Wetland Bird Survey results - July

I'm being nice and punctual this month with the Wetland Bird Survey results:

A good range of wetland birds were picked up again. With the Mediterranean and yellow-legged gulls being of particular note. There are a lot of gulls loafing on Phase 3 at the moment and with a bit of patience you can pick out the more unusual ones among the hoards of black-headed gulls. Gull numbers increase even more in the evening and on Friday night (20th) they were joined by a new site record of 31 oystercatchers, 6 black-tailed godwits also dropped in, with 13 recorded on Saturday 21st. Fish seem to be doing well at Langford this year too, with the establishing reedbed habitats, supplemented by our artificial fish shelters providing more and more cover for the small fish. I'm hoping I've got my identification right, but over the past couple of weeks I've seen a lot of roach and perch from the pond dipping platform, a good number of rudd from the floating bridge and every now and then I've had a glimpse or heard the splash of a predatory pike as it darts off.

Photos below taken at Langford by Stuart Carlton. Common tern & kingfisher.