I was inspired by the warm weather and the welcome sight of moths on Wednesday night last week, so decided to check the weather for Thursday and have the first moth trapping session of 2011! To my delight the forecast was for cloudy skies, light winds, no heavy rain and 10C - perfect 'mothing' conditions. So out came the moth trap, battery fully charged and ready to go and I found an ideal sheltered spot by the woodland edge.
I really miss going through my moth traps in the winter months, so the next morning I was eager to get out there and see what we had caught. The first moths to come out the trap were 3 mottled umbers, the first of a total of 10 in the trap altogther. They are a very variable species, one mottled umber can look totally different to the next! Next to emerge from the bottom of the trap was a chestnut. This is a common winter flying species and as it's name suggests is a lovely chestnut orange colour. A winter moth came out next, a small grey coloured species, who's females like the mottled umber, are completely wingless. And the final moth of the day was an early moth. Another small species, brown in colour with some darker patterning, it flies in January and February - quite aptly named!
But the biggest surprise in the moth trap....a common toad! The warm temperatures may have stirred the toad from it's hibernation. I have found all sorts of different insects in moth traps over the years, but never an amphibian!
On Sunday we did our monthly Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) count on site and so volunteers John Ellis, Julie Straw, Graham Usher and myself were out bright and early to start the survey. As we made our way over to the silt lagoons, a group of 4 swans flew towards us. Up went the binoculars as John shouted 'bewicks'! They were bewicks swans, similar to whooper swans, but smaller and scarcer - a brilliant site record and a tick for us all on our Langford bird lists.
As we made our way around site counting all the ducks, geese, swans, waders, gulls and herons we could find, our regular female marsh harrier made an appearance over Phase 1, flying off southwards and a peregrine headed towards the river over Phase 3. But it was at the south end of the reserve that I got my second tick on my Langford bird list for the day! Nestled away in a hedgerow was a beautiful long-eared owl - fantastic!