the clues to solve a puzzle and win a prize. Then on Sunday we have a family fun day. Some great craft activities PLUS a unique performance by the 'Nerdy Birdies' performance artists. They will be doing shows at 12, 2 and 4. And that promises to be lots of fun.

Hope to see you there!

Avocet Chick Rescue!

2013-05-26T14:54:00Z

Any recent visitors to Frampton Marsh will have noticed some cute and fluffy looking avocet chicks strutting about. Whilst carrying out some jobs on the scrapes I noticed a rather distressed adult avocet, alarm-calling in flight. I thought nothing of it and assumed that it was complaining about its noisy neighbours, the black-headed gulls!

I then walked into to the 360-degree hide and much to my surprise there was an avocet chick bumbling around inside! It seemed to be somewhat confused as it was running around in frantic circles. Presumably it wasn’t there to do any birding! Luckily two of Frampton’s regular photographers were in the hide at the time and had seen the rest of the brood on the habitat. However, its siblings were on the other side of a steep embankment!I walked towards it in an attempt to herd it back to safety; it then decided to run down the footpath at full speed and in the opposite direction to its family. I ran after it, it then hunkered down into a tussock of grass making it easy to pick up. I put it as close to the other chicks as was possible. Much to my comfort its mother had appeared next to it - what a relief!

The chick turned out to be an insurgent hired by some black-headed gulls to spy on its fellow avocets (hence the reason it was found in the hide). He has recently withdrawn his loyalty to the enemy and sworn an oath to his fellow avocets to never be a double agent for the gulls again!

If you haven’t seen young avocet yet, come on down to Frampton! We are also carrying out a ‘baby bird walk’ on Sunday the 9^th of June!

Jim Shaw – Volunteer Trainee Warden

Paranoid Parent Punch-up!

2013-05-25T16:16:00Z

The avocet chicks have started hatching, and little balls of grey fluff on long legs are tottering about. Carefully shephered by their attentive parents. But sometimes things can go wrong...

One party of chicks strayed too close to where a coot was nesting. Now coots are not exactly renowned for their laid-back attitude to life. In fact, they can really be quite territorial. So this one quickly took umbrage at the intrusion. Even from such a non-threatening source. So, with a loud squawk it launched itself at the poor little avocet chicks and sent them flying. It then proceeded to jump up and down on top of them!

Now, whilst coots are all a bit antsy, avocets must at the very least run them a close second. Faced with such a threat to their chicks, the parents sprung into action and charged the coot. Just for good measure, a couple of neighbouring birds decided that if the coot was going to attack those chicks, it might attack theirs as well, and so joined in. A good old-fashioned lynch mob! Cue a most unruly scuffle between the birds, before some semeblence of order was restored. The avocets collected up their chicks and moved on, the coot retired to its nest to glower at them. Phew! What a parlarver!

Please sir, can I have some more?.....

2013-05-23T08:27:18Z

The bird feeders are proving very popular at the moment both with the birds and visitors. We've had a good variety of species and regularly get chaffinch, greenfinch, yellowhammer, tree sparrow and goldfinch, sometimes all at the same time! I was in the visitor centre yesterday enjoying watching the little birds along with some visitors who sat there for over 30 minutes. They're certainly getting through the seed quickly, I only filled up the large bird feeder on Tuesday and by closing up time yesterday all the seed had gone. It really is great how you can view the birds so close, come along and have a look for yourself!

Chris Gomersall (rspb-images.com)

That Was The Weekend That Was

2013-05-20T14:46:41Z

You know, I really shouldn't know some of these cultural references. I'm much younger than that!

But what a stonking weekend. OK, Saturday was a bit grey and cloudy. But wasn't Sunday a lovely day? Great to see so many people out on the reserve enjoying it.

The birds did their part too, with some exciting sightings. And yes, the Temminck's stint was amongst them. Plus five of its mates. We had six stints, all feeding away in the pools on the wet grassland behind the east hide. Not quite beating last year's record of seven. But who knows what the week ahead will bring.

Also weighing in, on Sunday there was a Montagu's harrier spotted over the saltmarsh. The reservoir on the wet grasslands had wood sandpiper, common sandpiper and whinchat all hanging around it. The turtle doves in the hedgerow were being vocal and a spoonbill spent a lot of Saturday wading around the freshwater scrapes. The scrapes were also playing host to two little gulls (still being pestered by the black-headed gulls).

In other exciting news, we are now the proud landlords of some very cute chicks. Both avocets and lapwings hatched out at the weekend. You are most likely to see the little balls of fluff from the east hide, as they look for food shepherded around by proud (if anxious ) parents. The avocets particularly tend to be very protective, trying to drive away anything that comes close to their little darlings.

Photo by Chris Gomersall (rspb-images.com)

Something for the weekend, Sir?

2013-05-17T10:03:00Z

Or Madam, we aren't sexist here at Framton Marsh.

So, what is about that you might like to see this weekend?

