karen's country calendar

It was a sunny but slightly breezy  morning when we arrived at Frampton Marsh to check out the waders which had been widely advertised in the RSPB magazine!  We spotted a few butterflies on the walk  from the visitor centre to the main 360 hide and from there saw a good number and  variety of waders particularly large flocks of black tailed godwits and dunlins. Several new birds for this years list included the above plus spoonbills,  avocets and a sandpiper.    We had a good view of a little ringed plover from the hide which obligingly spent most of the time pecking about on a sand bank just in front of us.  A large number of sandmartins were also present flying around near the nest holes.  green veined white    peacock   common blue    large flock of black tailed godwits and dunlins    common sandpiper little ringed plover spoonbills    avocets    ruff   

A very unimposing entrance (layby next to a gate) was the entrance to this butterfly hotspot near Woodwalton.  A grassy path with wildflowers  either side provided my first sighting this year of a Silver Washed Fritillary and a ringlet.   At the end of the path was another gate with Monks Wood sign and map so we knew we had reached the right place!  Although a bit breezy and not as sunny as we would have liked, we still saw plenty of meadow browns, fritillaries, ringlets,  gatekeepers and red admirals.  silverwashed fritillary  red admiral speckled wood   meadow brown    ringlet     silver washed fritillary