Life at Langford is always busy and the last few weeks have been no exception. Our annual programme of grass cutting and vegetation management is well underway, with our volunteer teams out and about every week making the reserve look it’s best.
It’s not all about grass cutting though….it’s also the busiest time of year in the polytunnel, with new seedlings being sown, weeding and watering to do. Some well needed repairs were undertaken too on a rainy Friday a couple of weeks ago – a much appreciated morning downpour! Visitors to the Beach Hut will have noticed our new bug house. This construction, made entirely of natural and recycled materials will be home to a range of mini-beasts such as beetles, bugs and bees. Why not make a mini version for your garden?
I’m also very pleased to report the success of some orchid transplanting done by our volunteers last year. 27 common spotted orchids were transplanted from one part of the reserve to another last year. They would otherwise have been lost in the Phase 3 restoration. A few weeks ago, we started to see some signs of life, with the first leaves poking though and now many of them are in full flower, with lovey tall spikes. We have even given them individual protection against rabbit grazing, with a little chicken wire cage around each one! Great job by all involved.
Whilst all this takes up a lot of time, we have also been able to get out and see some brilliant wildlife too. We have had huge dragonfly and damselfly numbers recently on hot and sunny days, with broad-bodied chaser, hairy dragonfly and red-eyed damselfly being the highlights. The latter species has never been seen in so many numbers here. Painted lady butterflies have also been seen on a number of occasions, suggesting it may be a good year for migrant butterflies – keep eyes peeled for clouded yellows!
Four-spotted chaser - another common species doing well this year.
Bird wise, we have been pleased by sightings of spotted flycatcher, garganey, Mediterranean gull and marsh harrier. The Breeding Bird Survey is drawing to a close for this year and early indications suggest, as expected, a slight decrease in numbers of our common breeding warblers – presumably due to the bad weather on their northwards migration and here in the earlier part of the spring. However the return of cuckoo, including a smashing rufous female and our first purring turtle dove in 6 years is most impressive.
Thrilled to hear turtle dove purring again at Langford this year. Ben Andrew (rspb-images.com)