More spring migrants are coming onto site now as the days lengthen and (hopefully!) get warmer. Over the weekend we have had the first lesser whitethroat and sedge warbler. Listen out for lesser whitethroat singing with their distinctive 'trill' sound from deep inside bushes alongside the main track to the Beach Hut. They are often skulking little birds, so you will more likely hear them than see them. Sedge warblers are more visible, at times singing from more prominent perches and often doing a distinctive song flight, where the ascend above a song perch and then fly back down whilst singing their scratchy warbling song.
This morning (Tuesday 16th April) we have had the first grasshopper warbler. Again, a very skulking bird far more likely heard than seen, they sing from deep inside bushes and patches of thick bramble or grass. Named appropriately, they sound like grasshoppers, giving a long drawn out trilling sound.
Another first on the 16th was cuckoo - familiar to everyone, cuckoos are regularly seen and heard at Langford in the breeding season. The bird on the 16th was seen and heard calling from the Cromwell Trail over the boardwalk.
The cowslip display near the Beach Hut is still looking lovely and more cuckoo-flower is coming into flower now. Orange-tip and red admiral butterflies have made an appearance in the last few days and the first green tiger beetle was seen yesterday - fabulous little creatures.