The 360 degree hide
The main reason for coming up to North-West Norfolk was to visit two Wash-side nature reserves over in Lincolnshire called Frampton Marsh and Frieston Shore. Both reserves have had good write ups so I was looking forward to visiting them.
I decided to visit both reserves in one day, as they were both close to each other. I decided to visit Frampton Marsh first as it was the closest. Despite being only four miles from Boston it was very much out in the wilderness, flat featureless fenland, with the odd farm the only sign of civilisation. On arrival I had a quick look in the visitor's centre, which was pretty much just a café and with some information headed out into the reserve.
Sleeping WIGEON
The reserve is made out of blocks of different habitats, with the nature trail skirting the edges. The visitor's centre overlooked an area of water with reedy edges where a few lingering AVOCETS rested. However the main habitat was the area of wet grassland. Wet flashes, scrapes and ditches created a wildlife haven heaving with DUCKS mainly WIGEON, with smaller numbers of TEAL and PINTAIL.
A view across the wet grassland and all its ducks
The main bird attraction was a LONG BILLED DOWITCHER, present in a ditch in the grassland area. A wader from North America, it was small, smaller than nearby REDSHANK, with an oversized bill. It had an unremarkable plumage, mainly brown with a distinctive eye stripe. Its cool to think this bird travelled all the way across the Atlantic, to rest here in a Lincolnshire ditch. It was a first for me, a bird I should have spotted a long time ago, but its good to finally get the "tick". Apart from the DOWITCHER the only other wader I saw was a RUFF.
A female PINTAIL
Upon reaching the sea wall the flat landscape beyond stretched out to infinity, saltmarsh that went on for as far as the eye can see, in fact it was one of the largest examples of this habitat in the world. Its amazing that this habitat exists in lowland England, a place I think of as the suburbia of the world.
A flock of BRENT GEESE flying in
A large flock of BRENT GEESE were feeding on the saltmarsh, something spooked them and they all flew onto the reserve pools where they settled down.
BRENT GEESE settling down
There were several hides on the reserve overlooking different areas of water, and it was a fairly busy day with small numbers of people dotted about.
A pair of CANADA GEESE
So a first for me both with the reserve and the DOWITCHER, and I wasn't disappointed. There was so much present it could be over whelming at times, with huge numbers of birds present it would probably take several days and visits just to come to grips with the place. I would definitely recommend a visit to this reserve for anyone looking to explore the region or looking for anywhere to go on a day trip. The RSPB really does it better than anyone else, creating this kind of place from dead lifeless arm fields. Well done to them.
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