October WeBS count

Wetland Bird Survey count for October...

Goldeneye numbers are starting to build up and it'll be interesting to see if this winter we break the Langford goldeneye WeBS record of 21 birds, which was set last year. The starling mumuration is starting to build up, with over 1000 birds now present each evening, in the past we've had up to 40000 at Langford, sky-dancing at dusk, what will this winter bring? In terms of other wildlife, roe deer are being seen regularly and a recent fish survey yielded good numbers of eels, which are critically endangered and which are presumably coming onto site through the fish-friendly sluice that connects us to the river. This is brilliant news and hopefully the slithery beasts will be very happy in the reedbed. Birds of note seen over the past few days include yellow-browed warbler (last heard and seen on 17th October), rock pipit, bittern, fieldfare, pink-footed geese (flying over), stonechat, peregrine, golden plover, yellow-legged gull, kingfisher, greenshank, chiffchaff and marsh harrier.