How's about this for a lovely autumnal shot?

I've heard a few people mention that it's not been a particularly good autumn for fungi, seeing as we've just experienced the driest September on record.  

Well, we seem to be bucking the trend here at Langford. as I've never seen so much here!  I've seen numerous Birch Boletus and Shaggy Ink Caps around our silt lagoons and have still to identify an…

I had a late common blue butterfly on the wing this morning on the visitor trails at the eastern end of the boardwalk. The butterfly was feeding on the last remaining ragwort flowers - a good source of late nectar there. Clouded yellow was still flying last weekend, with one seen by volunteer John Ellis and red admiral, small tortoiseshell and comma are all still active.

Migrant hawkers were plentiful last week and common…

Bittern and marsh harrier sightings continue to delight us on an almost daily basis at the moment, with some lucky people even seeing bittern(s) twice in one day! A lot of the bittern activity is on Phase 2, however birds have been seen regularly on Phase 1 and on silt lagoon 4 (the long thin one as you walk towards the Beach Hut). On Tuesday this week, volunteers Graham Gamage and Dave Roberts had a bird in reed at the…

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-29483511

It’s fair to say we haven’t done badly for good birds recently, with the first curlew sandpiper in three years, bar and black-tailed godwits, jack snipe, nuthatch, brambling and several bittern records being the highlights.

This week has been no exception, with another good wader, more winter migrants pouring in, plenty of birds still on passage, large flocks of golden plover and the start of the starling…

I was joined by volunteers Rob Werran and Nick Shimwell on Wednesday for the monthly WeBS count. October is always a good time of year, as migration is still in progress, with passage birds and winter visitors arriving. The morning’s results are as follows –

132 mallard

120 teal

116 tufted duck

34 shoveler

31 gadwall

13 pochard

4 wigeon

1 pintail – female at the southern end of the site.

Many…

Autumn migration continues and it certainly feels like autumn now, with a few days of heavy rain and cooler temperatures - it was even jacket weather this morning! Highlights of the last week include -

Bittern seen again on Phase 2 - still seemingly quite mobile, so look out on the reed fringes by the Beach Hut and the islands south of the Cromwell Trail.

Up to 3 marsh harriers on site - a juvenile and at least one…

Just a reminder that we will be running a 'Discover Langford Lowfields' guided walk this Sunday.

Details below:

http://www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/seenature/events/details.aspx?id=tcm:9-380250

Tune into BBC East Midlands news tonight, starting at 18.30 for a feature on RSPB Langford Lowfields and Lafarge Tarmac! Catch it on iPlayer too if you're not at home, or don't get the local news programme. Well worth a watch!

Last week I was pleased to see the first vapourer moths of the year on the wing along the public footpath by the silt lagoons and later, Beach Hut volunteer Dave Roberts recorded one at the start of the visitor trails. A favourite of mine, they have some interesting aspects to their lifecycle….

The males fly during the day and at night and so can be seen on warm days during the flight period of July – October…

Then come along to the Marsh Fayre, Saturday 20th September (that's tomorrow!), 12.00 - 17.00 at Beckingham Village Hall and The Old Willow Works, Old Trent Road, Beckingham - both near Gainsborough.

This event, held in promotion of our nature reserve at RSPB Beckingham Marshes is a celebration of Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire communities, crafts, small businesses, charities and entertainers and is kindly organised…

Some bird movements in the last few days have produced some nice sightings, whilst insect numbers continue to do well on sunny, warm days. Highlights of the last week include -

Another bittern sighting today on Phase 2.

Spotted flycatcher, 3 greenshank, 6 snipe and 2 jay over the visitor trails yesterday - thanks to Dave Roberts for these.

