We had another successful volunteer Sunday this weekend, with 14 people arriving on site ready for a hard days work. And what a beautiful day it was as we set off, with cloudless skies, not a breath of wind and the sun still giving off some warmth, even in November!

The main task for the day was building the reed growing bays in the new polytunnel. The group soon got to work fixing together wooden frames, levelling off the bases with sand and lining them with plastic. By the end of the day 4 bays had been built and the reeds returned to their rightful place – a great job by everyone involved. Any visitors to the viewing screen will also see a difference, as we have cut some viewing channels through the scrub next to the screen. This now enables visitors to see further across the reedbed and into the corners previously obscured by the scrub. This makes it a bit more interesting and increases your chances of spotting the ever elusive bittern!

And it just wouldn’t be right if we didn’t spare some time to appreciate the great wildlife that we have here at Langford. The bird of the day has to be a lovely male stonechat, spotted by volunteer Barrington Randle down on Phase 2, see his pictures on the photo gallery. Also around on Sunday was a little egret on Phase 2, kingfishers calling and two flocks of pink-footed geese flying over the reserve, the first this winter.