After a busy week and a great weekend at the Birdfair, it's back to business as usual here at Langford. The weather seems to have taken a turn for the worse in the last few days, feeling very autumnal, with jumpers and fleeces coming out for the first time in months! This has had a obvious effect on butterfly and Odonata numbers, however there are still clouded yellows on site and the cooler weather certainly does offer some good photographic opportunities as the insects are sitting still, resting on vegetation - if you can find them!
The weather hasn't deterred the birds however, the week's highlights are as follows -
Juvenile marsh harrier again over Phases 1 and 2. This bird has been present on site for around 3 weeks now, but I only just caught up with it on Tuesday. It is almost surely still around, so look out for it in the next few weeks.
Juvenile cuckoo today (Thursday) is the second to pass through Langford in the last 2 weeks. It's great to see some breeding success for this species.
Masses of hirundines and swifts still moving through - perhaps the largest numbers of house martins that I've ever seen moving through Langford.
Kingfisher sightings are increasing, as they typically do in the autumn. Again, nice to see these regularly.
Beach Hut volunteer Dave Roberts was able to catch up with the nuthatch in the woodland on Tuesday - another one to look out for on a walk up from the car park. Dave also had little owl on the same day.
And finally....another bittern sighting, this time on Phase 2 in the middle of the site. The bird was seen and photographed by volunteers and Roger's photos can be seen on our Twitter feed (@RSPBLangford). It is unclear whether this is the same bird as the one sighted in Phase 1 by the Beach Hut, or whether it is a different bird - fingers crossed we have 2! Either way, we are thrilled to be seeing this species so regularly.