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Recent sightings

• 22 May 2012

  Finally flowering....

  Is everyone enjoying this taste of summer today? With temperatures hitting 22C, a warm breeze and not a cloud in the sky, lets hope it continues. However, despite the glorious weather today, it’s been a very slow spring this year so far. The cold temperatures, torrential rain and high winds have delayed bird migration, insect emergence and plants flowering. Last week though, I finally got out to record some insects and today I took the opportunity to get out and look at what is flowering out on site.

  Oxeye daisy, or Leucanthemum vulgare, is a common plant at Langford and produces lovely displays across the Phase 1 grassland when in full flower.

  

  Photo courtesy of Ben Hall, rspb-images.com

  The familiar meadow buttercup, or Ranunculus acris, is now in flower on the public footpath and throughout the site.

  Common vetch, Vicia sativa, with it’s deep pink flowers is out now, again on the Phase 1 grassland. Look also for the distinctively shaped leaves and the tendrils that are used to climb or sprawl over other plants.

  

  Garlic mustard, or Alliaria petiolata, is a tall plant up to 1m in height. It is flowering now with small white petalled flowers. It takes it’s name from it’s garlic-like smell when crushed.

  Another red/pink flower is red clover, Trifolium pratense, which is just starting to flower in the last few days on phase 1 and around the public footpath. An extremely common species related to the familiar white clover.

  

  Photo courtesy of Andy Hay, rspb-images.com

  Look for dense clumps of germander speedwell, Veronica chamaedrys, on the public footpath by the woodland. The flowers are a stunning deep blue colour and the species can be separated from similar speedwells by the two opposite rows of dense hairs running down the stem.

  In the next few weeks, look out for more species coming into flower including black and greater knapweed, lady's bedstraw, kidney vetch and grass vetchling.

  I also saw my first holly blue, or Celastrina argiolus, butterfly of the year today on the public footpath....

  

  Photo courtesy of Richard Revels, rspb-images.com

  Posted by Jenny Wallace

• 18 May 2012

  Wonderful waders

  Waders have featured highly on the list of Langford highlights recently, with both black and bar-tailed godwits, common sandpiper, dunlin, whimbrel and the regulars including little ringed plover, ringed plover, redshank, oystercatcher and lapwing.

  So yesterday accompanied by some of our regional staff, we made our way around site, expecting to pick up some good birds. The sand martins put on an excellent show as always, now with well over 100 holes in the newly constructed bank on Phase 2. Swifts too have been abundant in this poor weather, feeding low over the water on Phases 1 and 2. Yellow wagtails always brighten up the new landscaping and 3 buzzards called overhead.

  However, once again it was the waders that were the highlight of that day. A look over Phase 1 produced a whopping 10 ringed plovers (the largest number I have ever seen here), 2 little ringed plovers and another lovely breeding plumaged dunlin. Lapwings were calling over the balancing pond and oystercatchers were feeding on the muddy waters edge.

  But the most exciting wader of the day was picked up on Phase 2 by our Conservation Officer, Carl Cornish. A distant view of a little brown/grey wader warranted a closer look and as we moved closer, the bird revealed itself as a wood sandpiper. Wood sandpipers are annual here at Langford, but it was my first sighting since 2010.

  Posted by Jenny Wallace

• 16 May 2012

  Today's insects....

  It's been a pretty poor spring so far for insects, with cold temperatures, heavy rain and strong winds. However, today has been a little warmer and sunnier and I got out onto site to do some long overdue recording. Here some of the day's finds....

  Pyrochroa serraticornis, or the red-headed cardinal beetle. A common member of the Order Coleoptera (beetles) and Family Pyrochroidae (the cardinal beetles).

  

  Sialis lutaria, one of the alder flies. This the commonest alder fly of the three UK species. They are members of the Order Megaloptera (alder flies) and Family Sialidae.

  

  The familiar Coccinella septempunctata, the 7-spot ladybird. Very common members of the Coleoptera and the Family Coccinellidae.

  

  Adela reaumurella, or the green longhorn moth. Look for them swarming around vegetation on the public footpath. This one is a female and they are members of the Order Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) and the Family Adelidae.

  

  Gastrophysa viridula, or the green dock beetle is a common member of the Coleoptera and the Family Chrysomelidae (the leaf beetles). This one is a gravid female, meaning she is full of eggs and it is the eggs that are causing the bulging of the abdomen that you can see pushing up the wing cases (elytra).

  

  And finally....Andrena fulva, or the tawny mining bee. A member of the Order Hymenoptera (bees, wasps and ants) and the Family Andrenidae. They are social bees and nest in colonies underground.

  

  Posted by Jenny Wallace

• 15 May 2012

  A well needed update!

