Here comes the sun......

Hoorah! It’s now officially summer, although the weather doesn’t always feel like it.

Monday, 21 June was the summer solstice and that’s when the days are longest and the nights shortest. At the solstice we had 16 hours 55 mins of daylight at Langford and while we always think that the sun rises in the east, on that day it rose in the northeast (49^o) and set in the northwest (311^o).

Well, a fortnight later, and we still have 16 hours 43 mins of daylight and so our Langford wildlife is still very active and it’s great to be out, whatever the weather.

It’s been a funny old year so far and many of our migrant birds took one look at the cold weather in May and decided to stay somewhere warmer. However, we have had some very interesting birds passing through, even if they did not stay very long.

Since the beginning of June we have seen a short eared owl, red crested pochard, common cranes, a purple heron, a little gull, spoonbills and a glossy ibis and lots of our visitors had a glimpse of something special.

        Cranes leaving Langford. Photo  Alastair Woods

We are very lucky to be situated right next to the mighty River Trent and we think that when birds are moving around they use the River Trent as a motorway, and Langford Lowfields makes a perfect service area to call in for lunch.

So why don’t you call in!  We cannot promise you lunch but you will enjoy our beautiful, peaceful surroundings and you may see some of the fascinating wildlife which makes Langford Lowfields its home.