It’s that time of year again when spring migrants meet winter visitors here at Langford – a real transition period that can often see singing warblers accompanied by whooper swans and flocks of fieldfares and redwings flying over displaying oystercatchers and ringed plovers.
Indeed the first spring migrants have now arrived on site, with 2-3 oystercatchers present for the last week or so and a pair displaying on Phase 2 yesterday. The first ringed plovers have also made an appearance, with a pair at the southern end of the site on Sunday morning and a potential second pair over Phase 1 later on in the day. And the passerines are here too, with the first chiffchaff of the year on Phase 1 yesterday – not what we expected to see on a very cold, damp and dreary morning!
So what’s next to arrive? Little ringed plovers have been recorded in the county last week, sand martins are in the UK and a willow warbler was recorded on the south coast in the last few days. Any guesses….
And what about those winter visitors still on site? 15 whooper swans were on Phase 1 on Sunday, with 14 still present yesterday, goldeneye are still here in good numbers, as are wigeon and pintail. Small numbers of fieldfares are around in the boundary hedgerows, with an apparent roost in silt lagoon 6 and the large flock of redwing feeding in the woodland is still there.
Also on site this week, we have had an excellent record of a red kite over Phase 1 this morning, seen by Site Manager, Michael – the first in a while and certainly not a regular species here at Langford. Water rail and Cetti’s warbler are calling away from the silt lagoons and the dawn chorus is definitely building, with quite a noise coming from the reserve yesterday morning when I arrived at 05.30.