I left the office this morning joking about how today was going to be the day I finally got lucky with a certain species I have been waiting to see at Langford some time – little did I know that today indeed was the day!
A walk around the public footpath produced numerous redwings and fieldfares and a nice flock feeding in the woodland including long-tailed, blue and great tits and goldcrests. A little further on, a bird caught my eye flying over the silt lagoons and a quick examination confirmed it as a swallow – a very late bird and certainly one I didn’t expect to see on the 12th November!
A dunlin was on the old silt lagoon 7, along with around 100 lapwing, 120 golden plover and a further 700 golden plover were just west of the reserve over the river. A total of around 1000 fieldfare were moving around Phase 3 this afternoon and when I left Phase 1, another impressive starling roost was in progress.
So to the birds of the day….10 waxwings going south over the silt lagoons this morning! A beautiful species and one I have been hoping to see since the influx into the UK started about 2-3 weeks ago. And it really is third time lucky, having missed out on them in the last two winters here.
Photo courtesy of Andy Hay (rspb-images.com)
And some good sightings from the weekend by volunteers John Ellis, Graham Gamage and Julie Straw include –
34 snipe
4 jack snipe
4 goldeneye
1 short-eared owl – this first of the winter
and a migrant hawker dragonfly still on the wing