Trudging through the fairly grim early morning, the Langford WeBS Warriors tested their counting skills once again, accumulating an impressive haul of species, including the first black tern seen on a WeBS count and a record number of ringed plovers...
P1
P2
P3
Total
Canada goose
28
1
29
Greylag goose
280
12
292
Coot
3
6
83
92
Cormorant
7
10
Great crested grebe
9
13
Little egret
5
Mallard
37
73
69
179
Mute swan
23
Black headed gull
4
32
Gadwall
17
117
134
Grey heron
2
Kingfisher
Lapwing
15
16
Moorhen
Pochard
20
21
Tufted duck
84
87
171
Water rail
Shoveler
110
Wigeon
38
Teal
114
Ringed plover
18
Ruff
Pintail
Lesser black backed gull
Herring gull
Common gull
Great white egret
Black tern
Dunlin
Green sandpiper
Greenshank
Caspian gull
Waders are still the flavour of the month with dunlin, ruff, ringed plovers and little stints being seen over the past couple of days. Pintail and wigeon numbers are creeping up. The last few swallows of the year are passing through and the arrival of stonechats signifies that colder weather is coming, there were three on site this morning along with a couple of wheatears.
Work is currently happening in the Silt Lagoons to try and give them a re-vamp. It's a bit of an experiment, but the aim is to try and scrape back vegetation and dig some new ponds. The former to expose bare areas, loved by wading birds and the latter for the benefit of amphibians, aquatic invertebrates and in turn anything that feeds on these delicious food sources. Once the work is complete, we'll be installing a large water pipe to divert a portion of the water from the quarry into the lagoons to wet them up again. In time the relentless march of the willow will mean that they will become areas of wet(ish) woodland, but in the short-term, bashing the habitat around a bit will create some interesting niches and opportunities.
Drone image taken by Jeremy Murfitt from Everything Is Somewhere www.everythingissomewhere.com looking eastwards with the two silt lagoons in the middle distance