The breeding season is now well and truly over at Langford and it feels like autumn is approaching. The first migrants are starting to come through the site, with a good list of waders making use of the site to stop and feed on their long journeys. Common and green sandpiper have been seen regularly, as have greenshank, curlew, whimbrel, ringed plover and little ringed plover. We even had a record total of 5 wood sandpipers drop into Phase 3 in August. An osprey was seen at the beginning of September and a black redstart was seen tucking into a large caterpillar by our storage containers.
The influx of painted lady's has been evident at Langford with several seen over the last few weeks and a clouded yellow was recorded from Phase 3 back in August - another migrant butterfly species, coming up from north Africa and continental Europe. Good numbers of more common butterfly species have been seen recently too, such as small tortoiseshell, red admiral and peacock and the purple hairstreaks showed well from the ash tree above the information board by the car park once again this year. Dragonflies and damselflies have done well too, with lots of migrant hawkers and common darters out at the moment.
Our volunteers have been busy as ever too and the reed planting season has started. We are concentrating on planting and protecting reed out on Phase 3 - our newly landscaped area viewable from the public footpath. We are hoping to get up to 10,000 reed seedlings out on here this autumn. We have also been busy with grass and hedge cutting, making sure the reserve is fully accessible at all times and tending to our growing reed seedlings in the polytunnel.