  After two weeks of hard work preparing for the RSPB Council visit, an update of recent sightings is well overdue! Bird wise, we have picked up some nice species in the last couple of weeks, with regular waders including little ringed plover, ringed plover, redshank, oystercatcher and lapwing and more scarce visitors such as three beautiful breeding plumaged dunlin on silt lagoon 7, a common sandpiper on the balancing pond, a black-tailed godwit on Phase 1 and a lovely group of 22 bar-tailed godwits flying over going eastwards.

  Wheatears and yellow wagtails continue to delight us, bringing a splash of colour to the new landscaping on Phase 1 and silt lagoon 7 and a stunning kingfisher on the balancing pond was the first I had seen in a while here.

  All our migrant warbler species have now arrived and are singing away across the site, with the most recent addition being the first grasshopper warbler picked up during an early morning bird survey on the 2^nd May.

  Up to three hobbies were present hunting over Phase 2 last weekend and I counted a total of 7 buzzards circling over Phase 1 together.

  Invertebrate wise, the cold temperatures, heavy rain and high winds have somewhat hampered survey efforts over the last six weeks! However, the first large red damselfly of the year was spotted on the 7^th by volunteer John Ellis, a stunning pebble prominent moth was attracted to our office security light on Wednesday last week – that’s one more than the moth trap attracted(!) and the first Adela reaumurella, or green longhorn moths were spotted in the woodland on the 2^nd. These moths are a metallic green colour and have very long antennae (hence the name longhorn). The male’s in particular are massive, being longer than the moth’s head, thorax and abdomen put together.

  And finally a bit of botanical news, with the first common vetch just coming into flower on Phase 1 and hawthorn beginning to flower along the public footpath. 

  Posted by Jenny Wallace

• 1 May 2012

  Glorious sunshine!

  After what seems like weeks of rain and grey skies, the sun finally managed to shine yesterday and what a glorious day it was, reaching 18C! So, what better way to spend an hour than conducting a butterfly transect, the first proper one I have been able to do this year.

  Starting on the Phase 1 grassland at 12.20, I made my way northwards to the bottom end of the balancing pond, recording peacock, brimstone and orange-tip along the way. The route then takes me back southwards, down the public footpath to the woodland. This stretch is excellent for butterflies, as it is sheltered from the prevailing south-westerlies and gets very warm in the sunshine. 5 species made an appearance along this part of the transect, including peacock, brimstone, orange-tip, green-veined white and my first speckled wood of the year.

  Through the woodland is usually a quiet section, although later on in the year, this is where I will be keeping a eye open for our star butterfly species – the white-letter and purple hairstreaks around elm and oak trees respectively. The final section then follows the public footpath back to the quarry plant, again an excellent area for insects, being sheltered from the wind. Green-veined whites and orange-tips showed themselves along here, with a beautiful male brimstone flying past me just as the sun went in. As I returned to the quarry plant, I thought that was it and started tallying up my counts for the day, when a comma flew past just at the very end of the transect route – excellent!

  Also on site yesterday were a stunning hobby over Phase 2, two swifts over the silt lagoons and a cuckoo calling from the public footpath by the Trent.

  Posted by Jenny Wallace

• 27 April 2012

  Today's sightings

  It’s amazing what half an hour out on site at Langford can produce! Today volunteers Dave Watt, Sarah Bird and myself had spent all day working in the polytunnel finishing off the reed propagation bays and building and fitting new doors, when we decided - late afternoon - that it was time for a quick look out on site.

  Making our way around Phase 2, we noticed a small, slim and very fast falcon hunting over the water. There was only one thing that could be….the first Langford hobby of 2012. And what a beautiful bird it is – with it’s pristine black and white plumage and red ‘trousers’, we watched as it hunted small passerines, finally getting it’s meal and heading off into the distance.

  Further round Phase 2, a brief look at a small flock of greylag geese revealed a single pink-footed goose among them. This is the first time I have seen pink-footed goose ‘on the deck’ at Langford – they are usually seen passing over in flocks on migration. This is quite a late individual, although on occasions they are seen in the county into May.

  The regular flock of pied wagtails on the new landscaping once again produced some white wagtails, their continental European counterparts. The males are looking stunning at this time of year, with their sharply contrasting black and white head and light grey mantle.

  On our way back to the workshop, a characteristic white rump showed itself, flying away from us and onto a nearby bund – a wheatear. We watched as a further two birds joined it and fed on the bund in front of us in the company of up to five yellow wagtails.

  Not bad for a quick trip out and we even managed to avoid the rain!

  Posted by Jenny Wallace

• 24 April 2012

  Migrant movements

  Myself and volunteer Sarah Bird were out on site bright and early this morning for the weekly breeding bird survey. And what a lovely morning it was, with the sun shining, clear skies and not a breath of wind – somewhat of a nice change from the torrential rain we have been experiencing in the last couple of weeks!

