Staff and volunteers from the RSPB’s shop at Top Lodge will again be bringing up a range of optics to Langford this Sunday, to try and buy. 

Products will include the RSPB and Viking range, along with some Swarovski and Leica products too.  There should be some good offers on telescopes e.g. a third off some RSPB scopes and £200 off some of the Viking range.  There should also be one of the new RSPB HD telescopes…

The next major step in the site’s development starts this coming Monday 26^th September.

The re-profiling of the Phase 1 reedbed area, Silt Lagoon 7 and the area known (by some of you) as The Dragonfly Pond will raise the bed of part of Phase 1 and finish the major land forming that will link up Phase 1 to Phase 2.

This is a major engineering operation, that will require heavy plant movement around site and will…

As Jenny mentioned last month, we've moved our workshop and storage containers from Phase 1 to Phase 2.  This was in advance of some major landscaping that will be starting on site next Monday and the eventual opening of the Phase 1 area to visitors, some time next year.

Now, the moving of the containers was relatively easy, as this was done by crane and lorry.  However, the hard part has been the erecting of one of…

Yesterday's Wetland Bird Survey was carried out by volunteers John Ellis, Julie Straw and me.

Resuts were as follows:

Grey Heron - 8

Little Egret - 2

Tufted Duck - 5

Mallard - 48

Teal - 28

Pintail - 1

Gadwall - 2

Mute Swan - 12

Moorhen - 1

Coot - 10

Greenshank - 2

Green Sandpiper - 7

Snipe - 4

Kingfisher - 2

Black-headed Gull - 1

Highlights for me were the first Pintail of the Autumn and a juvenile…

It’s feeling rather autumnal here at Langford in the last week or so, especially as we have started doing some real habitat management work on site again, the first of the year after the breeding season. We had a very successful volunteer Sunday last weekend as we cleared overgrown vegetation from in front of the viewing screen and from along the footpath and brushcut some nice viewing channels into the reed edge. These…

We have been planning to move our workshop and storage containers for some weeks now and on Thursday last week the big day finally came! Michael, Paul and I arrived bright and early to empty our equipment out ready for the move and finished just in time, as the crane was making it’s way onto site.

Stationed at the viewing screen, we watched as the containers were lifted onto lorries and driven down to their new…

On Sunday 14^th August I welcomed a group on site for the second of our BTCV species identification courses, this time focusing on butterflies and moths. The weather was glorious as everyone arrived, with cloudless skies, a gentle breeze and the temperature rising nicely.

So without hesitation we headed out around the public footpath and the first species to make a welcome appearance was a purple hairstreak, flitting…

A Wetland Bird Survey was carried out yesterday with the following results:

Greenshank – 2

Green Sandpiper – 6

Common Sandpiper – 1

Avocet – 2

Spotted Redshank - 1

Little Egret – 3

Kingfisher – 1

Grey Heron – 10

Coot – 17

Mute Swan – 6 adults with a total of 9 cygnets

Mallard – 11

Black-headed Gull – 2

Tufted Duck – 10

Teal - 2

Great…

Nights are getting slightly longer, berries are appearing on hawthorn bushes and combine harvesters are busy at work….autumn really is in full swing now, especially if you are a wader. Here at Langford we get several different wader species passing through the reserve each autumn. So far this year we have recorded up to 5 green sandpipers, 4 common sandpipers, 3 greenshanks, 2 black-tailed godwits and 3 ruff.

…

• Staff and volunteers from the RSPB's Top Lodge shop in Fineshade Woods and their fine display of optical equipment
• Seven of Langford Lowfields established volunteers who were joined by three new recruits
• Twelve members of Burton and South Derbyshire RSPB Local Members Group

Also:

Four avocet (including two fledglings)

At least three green sandpipers

One common sandpiper

Two greenshank

One hobby

At least…

Staff and volunteers from the RSPB’s shop at Top Lodge will be bringing up a range of optics to Langford to try and buy. 

Products will include the RSPB and Viking range, along with some Swarovski and Leica products too.  There should be some good offers on telescopes e.g. a third off some RSPB scopes and £200 off some of the Viking range.  There will also be a Nikon digiscoping kit available for £499.…

What a fantastic scoop!

With a wider readership than the Daily Telegraph, and a regular establishment in dentist and doctors waiting rooms, it has always been a dreamy aspiration of mine to feature a reserve in the RSPB's membership magazine Birds.

