Much like the previous two months, January has been dominated by bearded tits! The birds are still showing well from the boardwalk, most regularly at the western end, however they have been seen or heard from just about every patch of reed on the two visitor trails. And with at least two bittern on site and the appearance of a female marsh harrier at the beginning of the month, we are very pleased that one can now see all three species on site at Langford on the same day. Indeed several of our volunteers have done this already, including our Beach Hut volunteer Andy, who managed all three in just ten minutes on the 14th January!
Two flyover goosander and two flyover great white egret have been further highlights from the last month, as have the three pairs of stonechat that continue to delight everyone who sees them. A returning shelduck at the beginning of the month was welcomed as always and displaying goldeneye out on Phase 1, viewable from the Beach Hut are a pleasure to watch.
A good number of Cetti’s warbler are still singing across the site, while water rail numbers remain high and large numbers of mixed finches continue to feed on seed provided near the car park, providing a nice spectacle for arriving visitors, as well as an important food source for the birds in the late winter period.
A small murmuration of around 1000 starlings has returned to site from mid-January, a nice surprise after the disappearance of the 10,000 strong gathering we had in November.
And a bit of mammal news for a change, we have had a most welcomed otter sighting – the first on site since March 2015.
Always lovely to see shelduck returning from their moult migration. Chris Gomersall (rspb-images.com)