Langford Lowfields

Please note that the reserve is still closed due to the on-going flooding situation, however the public car park and the public footpath that follows the outer perimeter of the site are open.

A version of this blog has been posted on the Nottinghamshire Biodiversity Action Group blog, but I thought it'd be nice to publish it here too:

Following a day and a half of heavy rain linked to Storm Babet, the River Trent…

Please note that the reserve is still closed due to the on-going flooding situation. The public car park and the public footpath that follows the outer perimeter of the site are open but it may well be the case that not all the birds counted on WeBS are viewable.

After the October WeBS count was cancelled due to the flooding, the regular honker and quacker counters were released from their cages on Sunday eager for some…

The brilliant Michael Warren has an exhibition this weekend in Collingham, with Langford Lowfields featuring heavily in his wonderful artwork:

We lost access to the blog for a little while, but we're back in action again...

Headline news is that we're still flooded following Storm Babet and the reserve is still closed to the public. At the peak of the flooding, water levels were about 4 metres higher than normal winter levels and the reserve essentially became a colder version of the Mediterranean, with lots of water, a glossy ibis and up to 4 cattle egrets…

Trudging through the fairly grim early morning, the Langford WeBS Warriors tested their counting skills once again, accumulating an impressive haul of species, including the first black tern seen on a WeBS count and a record number of ringed plovers...

August is often the quietest months for birds at Langford, with most either recovering from the rigours of the breeding season, skulking away whilst moulting, or starting to pack up their bags preparing to head southwards for the winter, following the sunshine:

Earlier this year we received a very generous donation from parcel delivery company DPD towards our habitat management work at Langford... https://www.dpd.co.uk/content/about_dpd/press_centre/dpd-supports-rspb-with-wetlands-restoration-project.jsp

This donation covers the cost of replacing three of the sluices on site, these are crucial water control structures, which allow us to both move water between the different…

If you love coots and mute swans, then Langford is place to be right now! as highlighted by the July WeBS count...

Another month gone, another WeBS count completed. A smattering of waders, a confused wigeon, the ubiquitous great white egret, good numbers of great crested grebes and a lone bittern who broke cover at the right moment, were some of the highlights. There are a lot of swans on site at the moment, mainly on Phase 3, along with increasing numbers of geese. The geese are doing their best to eat all the reed on Phase 2, this…

Ownership of the 120ha of land on which Langford Lowfields sits, transferred across from Tarmac and Trinity College (Cambridge) back in February https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-64919469 ... to celebrate this important moment we held an event at Langford last week on 22nd June.

The day was a great success, with thunder storms avoided and the sun shining down upon us. Bee orchids were seen in flower…

We're now in the midst of the breeding season, with bitterns all over the place, swarms of sand martins swooping overhead and common terns plunging into the water for fish. The wildflowers are in bloom with swaths of ox-eye daisies and clumps of ragged robin providing a splash of colour. 

May's WeBS count was carried out at the weekend, providing a snapshot of what's about at the moment. 4 bitterns is the highest number…

Firstly, here's a nice article about the recent land transfer that went up on the BBC website recently: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-64919469

Secondly, this month's WeBS count recorded the highest number to date of shoveler on site - 108, the previous highest WeBS count was 82 back in April 2021. We must be providing a good selection of tasty water snails and larvae to have lured in so many…

Langford Lowfields, reached a momentous milestone last month, when ownership of 120ha of land including reedbed, woodland, grassland and scrub, transferred from sustainable building materials and construction solutions business Tarmac and also from Trinity College, Cambridge, to the RSPB.

There has been a long build up to this historic moment, with the RSPB having worked in partnership with Tarmac at Langford Quarry since…

Probably due to the milder weather, it feels like it's been a relatively 'quiet' winter at Langford, nothing too out of the ordinary has turned up and duck numbers have been on the lower side compared to previous years (although during the 22/23 winter period we have set new WeBS records for pintail in October and gadwall in December). Despite the overall lower numbers, a well rounded suite of birds were recorded on this…

A beautiful, sunny winter's day greeted the WeBS team on Sunday. A lot of the reserve was frozen (hence there being only 1 wetland bird on it) and so the birds were floating around in the few unfrozen areas. Headline news from the count were the 25 goldeneye and 6 whooper swans.

Apologies for this... On 5th January between 10am and 3pm there will be no vehicle access to the car park! National Grid contractors are working on the low voltage lines that cross the track. Recommendation is either to come early and be off site by 10am or to postpone any planned visits until a later date. 

Quick note to say please be aware that lorries are using the access track to the car park today (Friday 23rd) to collect the big pile of harvested sugar beet. This may cause short delays and disruption, but access to the car park will still be possible with patience. Please give the lorries right of way and pull into the passing places to let them past.

Despite the 80% ice coverage the brave WeBS Warriors completed the wetland bird count at the weekend and recorded a good range of species. The 31 snipe were of note along, with the jack snipe and 2 smew. Other recent birds of note have included 3 bitterns, 7 marsh harriers and a pair of mandarin. With the ice now thawing duck numbers should once again start increasing.

Despite the thick mist and a lack of personnel, the diminished WeBS team headed out into the misty wilds of Langford on Sunday morning to carry out the November count. No gorillas were spotted in the mist, however the second highest ever WeBS count of gadwall was made. With the highest count interestingly having been made last November (208 birds).

Having just completed the Langford Lowfields 2021-2022 Annual Report …

After breaking Langford's tufted duck record during the September WeBS count, things were back to normal this month on the tufty front, much to the relief of the WeBS team who had probably had enough of counting them... Talking of black and white ducks though, the first goldeneye of the year was seen on Phase 3, 16 pintail were also present a sure sign of the change in the seasons and wigeon numbers are building. Areas…

2022 has been a historic year for Langford... for the first time ever, two bittern nests were found on site! Bitterns have nested on site for the past couple of years, but this is the first time that we’ve had two nests running simultaneously, it represents the next important step in our journey to becoming a bittern-filled, reedbed paradise. The nests were close together, probably indicating that although we had two…

Casting our minds back to August, it is often a quieter time for birds as they skulk around, feeding and recovering from the rigours of the breeding season and a bit more effort is required to find anything. And so attention turns to butterflies and dragonflies and excitingly two species of damselfly were seen for the first time at Langford this year, willow emerald and small red-eyed damselfly. I am awaiting photos of…

During the breeding season visitors are welcome to explore the most northerly part of the reserve (phase 1), and enjoy the wildlife.  However the more southerly parts (phase 2 and 3) are left for the birds so that they can nest and raise their young in peace.

Now that the breeding season is coming to a close we have opened our seasonal trail to all our visitors.  This is a well-signposted track from phase 1 into centre…

I mentioned this briefly a couple of blogs ago, but by popular demand I'm going to return to the amazing news, that bearded tits have once again bred at Langford. These evocative little birds, also known as bearded reedlings, are, as their name suggests, very very fond of reedbeds. Feeding on reed seeds during the winter and tasty reedbed insects during the warmer parts of the year, numbers were as low as 2-4 pairs across…

I'm a bit more on track at the moment, so here they are, fresh in from the dedicated, early Sunday morning WeBS team, the results of July's Wetland Bird Survey...