RSPB RESERVE WARDEN LIVED TO TELL THE TALE DESPITE FRIGHTENING TUMBLE FROM BIKE

Toby - only one bad memory from fabulous time at Frampton

A SEASONAL warden at an RSPB reserve escaped injury in a nasty fall from his bicycle.

Toby Carter lost concentration while checking the sky to see if a raptor had put up a flock of waders.

He lost control as he pedalled over a speed-bump and hurtled over the handlebars - with his precious Zeiss binoculars around his neck and a scope in its harness on his  back.

Luckily, his head escaped serious impact with the road, but he was severely shaken and sustained heavy bruising plus serious cuts and grazes to his leg.

The incident happened last summer while the Bangor University Environmental Studies student was working at the Frampton Marshes reserve near Boston in Lincolnshire.

"Perhaps, I got a bit cocky,"  says Toby (20), who is from Leicestershire. "I thought I had already passed the speed-bump - the last of three on the way to one of the car parks.

"I think I'll bear my Frampton scars for the rest of my life!"

Toby made his revelation in a video about what otherwise was evidently an immensely enjoyable spell at Frampton where he saw a huge range of different birds, some of them rare and many, such as golden plover and wigeon  in what he described as "insane" quantities.

He compiled the video to coincide with this weekend's virtual Birdfair in his capacity as an 'ambassador' for the optics manufacturer, Zeiss, a longstanding supporter of the event.  

In his first week at the reserve, he found its 11th recorded red-veined darter, its  second record of lesser emperor dragonfly and second record of otter .

Fortunately, the otter did not make prey of the chicks of Frampton's first pair of breeding black-necked grebes.

Other highlights included maintaining an acquaintance with a long-staying long-billed dowitcher, marvelling at the purring of turtle doves, spotting a squacco heron and studying colour-ringed godwits and other waders to establish their migration patterns.

But there was much more to life as a seasonal warden than just detecting and watching the birds.

Toby, a birder since he was five, was also involved with organising children's activities, such as bug-hunting and mini-raft making, updating the record board, installing signage and producing a weekly blog for publication via social media.

From time to time, he was also interviewed by BBC Radio Lincolnshire.

In a nutshell what  message would he put out about Frampton Marsh?

"It's a fantastic reserve," he says. "Every day at Frampton is a good day - just don't fall off your bicycle!"