Wetland Bird Survey May (and April!) 2023

We're now in the midst of the breeding season, with bitterns all over the place, swarms of sand martins swooping overhead and common terns plunging into the water for fish. The wildflowers are in bloom with swaths of ox-eye daisies and clumps of ragged robin providing a splash of colour. 

May's WeBS count was carried out at the weekend, providing a snapshot of what's about at the moment. 4 bitterns is the highest number ever recorded on a WeBS, however whether this is all the bitterns on site at the moment is the big unknown!?

Male bittern chasing a female - Peter Calvert:

Black-tailed godwit and ruff .... There's been a pretty good wader passage at Langford this year, nothing out of the ordinary, but good numbers of the expected species, including 16 ruff, a new high count for the reserve (ruff photo taken by James Wilkinson).

I forgot to post the WeBS count numbers for April, so here they are for completeness...