After the holiday last week, it’s straight back into it this week, with an early morning breeding bird survey today. I arrived bright and early this morning in what can only be described as sub-optimal weather (!) – a continuing feature of this spring. However, once again this didn’t seem to affect the birds too much, with plenty singing away to keep me entertained.
One of the main features of the southern end of the reserve at this time of year is the numerous common whitethroats singing from the scrubby areas around Phase 3 and the extraction area. I counted a total of 15 birds this morning and they look and sound brilliant as they perform their scratchy song whilst flying vertically up into the air, then drifting back down to a patch of scrub or bramble.
Another warbler species I was pleased to pick up this morning was grasshopper warbler. Langford is traditionally quite good for this species, however up until today I had only heard one bird reeling away from the western public footpath, just off the boundary of the site. A second bird has also been present, also off site behind the viewing screen. However, this morning I picked up three birds around the southern end of the site from the public footpath, reeling away from within the reserve boundary….and what a fantastic sound it is.
Also on site this morning were up to 6 little egrets, little grebe with youngsters on Phase 3 and cuckoo calling away from Phase 1.