It's been a while since I last did a blog post... We've been very very busy and blogging slipped off the radar... After opening the reserve back up on 8th June, we've had our highest ever monthly visitor count, with over 1000 people recorded throughout July and that's only people counted when one of our volunteer team of Wandering Wardens is on duty. It's been brilliant seeing so many people out on site, many discovering the reserve and what it has to offer for the very first time.
When we re-opened on 8th June we kept things minimal, but since then the 360 Viewing Area has re-opened, followed by the Beach Hut (on days when a Wandering Warden is on duty), the Floating Bridge and Boardwalk and most recently the Seasonal Trail. This trail opens up after the bird breeding season has ended and takes you out into the heart of the reserve, to the raised Central Plateau, which provides views across those parts of the site which can sometimes be tricky to see. A new picnic table and bench have been installed, a few trees felled to open up the views and Old Olaf the Ancient (4000 year old) Oak is still lying serenely on the plateau area, he had a refreshing bath during the flooding at the start of this year, so is looking nice and clean.
We want Langford Lowfields to continue being a place of amazing wildlife, peace and natural beauty and so have avoided plastering covid-related signage across the whole site. We are of course though asking people to follow social distance guidance, with the car park and the 800m walk along the public footpath up to the the Beach Hut welcome area, being the key pinch points. There are plenty of passing places on the footpath though and with good line of sight you can easily see if people are walking towards you. On the reserve itself we have a one-way system in place across the Floating Bridge, it's narrow and we want to avoid people walking past each other. The one-way system is well signed and works with people crossing from east to west, across the bridge then onto the boardwalk. We are also asking people to be sensible and patient when using the 360 Viewing Area so as not to cause any over-crowding.
In terms of wildlife, I normally consider August to be a quiet month for birdlife at Langford, with the hot days combined with birds moulting and recovering from the rigours of the breeding season meaning a lot of lethargic skulking in the undergrowth... Recently however there seems to have been a flurry of exciting birds seen, with the wet days having pushed a range of wading birds down onto the Phase 3 area (readily viewable from the perimeter footpath - bit overgrown in places but we're working on it!) Including whimbrel, turnstone, common sandpiper, black-tailed godwits, spotted redshank, sanderling, green sandpiper, dunlin and ringed plover... Great white egrets are being seen regularly, a whinchat was present on 18th, a bittern is being seen most days flapping around on the Phase 2 area (the area surrounding the Central Plateau at the end of the Seasonal Trail), peregrine, hobby and marsh harrier are about, a large flock of goldfinches, a tern chick learning to fly on the flood-ravaged but still functioning tern island, squealing water rail and shouting Cetti's warblers.
Whinchat (Roger Bennett)
Bittern and great white egret (Stuart Carlton)
On the non-bird front, a clouded yellow butterfly was seen recently, a long-distance migrant that makes an appearance at this time of year and our population of purple hairstreak butterflies can still be seen on warm, still days flitting around the large ash tree above the car park info board. Roe deer are seen regularly and you might even be lucky enough to spot the big pike that lurks in front of the pond dipping platform... Please note that we are not currently hiring out pond dipping nets, trays etc. to avoid any chance of people passing on the dreaded virus by touching the same equipment.