A beautiful flock of 11 whooper swans were floating around on Phase 1 (the area in front of the Beach Hut) all day today and were still there when darkness fell. They are a true winter bird in the UK and aren't a common sight at Langford, so it was great to see them. A marsh harrier was also seen today as well as good numbers of wigeon, squealing water rails, noisy Cetti's warblers and a small group of bullfinches. There seem to be increasing numbers of otter footprints in the wet mud and in fact there was an otter sighting on Saturday morning from the platform in front of the Beach Hut!
Stuart once again braved the elements this weekend to bring us the Wetland Bird Survey counts for this month, with wildfowl numbers slowly increasing as the temperature starts to drop and our water levels slowly creep upwards:
Tufted duck
33
Moorhen
6
Mallard
50
Lesser black-backed gull
4
Greater black-backed gull
2
Herring gull
5
Black headed gull
102
Heron
7
Mute swan
31
Teal
211
Green sandpiper
3
Redshank
1
Canada goose
38
Greylag goose
Gadwall
Shoveler
Wigeon
110
Goldeneye
Coot
27
Water rail
Little grebe
Cormorant
Grey heron looking for it's lunch. Photo taken by Stuart Carlton.
Please note that the floating bridge is still closed. Water levels are slowly rising underneath it, but with both ends still sitting on dry land we have to keep it closed to prevent any damage to the structure. The path around the north end of the site is also still closed following a lot of re-seeding work carried out as the final part of the outfall sluice installation. We are going to have to keep this section closed off until the New Year to give the grass seed time to germinate and establish. Please bear with us as I know it can be frustrating not having a circular trail to walk.