Well, top of the list would be the two Temminck's stints that have been out on the reserve for a day or two. not always the easiest birds to see. Your best bet is probably to be in the East Hide, often looking out over the wet grassland towards the seabank. Check the edges of the pools and channels there. or get up on the seabank itself and look down over the same area.

A spoonbill has dropped in to pay us a visit, spending some of the time on the freshwater scrapes at Frampton, some on the wet grassland of Freiston. Also at Freiston there was a garganey yesterday, hiding away in the channels in the wet grassland at the south end of the reserve. Back at Frampton, a wood sandpiper and a greenshank have both been at the 'reservoir', the large pool of water on the grassland (check the map and you'll see where I mean). Close by there, in the hedgerow, a turtle dove pair have been literally billing and cooing.

Back onto the wetter areas, and the freshwater scrapes have been home to quite a few common terns recently. also with a tern-like flight, a little gull has been hanging around too. On the wader front, turnstones and ruff have been putting on their lovely summer plummage, as have black-tailed godwit. Plus, we hear our first avocet chicks have hatched. Aww, fluffies!

Amongst other birds about, wheatear have been seen out on the salt marsh, corn buntings are singing from the small stunty trees at the back of the reedbed, swifts and swallows seem to be everywhere and the local marsh harriers have been giving some great views. All in all, well worth a visit!

Cache me if you can!

2013-05-16T12:23:00Z

One of the two geocaching trails around the reserve required some work on it. So I have been busy doing that all morning

So, what is geocaching? Well, simply put, it is a treasure hunt. Various items are hidden, and then their GPS coordinates are posted on a website www.geocaching.com and the idea is for other people to try to find them. When they do, they leave their name on a piece of paper that is inside the hidden object and often make a comment on the website. Rather like a high-tech version of 'hunt the thimble'.

We have two such trails around the reserve. One is a traditional trail called 'Wildlife of Frampton' where each object hidden has some connection to our wildlife. The other is a 'multi-cache' trail. Rather than finding many different objects, instead you need to find signs and glean information from them (eg years, names of people and so on). Once you have done that, using a code you can transform this into the co-ordinates of the final cache, which is an object.

Today I needed to replace one cache which had gone missing (people do unfortunately sometimes walk off with them. Or even bring them in as lost property) and re-site another which had become inaccessible.

Does all this sound like fun? Then do come along and have a go! Dedicated GPS units can be bought from most outdoor stores or online for under £100. Or else you can download an app for your mobile phone. Eventually I do hope to have a GPS unit available to hire in the visitor centre too, but this is in the future.

Lets focus on...... Lapwings

2013-05-14T09:28:00Z

It is time to introduce a new feature to the blog. Over the coming year we will give a little bit of extra info about some of the wonderful wildlife that makes Frampton Marsh its home. To start with, let's look at one of our most familiar (and yet maybe underrated) birds, the lapwing.

Lapwings are a wading birds, just over medium size, with rounded black and white wings. When they are on the gorund you can see the dark, bottle green back, white belly, black chest and an orangey patch under the tail. The face is black and white, and surmounted by a long black crest. Really quite striking to look at. I remember taking an American lady around to see British birds, and it was lapwings that thrilled her the most.

Not just nice to look act, they can act in spectacular ways too. In the breeding season (ie now) they have a marvellous display flight. Birds soar and plummet in a roller-coaster of romance, all the while giving voice to wild cries of "Pee-wit". Just to add extra impact, their feathers hum as the air rushes over them.

The 'peewit' noise is also used for birds calling to each other, especially in flight. This was therefore taken as an old country name for them. Another name was the green plover. They do belong in the plover family of birds, and their metallic bottle-green backs gave them this name.

Lapwings are often birds of farmland, making their nests in fields where crops are cultivated in the spring. They also like meadows, wet grassland, fens, bogs and marshes. The nest itself is just a shallow scrape in the ground, lined with a few leaves. They like to nest in areas where there is bare soil and only short plants, the better to see danger approaching. The female lays 3-4 eggs, which hatch after four weeks. The chicks are able to walk and feed almost immediately, and scatter from the nest. They reply on camouflaged down to keep them safe from predators such as gulls, herons and foxes. Both parents help raise them, until they are able to fly.

Unfortunately modern farming practices have not been great for lapwings. Crops are now often sown in autumn rather than spring, meaning the plants are too tall for the lapwings to nest amongst. The decline of mixed farms in favour of monoculture has further put pressure on this bird, with numbers cropping by half in 10 years. British lapwings themselves are actually rather unusual, across most of the range they are migratory, making long journeys between summer and winter grounds. But in the UK they tend to stay put, though we do get a big influx every winter from the Continent.

So that is the lapwing. A lovely bird, but one that is currently hard pressed. They are most often seen at Frampton making display flights over the grassland, or feeding on the scrapes or islands in the reedbed. Come and see if you can spot one today!

Photo by Neil Smith