It has been feeling quite spring like in the last week, in between the rain and wind, with temperatures hitting 12C, the sun shining and the wildlife showing signs of the forthcoming breeding season.
On Wednesday last week I recorded 10 species of birds singing, including my first singing reed bunting and yellowhammer of 2014. Blue and great tits were in full voice, as were greenfinch, chaffinch, robin, wren, dunnock and skylark. On Thursday, by silt lagoon 4 I even got a quick snatch of chiffchaff song coming from the willows at the western end of the lagoon. I suspect this is the wintering bird that has been present around the silt lagoons since December.
2 returning oystercatcher were on silt lagoon 7 on Wednesday and Phase 1 on Thursday – a regular breeding species here at Langford and 2 pairs of shelduck are now on site, it would be good to see this species breed this year, after an absence since 2010.
It isn’t just the birds that are spring into life – I saw my first flowering coltsfoot of 2014 last week on Phase 2, lesser celandine, although not in flower quite yet is growing and there are scattered blackthorns in blossom on the public footpath.
I was delighted to see my first butterfly of 2014 on the wing last Wednesday too – a stunning male brimstone on the public footpath by silt lagoon 4. Small tortoiseshell and peacock are also on the wing now (although I didn’t see these at Langford!) and bumblebees are beginning to stir.
However just to remind us that it is still winter….2 redhead smew were on silt lagoon 7 on Wednesday, good numbers of some wildfowl species remain, with an excellent count of 71 shoveler recorded on the WeBS last Thursday and 3 pintail on Phase 2, also on Thursday.