{"id":919,"date":"2015-01-24T01:12:40","date_gmt":"2015-01-24T00:12:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=919"},"modified":"2015-01-19T14:37:23","modified_gmt":"2015-01-19T13:37:23","slug":"frampton-marsh-the-wash-lincolnshire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=919","title":{"rendered":"Frampton Marsh, The Wash, Lincolnshire"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">window.onload = setupZoom; function popwalk(walk) {var url = \"\/Walks\/amap.php?f=\"+walk; varwalkwindow=window.open(url,\"walkwin\",\"height=800,width=1230,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes\"); if (window.focus) {walkwindow.focus()}}<\/script><br \/>\nFirst published in: The Times <a href=\"javascript:popwalk('Frampton.gpx');\" rel=\"nozoom\" title=\"Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window\">Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7575\/15689010900_dd27e1f5f8.jpg\" title='sunset view 1'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7575\/15689010900_dd27e1f5f8_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8637\/15688824798_2d641fe8e6.jpg\" title='sunset view 2'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8637\/15688824798_2d641fe8e6_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8575\/15875681132_732fccec57.jpg\" title='rosehips on the homeward path'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8575\/15875681132_732fccec57_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8571\/15690572367_7524f5900d.jpg\" title='seawall path'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8571\/15690572367_7524f5900d_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8635\/15875686562_41b78183a3.jpg\" title='freshwater scrapes'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8635\/15875686562_41b78183a3_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8576\/15254086924_7356b497cf.jpg\" title='brent geese coming in to land'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8576\/15254086924_7356b497cf_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7525\/15690338979_a3519a60a4.jpg\" title='lapwing on the scrapes, cattle on the seawall'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7525\/15690338979_a3519a60a4_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8634\/15690340919_0226c0b2e7.jpg\" title='brent geese at East Hide'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8634\/15690340919_0226c0b2e7_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7467\/15256703433_f3d2c2b0e5.jpg\" title='East Hide'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7467\/15256703433_f3d2c2b0e5_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8616\/15689038910_bb3b8d3277.jpg\" title='flooded scrapes and a marsh farm'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8616\/15689038910_bb3b8d3277_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7488\/15689041000_f0c50b57de.jpg\" title='Frampton Marsh Visitor Centre'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7488\/15689041000_f0c50b57de_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8674\/15256709643_5d31d00d11.jpg\" title='sunset 3'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8674\/15256709643_5d31d00d11_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nFacebook Link: <script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/wordpress\/?p=919\" layout=\"button_count\" show_faces=\"true\" width=\"200\" colorscheme=\"dark\"><\/fb:like><br \/>\nFrampton Marsh RSPB Reserve lies on The Wash, the great square estuary where the coasts of Lincolnshire and Norfolk meet. It&#8217;s a magical spot in winter for anyone who loves wild birds or walking. I tramped a circuit of the sea banks and reedbeds, seeing no-one, savouring the solitude and the enormous skies, while a rainy morning turned into a spectacularly sunlit afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Our resident glossy ibis is on the pools,&#8217; advised the friendly Visitor Centre volunteers, &#8216;and look out for the rough-legged buzzard!&#8217; I saw neither. But the pink-footed geese, winter visitors from the Arctic, were there in huge numbers, and squadrons of wigeon went racing by, whistling like corner-boys.<\/p>\n<p>From concealment in a bird hide I spied on chestnut-headed pochard preening on mud islands. The &#8216;pop-pop&#8217; of a wildfowler&#8217;s gun came from the marshes beyond the seabank, and suddenly the sky was full of dark little brent geese, a couple of thousand at least, flying low overhead in loose straggling vees, barking in tremulous voices like elderly hounds.<\/p>\n<p>Up on the seawall a new world was revealed, mile after mile of green saltmarsh grazed by cattle, stretching away east to a streak of silver on the edge of sight where the sea lay low. The munching cows brought to mind Jean Ingelow&#8217;s epic poem The High Tide On The Coast Of Lincolnshire, about an aegre or mini-tsunami that overwhelmed these marshes in 1571, broke down the sea banks and drowned scores of people.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018It swept with thunderous noises loud,<br \/>\n \t\t Shap\u2019d like a curling snow-white cloud,<br \/>\n \t\t Or like a demon in a shroud.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>On the northern skyline rose Boston Stump, the 272-ft tower of St Botolph&#8217;s Church, seamark and beacon in this dead flat countryside, round which the dark waters had swirled during that historic disaster.<\/p>\n<p>An ice-blue winter sky opened over Norfolk in the west, with a pink glow as a foretaste of sunset. Lines of geese hurried across the sky towards their evening roosts. The last sighting of the day was one of the best &#8211; a barn owl as pale as a ghost, beating along the furrows of a ploughed field on stiff wings, as careless of my nearby presence as though I had never been there at all.<\/p>\n<p>Start: Frampton Marsh RSPB Visitor Centre, near Boston, Lincs PE20 1AY (OS ref TF 357390).<\/p>\n<p>Getting there: Bus &#8211; CallCollect Service from Boston, Mon-Sat (0845-234-3344)<br \/>\nRoad &#8211; Frampton Marsh is signed from A16 between Boston and Kirton. Non-RSPB members &#8211; \u00a32 car park donation requested.<\/p>\n<p>Walk (4\u00bd miles, easy, OS Explorer 249. Leaflet map guide available at Visitor Centre. NB: online map, more walks at christophersomerville.co.uk): Reedbed Trail (1.2 miles, surfaced), Wash Trail (2.2 miles), Grassland Trail (2.8 miles). Walk as described: From Visitor Centre, follow road towards sea. By seat, left through gate (359388, &#8216;Hides&#8217;) on path past 360 Hide, Reedbed Hide and East Hide. Near East Hide climb steps to sea bank (367391, &#8216;The Wash&#8217;). Turn right along sea wall. In 1\u00bc miles, right through gate with white arrow\/WA (360379); steps down; follow Cross Bank inland. At end (350384), WA and yellow arrows (YA) point left, but turn right (fingerpost). From gate (351387) follow &#8216;GMT&#8217; YAs, WAs to road (356391); right to Visitor Centre.<\/p>\n<p>Lunch: Hot drinks, snacks at Visitor Centre <\/p>\n<p>Accommodation: White Hart Hotel, High Street, Boston (01205-311900, whitehartboston.com) &#8211; solid, old-style, friendly.<\/p>\n<p>Frampton Marsh RSPB: Visitor Centre open 10-4 daily &#8211; 01205-724678, rspb.org.uk\/framptonmarsh.<br \/>\nBirdwatching cruises on The Wash, April-Oct &#8211; 01775-764777; <a href=\"http:\/\/southhollandcentre.co.uk\">southhollandcentre.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Info:  Boston TIC (01205-365954)<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/visitengland.com\">visitengland.com<\/a>; <A HREF=\"http:\/\/www.satmap.com\/\">www.satmap.com<\/A>; <A HREF=\"http:\/\/www.ramblers.org.uk\/\">ramblers.org.uk<\/A>; <A HREF=\"http:\/\/www.logmytrip.co.uk\/\">LogMyTrip.co.uk<\/A><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Frampton Marsh RSPB Reserve lies on The Wash, the great square estuary where the coasts of Lincolnshire and Norfolk meet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":921,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-walks","category-3-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}