13 golden plover over our storage containers - first of the autumn yesterday…

Just a quick bit of good news from yesterday for anyone who doesn't follow our Twitter or Facebook accounts....for the first time in 3 years, we have been able to confirm 2 bitterns on site. Both birds were in Phase 2 yesterday morning - one flying around and eventually settling in reeds and the other sitting in classic bittern pose, with it's neck outstretched upwards. One bird was particularly mobile, so look out f…

Yesterday Stuart, Will and I completed the monthly Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) on a glorious warm, sunny autumn day – more of those please! Some winter wildfowl have joined us already and this will only increase in the next few weeks as we approach the beginning of winter. Yesterday’s results are as follows –

125 mallard

102 tufted duck

33 teal

22 shoveler

21 wigeon

1 pochard

40 mute swan

35

…

Some quick bird news from this afternoon....a great white egret flew north over the Beach Hut at 12.15. The bird headed straight over the site, with no signs of landing, but still brilliant to see it. This is the first great white egret record from Langford for nearly two years.

There has been a bird present at Notts Wildlife Trust's reserve at Besthorpe recently, so probably the same bird. Look out for it as it…

It’s not very often that we talk about Langford’s mammals and I have to admit to not knowing as much as I should about these fascinating creatures. Therefore, I thought it was time we gave some well deserved attention to the mammalian inhabitants of Langford and showcase some of our more interesting species….

The Langford mammal list currently stands at around 20 species, with a wide diversity from…

Just a quick one for this afternoon to update you all on our sightings for this week....

Greenshank are vocal and active across the site this week, with two birds around. They can be seen from the visitor trails as well as heard from further afield on site.

3 green sandpipers were around yesterday - look out for these feeding along the water's edge on Phase 1 and listen for their distinctive whistling calls.

2…

Just a quick update on recent sightings....

Greenshank and dunlin have been on site today, visible from either the public footpath or near the Beach Hut.

Loads of yellow wagtails have been moving over the site in the last few days - this has included a group of 10 juveniles feeding and drinking on Phase 1 visible from the Cromwell Trail on Tuesday.

There are still good numbers of hirundines and swifts moving over.…

Today's 'calm before the storm' saw the most visitors recorded in one day on site, ahead of the heavy rain predicted for tomorrow. Nearly 70 people walked the trails with many visiting for the first time. Other visitors included hobbies, sparrowhawks, kestrels, a wheatear, a willow tit, a young fox and the odd clouded yellow butterfly.

Just a quick reminder that we have accounts on both Twitter and Facebook. These are updated daily during the week, with additional ones at the weekend too sometimes. Some of our contributors also post photos on there too - including our bittern from Wednesday 20th August.

Follow us at -

Twitter - @RSPBLangford

Facebook - RSPB Langford

 

After a busy week and a great weekend at the Birdfair, it's back to business as usual here at Langford. The weather seems to have taken a turn for the worse in the last few days, feeling very autumnal, with jumpers and fleeces coming out for the first time in months! This has had a obvious effect on butterfly and Odonata numbers, however there are still clouded yellows on site and the cooler weather certainly does…

I completed the monthly Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) yesterday in rather breezy conditions – it’s not easy to ID birds obscured by vegetation when you can’t keep your scope still! However, I had a good morning, with signs of the very first migrants returning and some nice non-WeBS sightings too. Here are the results….

73 mallard

41 tufted duck

19 gadwall

7 teal – nice to see a few of these back…

There is more good news on the bittern front here at Langford, with another two sightings of the bird in the last week. Both recent sightings have been in the same place, the bird again flying from the reed fringe to the left of the dipping platform. Please keep your eyes on the reed fringe as the bird seems to do the flight from here to the silt lagoon on a fairly regular basis.

A marsh harrier was seen yesterday by…

It seems that wader passage has started here at Langford - although we can't quite compete with what has turned up on the east coast in the last few days! This morning Beach Hut volunteer Dave Roberts picked up 4 green sandpipers on silt lagoon 5 (2nd northern most, please view from public footpath only). One of these birds was an obviously very young juvenile, so has flown from wherever it has hatched very soon after…

Perhaps one of the most striking things about Langford at the moment is the abundance of insects on the wing. A mild winter, followed by a warm spring and early summer has produced excellent numbers of butterflies and Odonata, as well as many other invertebrates. It is encouraging to see this after the relatively low numbers we have been seeing in the last few years. The large numbers of butterflies in particular was…