Wigeon in flight

It's taken nearly a month for the insurers to replace the items stolen in the burglary, but at last Chris has his camera equipment back, so we headed out to Frampton Marsh RSPB Reserve, on the Wash, to test it out. It was somewhat cloudier than we'd hoped for, and the east wind was face-numbingly, bone-chillingly cold but we still had an excellent day.

The reserve is known for its very large numbers of wigeon, lapwing and Brent geese, and these certainly didn't disappoint. I never fail to be thrilled at the gentle grunting sounds of large flocks of Brent geese as they graze on the saltmarsh (see extra) or the evocative disyllabic call of the lapwings (see extra). But I felt this photograph of a flight of wigeon captured the day best - so exciting when they're only a few feet above your head .

We had good sightings of many other species including stonechat, dunlin and golden plover, but sadly managed to dip out on the bearded tits, even though another birder had seen one only a few minutes before we arrived at their favoured area of reeds. But even if we'd seen hardly any birds I would have enjoyed my visit - the sense of space and the quality of the light is always rather special (see extra) 

I was glad of the heated seat on the return journey as the cold had finally seeped into my bones - I think it was the walk along the sea wall that really chilled me. The evening was  spent consuming a tasty meal of chicken with fennel and blood oranges before watching 'The Martian' on Netflix. A very good day.