Langford Lowfields remains open to visitors, however in line with government guidance your permitted daily exercise should be done locally wherever possible, you can travel a short distance within your area to access an open space, like Langford, but the expectation is that the reserve will be acting as a green resource for the local community rather than for our normally much welcomed visitors from further afield. Our…

The intrepid WeBS team were squelching around the reserve on Sunday, carrying out the monthly count of all the water-loving birds on site. The weather was horrendous, but I held them in my thoughts as I enjoyed a restful lie-in... The reserve is surveyed in 3 parts, by 3 sub-teams and then the results collated. Not always easy, due to the fact that birds can fly and move around the reserve, but the team are now experts…

Apologies if I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but we have unprecedented visitor numbers on site at the moment. We never get massive numbers, but our previous highest count in November was 229 and this year we had 1229. Exactly 1000 more. Please bear this in mind, as you may well need a bit of patience when parking and when walking up to the reserve. The site is used by a range of people and so please do…

If being part of the small team at Langford Lowfields sounds like your dream job, we are currently searching for a new Administrator... The deadline for applications is coming up very soon though - 27th November!! Full details on the RSPB Vacancies website: http://ww2.rspb.org.uk/about-the-rspb/about-us/job-vacancies/details/482388-administrator

As mentioned yesterday, we have record numbers of people on site at the moment, it is very busy and we look set to smash our previous maximum monthly visitor count. Please maintain the 2m social distance from other visitors and be courteous and patient with others. Probably a good idea to stick some hand sanitizer in your pocket too, so you can give your hands a clean before and after touching the gates leading onto the…

Just a quick message to say that we have a lot of people visiting the reserve at the moment, particularly at weekends. If you do visit the site, whether for photography, wildlife watching or just for a relaxing stroll in some beautiful surroundings, please, please, please remember the social distancing rules. 

Just to let you all know that it's that special time of year when the sugar beet is harvested from the fields surrounding our car park. The fruits of the harvest are piled up in a huge heap near the car park and are then loaded onto lorries to be taken to the fragrant sugar factory just outside Newark. The lorry loading will be happening this weekend (21st & 22nd November) and so there will be some delays for people driving…

We know that for many of you, RSPB Langford Lowfields provides a place of enjoyment, peace and solace during these challenging times. A place to immerse yourselves in nature, to see some amazing wildlife and to step away from the maelstrom of modern life.

That's why (in line with Government guidance on essential, daily outdoor exercise), during this second lockdown, the reserve will remain open for you to visit. 

Please…

After our wild bird seed crop was over-run last year by all sorts of undesirable species, we had a re-think this year and put in a cereal crop instead of the normal broad-leaved crop, thus making it a lot easier for us to deal with the plague of broad-leaved weeds. The cereal crop includes millet, quinoa, triticale, wheat and barley (we did add some extra sunflowers, but these didn't come up) and it's worked really well…

Wetland Bird Survey count for October...

Canada goose

216

Greylag goose

271

Coot

201

Cormorant

91

Gadwall

54

Great crested grebe

17

Great white egret

2

Grey heron

7

Mallard

156

Moorhen

13

Mute swan

43

Pochard

3

Shoveler

53

Teal

96

Tufted duck

176

Water rail

12

Wigeon

31

Little grebe

5

Black-headed gull

20…

I've been sitting on the September WeBS counts for a little while, but finally your patience can be rewarded!! This is the first WeBS count that's happened since the covid lock-down came into effect way back in the mists of time, so it was a special moment, with our WeBS team (Stuart, Tony and Mark) surveying the site with full biohazard suits on.

Coot

180

Cormorant

12

Great crested grebe

28

…

Autumn migration continues here at Langford, with another good haul of waders dropping into the site. Recent reports have included black-tailed godwit, knot, dunlin, ringed plover, green sandpiper, common sandpiper, ruff and whimbrel. The two knot on Friday 21st August were very confiding indeed as they fed quite happily around us as we planted reed out on Phase 3 - lovely.

