After meandering our way through the Lincolnshire Wolds in Vinnie (our treasured motor home) we found ourselves wild camping at an RSPB reserve called Frieston shore just north of Boston.

What a find! It is a mixture of coastal lagoon and wetland area with easily accessible walks along footpaths flanked by hawthorn hedgerows and sea defence grassed banks.

Our parking spot gave us a clear view over the coastal lagoon and its inhabitants which were many and varied, swans, egrets, goosanders , pink footed geese, black bellied ducks, oyster catchers, and the inevitable Canada geese and mallards.

Walking between the lagoon and the wetlands we enjoyed the company of blue and great tits, robin and Jenny wren but the delight was sighting a family of goldcrests a yellow browed warbler and a pair of stonechats.

Our early morning walk the following day took us around the complete perimeter of the wetland area which consisted of large grassed meadows, fields full of sunflowers and drainage ditches which created an amazing habitat for wildlife. We were accompanied throughout our walk by several large flocks of goldfinches feeding off the hawthorn berries and sunflower heads in a quiet corner sitting on top of a spray of hawthorn we spotted a yellowhammer who after a lot of calling was joined by his mate. At the furthest outward point of our walk we turned towards the coast and sea defence embankment by walking alongside the tree lined boundary of the North Sea prison out of which flew a sparrow hawk. As we walked back along the embankment we spotted flocks of field fare on the shore side and on the wetland side we had egret mallards and at one point a marsh harrier and kestrel flew in together.

The one bird we have not mentioned is the endangered tree sparrow which thankfully is thriving here in great numbers .

After a night wild camping in a lay by outside Burnham Overy Staithe, a place renowned for its mussels, we visited Pensthorpe Waterfowl Park known as the natural centre of Norfolk.

Well worth a visit if you are a lover of nature, conservation, wildlife and the outdoors. There are easy to follow footpaths around numerous lakes, meadows and woodlands giving you the opportunity to see a large variety of waterfowl in their natural habitat, as well as nationally important conservation pens housing red squirrels, cranes, bearded tits, avocets and corncrakes.

The wildlife areas are complemented by formal gardens designed by Chelsea gold medal winners and a wooded area housing a sculpture park.

The weather on the day of our visit was overcast and wet but this did not detract from our enjoyment of the day.