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 starting. Waders have featured heavily in bird lists of late with the following species recorded....dunlin, ruff, greenshank, redshank, green sandpiper, common sandpiper, ringed plover, little ringed plover, curlew and black-tailed godwit. Most of the wader action is on Phase 3, the newly restored area at the southern end of the site. This can be viewed well from the southern boundary public footpath. There is also often a large congregation of gulls on Phase 3 and it's the time of year when we get some more unusual species turning up. We have recorded yellow-legged gull, Caspian gull and Mediterranean gull in the last couple of weeks - some good sightings to keep avid gull watchers happy!
Dunlin. Andy Hay (rspb-images.com).
There is a female marsh harrier frequenting the site, often seen from the 'Corfe Castle' 360 viewing screen looking southwards over Phase 2 and the old silt lagoon. Hobbies have featured highly too hunting dragonflies over the reedbeds. An osprey was seen overhead on the 30th July - not a species we see every year here at Langford, so a really good record.
Marsh harrier. Chris Gomersall (rspb-images.com).
A female or juvenile type garganey has been hanging around too and was seen for a few days at the end of July. Another species that we don't see every year here and usually hard to spot due to their skulking nature.
And on a good day, it is possible to see four species of heron at Langford! The bittern has been making a few appearances over the last few days, seen from 'Corfe Castle' looking south over the old silt lagoon reedbed. Little egrets and grey herons are very common here and with high numbers of little egrets at the moment, it's possible to see double figures at once on a good day. But one of the highlights of the last few weeks here has been the great white egrets. There are now four on site and they frequent the third silt lagoon on the left as you walk up to the Beach Hut. We get singles dropping in every now and then at Langford, but to have four is definitely a record for us!
Little egret. Ben Andrew (rspb-images.com).