  April and May are my favourite months of the year, I love listening and looking out for new migrants moving in and this week has been pretty productive. Yesterday I was keen to get out and catch up with cuckoo and lesser whitethroat, which had been spotted over the weekend. And I wasn’t disappointed, as both showed well along the public footpath by the silt lagoons, present again this morning for the survey.

  On the western boundary of the reserve this morning, I was then greeted with my first common whitethroats of 2012, singing characteristically from the tops of hawthorn bushes on the reserve boundary. Three singing males were accompanied by four singing sedge warblers along a stretch of scrub no more than 100m long.

  And after the sedge warbler impersonating a reed warbler last week, I have now heard real reed warblers(!) singing away on silt lagoons 2, 4 and 6 this morning

  Total numbers of migrant warblers counted this morning are 18 willow warblers, 6 sedge warblers, 6 blackcaps, 4 reed warblers, 3 common whitethroats, 2 lesser whitethroats and 2 chiffchaffs. Other notable records include 2 Cetti’s warblers, 1 cuckoo and a ‘yaffling’ green woodpecker in the Phase 1 scrub – a bird I haven’t seen or heard at Langford since last summer.

  Insect wise, it's been pretty quiet in this bad weather lately, but when the sun does come out, look out for St. Marks flies, or Bibio marci, to give them their scientific name. They are quite a large fly at about 15-20mm long, are black in colour and fly characteristically with thier legs dangling below their bodies. They get their name from their habit of first appearing on St. Mark's Day - 25th April - however they were five days early this year, first appearing last Friday on the 20th!

  Posted by Jenny Wallace

• 18 April 2012

  Singing in the rain

  This morning the weather was horrendous! Heavy rain, strengthening wind and cold temperatures (not what was forecast!) made the Breeding Bird Survey rather miserable. However, whilst sat next to silt lagoon 6 I couldn’t help but take in the beautiful dawn chorus that was unfolding around me, despite the poor weather conditions.

  Reed buntings, yellowhammers, willow warblers, blackcaps, Cetti’s warblers, sedge warblers, blackbirds, song thrushes, skylarks, dunnocks, robins and wrens didn’t seem at all bothered by the wet, windy and cold conditions as I sat listening to the spectacle at 05.30. It was perhaps the best dawn chorus I have heard so far this year, in the worst weather possible for bird surveying!

  The migrants are still trickling in slowly, with 17 willow warblers, 11 blackcaps and 2 sedge warblers on site now, another 3 passage wheatears last week and more hirundines making an appearance with sand martin numbers building up and both swallows and house martins now recorded on site.

  And on the subject of migrant warblers, listen out for the sedge warbler singing in silt lagoon 6 by the footpath….it was doing a very convincing reed warbler impression this morning and almost had me fooled – until it gave in and let out a burst of typical sedge warbler song!

  Posted by Jenny Wallace

• 16 April 2012

  Cuckoo-flowers and orange-tips

  Another busy week has gone by and as we move yet further into spring, more and more wildlife is making it’s first appearance of 2012. It has admittedly been rather cool lately, with daytime temperatures only reaching a chilly 10C and dropping to below 0C at night.

  However, this doesn’t seem to have stopped the insects too much, as I was delighted to see my first orange-tip butterfly (or Anthocharis cardamines) at Langford on Tuesday last week – a stunning looking male too! Orange-tips are common spring flying butterflies and can be seen from the beginning of April to the beginning of June, being usually only single brooded, with a small second brood appearing occasionally. They are one of the first butterflies to emerge that haven’t overwintered as adults.

  The species is named for the striking bright orange tips to the wings of the male insects. However the females don’t have the orange coloured tips to the wings, instead having wholly white upperwings. Look for the ‘marbled’ green and white patterning on the underside of the hindwing to distinguish females from the similar looking small and green-veined white butterflies.

  They inhabit a wide range of habitats including grasslands, hedgerows, woodland rides and margins and riverbanks and are common and widespread throughout England and Wales, becoming scarcer into Scotland.

  And how about this for perfect timing – just as I was enjoying my first orange-tip of the year, I happened to notice the first flowering cuckoo-flower on the Phase 1 grassland, the larval foodplant of the orange-tip. Also known as lady’s smock or Cardamine pratensis, cuckoo-flower is a perennial, growing up to 60cm in height and inhabiting open or semi-shaded ground in damp areas such as damp grasslands and riverbanks. The leaves are long and thin, with the elegant looking flowers borne on long stalks having four white to light pink coloured petals. Flowering is from April to June. It is a common species throughout the UK.

  Posted by Jenny Wallace