It’s always exciting when a new species for the reserve turns up, often unexpectedly! On Thursday last week, volunteers Julie Straw, John Coates and myself were walking up the public footpath enjoying the view of the avocet on silt lagoon 6 and the numerous butterflies making use of the newly emerged knapweed flowers, when Julie received a text message. It was Michael, our Site Manager, saying he had just seen a red kite flying over Collingham.
Excitement set in pretty quickly as we all turned round to look back in the direction of the village and immediately a large bird was visible making it’s way towards us over the woodland. A quick look through the binoculars confirmed the diagnostic forked tail and as the bird flew closer we had a wonderful view of it, coming past us over the silt lagoons, before turning west and heading over Phase 1 towards Cromwell – brilliant!
And not only was this a first for the reserve, but a first sighting in Nottinghamshire for the volunteers and myself too. Hopefully these birds will become more and more frequent up here in years to come as populations spread from release sites nearby.
Other recent wildlife news includes up to 2 avocets on site, green sandpiper on Phase 2, a pair of yellow wagtails on Phase 2, a collared dove flying over Phase 1 (still a scarce species at Langford!), a kingfisher on silt lagoon 1 and the first ringlet butterflies of the year seen on the 16th.