It has been another gorgeous day on the south coast and I have just returned from a boat tour around the Langstone Harbour RSPB reserve.  High tide today was at 09:56 this morning but only 4.1 metres above zero.  Luckily, it was extremely calm with none of the choppy waves we sometimes get in the harbour.  Armed with sun cream, binoculars, a telescope and a camera I headed out to the reserve islands to see what was happening…

Up until relatively recently there was only one kind of gull to me...a seagull, the kind that stole my chips on the beach. Most grey coloured sea birds also fell into the ‘seagull’ category. How wrong I was.

When I started working for the RSPB 2 years ago, a world of wildlife opened up to me. Birds I had never even noticed before became fascinating, plants popped up that may have looked pretty dull but…

After a few weeks of boat problems, yesterday saw us back out on the water in earnest making the best of the gorgeous weather.  Joining me on our sojourn was former Warden Chris Cockburn, Local Area Manager Tim Callaway and our new Langstone Harbour people engagement officer Jasmine 'Jaz' Atkinson (who you will be hearing a lot more from very soon!).  We set off from the slipway around 15:30 on a rising tide with…

  Hello everyone and welcome to a new breading season in Langstone Harbour.  As I type this there is plenty of activity taking place in the colonies and lots to look forward to.  I don't want to speak too soon but hopefully (fingers crossed) our long winter is finally over and things have slipped into summer mode.  It certainly looks like it at the moment.

  Let me start of by introducing myself though. I’m Wez, the…

It was quite cold but completely worth being out on south Binness this week to finish off the aggregate. All shingle and ballast has been applied and graded to keep the Little Terns out of the water should Langstone Harbour get a particularly big tide this breeding season.  

BP Norse marine have been great in delivering the shingle and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them. I would like to commend Jan and…

After reports the weather would turn bad again I was quite pleased to find the conditions for phase 2 of the 2013 works to be reasonable. Over 300 tonnes was transported to the island, again by BP Norse Marine, and deposited on the ridge for spreading as soon as possible. The final delivery was made up entirely of ballast which will be used to cap the new ridge.  After what feels like an eternity the riskiest part of this…

Phase 2 of the 2013 habitat delivery programme will begin next week come rain or shine. Or snow. The final addition to the 300 tonnes of aggregate this phase will deliver will be deposited  with great pride. To get more details on the funding this project received please take a look at the link below.

http://www.rspb.org.uk/news/342357-a-good-turn-for-langstone-harbours-little-terns-rspb-wins-heritage-lottery-fund-su…

 Watching the tug, barge and all the other required equipment float up to South Binness really was exciting to watch. Rarely do I get to work with such big equipment so I jumped in with both feet to take an active role in the delivery of this project as I had planned. Working in the water full time is a dream come true.  After beginning in the snow on the first day of the project I had feared it would be a particularly arduous…

Hello!

Phase One of the 2013 Little Tern habitat creation project on South Binness is complete. You may have seen the prominent machinery being used in the harbour by the apporinted contractor, BP Norse Marine, to unload shingle on to a short strecth of the west corner to raise the ridge in height to counter act the seemingly increasing high water levels during the breeding season. A further phase is to take place…