Knot. Andy Hay (rspb-images.com)

Our great…

It's been a while since I last did a blog post... We've been very very busy and blogging slipped off the radar... After opening the reserve back up on 8th June, we've had our highest ever monthly visitor count, with over 1000 people recorded throughout July and that's only people counted when one of our volunteer team of Wandering Wardens is on duty. It's been brilliant seeing so many people out on site, many discovering…

It's been a busy few weeks at Langford, with our volunteer groups returning to work in a Covid secure way - it has been great to see everyone and get some good work done. Focus has been on grass cutting all our public areas of the site and fencing along the western boundary that was damaged in the flood back in March. 

It's also been a good few weeks for birds on site and there are definitely signs of autumn migration…

Spring is well underway here at Langford, with all our summer migrants now back on site. We have our 10 species of warbler breeding on the reserve again this year, with grasshopper warblers using the area of scrub we did some work in for them back in the winter - always nice to see the fruits of your labour!

There are at least three cuckoos on site, with two seen together this morning (9th June) and another heard singing…

23rd May...

Please be aware that Langford Lowfields is still currently closed, with re-opening planned for early June. After a prolonged period of closure we need time to prepare the reserve ready for visitors again, as well as finishing the tidy up and damage repair after the severe winter floods. With half the two-person team currently furloughed, I've been focusing on the critical tasks and things like cutting the…

I'm a bit behind schedule getting this blog posted, but in line with government advice Langford Lowfields is closed to the public to dissuade large groups of people gathering and to also dissuade people from driving to get their daily exercise. Both the car park and the reserve itself are closed.

Following the severe winter flooding, this virus situation now means the reserve has been closed for a few months, which…

See previous blog for info regarding the fact the reserve is still closed.

Photos below show a comparison between the reserve in August 2019 and the reserve last week. All taken by Stuart Carlton as part of his regular fixed point photography. Some taken from a slightly different angle due to the water!

Firstly the reserve is unfortunately still closed. The flood waters have gone down by 2.5m, but there is still a lot of water on the trails, as well as large piles of debris and rubbish strewn around. The floating bridge needs some attention and a few stretches of fence have been badly damaged. It will be weeks rather than days before we can open again. Getting rid of the water still on site is totally dependent on the…

Following on from Jenny’s emergency blog posting yesterday…

Langford Lowfields is essentially a big hole in the ground, a beautiful, wildlife-rich hole, but a big hole nonetheless and with us sitting adjacent to the River Trent it is no surprise that sometimes the nature reserve floods. It last happened in 2012 and it happened again a couple of days ago, with water pouring onto site along a long stretch of…

The reserve is currently closed due to flooding. The Trent overtopped it's banks on Tuesday 18th February and filled the site up very quickly. We will re-open the reserve as soon as possible once the flood waters have receded. Apologies for any inconvenience.

Thanks,

The Langford Team

Another record breaking WeBS count, with record numbers of goldeneye and gadwall recorded. The previous maxima count of gadwall was 98, so the 143 counted last Sunday blows that figure right out of the flood water.

Grey heron

6

Mute swan

8

Canada goose

5

Greylag goose

8

Great crested grebe

6

Little grebe

14

Little egret

4

Cormorant

12

Mallard

74

Gadwall

143

…

Water levels on the reserve have dropped back down, almost to our expected winter levels, but most of the trails are still closed to give them time to dry out. There is still a lot to see though and if you're feeling energetic enough to walk the 4 mile perimeter footpath you'll rack up a good tally of winter wildfowl (potentially including pintail and goldeneye), a few waders (curlew and green sandpiper today) and maybe…

Here we go, the WeBS results for December 2019...

Black headed gull

220

Coot

81

Cormorant

22

Gadwall

58

Goldeneys

9

Great crested grebe

5

Grey Heron

3

Little grebe

7

Mallard

62

Moorhen

2

Mute swan

13

Pochard

48

Shoveler

27

Snipe

1

Teal

133

Tufted duck

159

Water rail

2

Wigeon

229

Great black backed gull

1

…

Water levels on the reserve have dropped by about a metre over the past week, with the River Trent finally allowing us to release water through the big outfall sluice. Parts of the trails are still underwater though and so they remain closed and in fact will remain closed until they've had a bit of time to dry out. I'm hoping this will happen before Christmas, but it all depends on the weather and how helpful the river…