That day has come, and Langford Lowfields looks fantastic, with a wonderful array of panoramic pictures and a well crafted story from Paul French in the editorial spread. Hopefully…

Sunday 17^th July saw the return of the BTCV Species Identification courses here at Langford, as I took a group around the site to learn about dragonflies and damselflies. At the beginning of the day I was slightly concerned about the weather – it was cool and very windy, with the threat of rain looming!

So, we set off around the public footpath, as I started to introduce the subject, giving the group a taster of…

It may be the height of summer here in the UK, but already some birds are beginning to make their way southwards on migration once again, after a breeding season up north. Green sandpipers are the most frequent species to drop in at Langford on their journeys, with up to three seen together on Phase 3 last week and regular individuals feeding on the muddy edges of Phase 2.

Another bird to drop in annually here is black…

After helping Jenny attach the new thatched roof to our viewing screen, cabinet-making volunteer Dave Watt has added the finishing touches to the screen, by adding four hand-crafted, oak information panels.

The panels are currently displaying copies of our newsletters 'Langford Lowdown' and 'Beckingham Bugle'. 

So, if there happens to be nothing else to look at in front of the screen (unlikely, I know…

Groundwork Crestra are close to completing the restoration of The Old Willow Works, close to RSPB Beckingham Marshes.  The Old Willow Works is an old willow drying barn that was built sometime during the turn of the last century and is quite a unique building. 

They are hoping to install photovoltaic panels on the roof in an attempt to make the project as sustainable as possible by using sources of renewable energy.

…

The warm, humid conditions that we experienced yesterday prompted Jenny to put the moth trap out last night (not that she needs an excuse).

We checked it's contents this morning to find that she'd had a good catch, with personal highlights being numerous garden tiger and drinker moths.

The drinker is certainly a species associated with reedbeds, as it's larval foodplant can be common reed and we had at least…

We have now reached the end of June and that marks the end of the Breeding Bird Survey for 2011. And what a great few months it’s been – getting up early in the morning and getting down to the reserve for first light, to be met by a cacophony of birdsong! There have been so many highlights that I can’t pick just one, so here goes with my favourite sights and sounds of Langford this spring –

…

It’s always exciting when a new species for the reserve turns up, often unexpectedly! On Thursday last week, volunteers Julie Straw, John Coates and myself were walking up the public footpath enjoying the view of the avocet on silt lagoon 6 and the numerous butterflies making use of the newly emerged knapweed flowers, when Julie received a text message. It was Michael, our Site Manager, saying he had just seen a…

Cuckoos have been a hot topic in the media today, with features on the BBC Breakfast programme this morning and on BBc Radio 4 this lunchtime. BBC Radio Nottingham wanted to get in on the act too, so I gave them a short interview on the Andy Whittaker show this morning (with Mark Dennison sitting in for him). If you'd like to 'listen again', its on 2 hours and 54 minutes in to the programme (saving the best till…

Another week has gone by and I am busy as ever with surveying the reserve’s wildlife. A productive morning was spent on Thursday surveying the silt lagoons for reed and sedge warblers and the good news is they seem to be doing well on site once again. Perhaps a testament to how well our reed warbler population is doing on site, is the number of cuckoos we have. Reed warblers are one of the cuckoo’s main ‘target…

The RSPB is asking you to stakeout your garden for an hour this week, for the UK’s largest summer wildlife survey.

 And this year, as well as common garden birds, the wildlife charity is interested in creatures that are associated with water, such as frogs, newts and toads.

 Thousands of people will keep their eyes peeled for wild visitors as part of the RSPB’s Make Your Nature Count, running from 4-12 June…

Hope you all had a good, if indeed wet, bank holiday, but it was back to work today and I spent a pleasant afternoon monitoring our birds on site. Highlights include -

Waders - lapwing, little ringed plover, oystercatcher, redshank

A pair of yellow wagtails on Phase 2

Immature male marsh harrier on Phase 1

2 hobby's on Phase 1

2 common terns fishing in Phase 1

Black-tailed skimmer dragonflies on Phase 2

Cinnabar…

Yesterday our Conservation Officer, Carl Cornish and I were joined by members of Shipley Bird Club and Burton Joyce U3A for guided walks on site. Despite being rather blustery, the sun was shining and we headed out for the morning session hopeful for some good wildlife! As we made our way around the public footpath we started counting singing warbler species and immediately heard willow warbler, chiffchaff and blackcap…

....to the new look Langford Lowfields blog! Hope you are all finding your way around. We've been busy as ever in the last week with bird surveying, putting a 'thatched' roof on our viewing screen and attending the Newark and Nottinghamshire Show.

It's been two early mornings for me this week, looking at our songbirds and waders on site. Highlights include garden warblers singing from the public footpath…