24th January
Longham has a decent gull list, but has never really hosted anything rare – especially compared to Blashford Lakes only 12km away with recent records of Franklin’s, Ring-billed and Glaucous Gulls. Today, however, George Green broke that duck by finding a CASPIAN GULL. He reports: “Classic winter-adult Caspian Gull at Longham Lakes (South Lake) c2.30pm. I scoped the bird for c10 minutes before it flew off and drifted high to the NE.” Apparently the presumed first-winter female Scaup is still around.
22nd January
Alan Pearce: “A perfect morning to be out and about at the lakes. The usual suspects on and around the water, including the Scaup. Also nice to see Chiffchaff, Peregrine (on pylon), Stonechat (pair, possibly x2), Kingfisher and (heard drumming) Great Spotted Woodpecker.”
“Also, a ringed Chiffchaff pictured on 14th January in the west bank scrub. Below is the reply I received from Roger Peart with the likely details.
“The first blow-up shows the letters HC which fits with the ring series I was using in 2014 (HCX…) so it is almost certainly one of my birds. The other blow-up shows what appears to be either a HCX..8! One of the last Chiffs that I caught on Dec 4th was HCX208 so this is a likely candidate – and probably still staying around the site. There are 15 other Chiffs that I ringed in the autumn with numbers ending on 8 (and another 17 ending on 0), so the case is not conclusive. I rather favour 208 though.”
21st January
A slightly disappointing morning at Longham, with a decent range of wildfowl but no Scaup. There were 34 Teal on the island and at least 69 Mute Swans within range of sight. A flock of 7 Greylag Geese flew over and there were 3 Mediterranean Gulls. Also an evidence pair of Green Woodpeckers in each other’s company.
20th January
A good range of birds, including 22 Pochard, 20+ Cormorant, 40+ Carrion Crow, 15 Goldfinch, Mistle Thrush (first of year here), 19 Redwing, 15+ Starling, 2 Stonechat, 2 Meadow Pipit, 12 Gadwall and 2 Shoveler. Also 2 Foxes (Trevor Wilkinson). These Foxes, added to the ubiquitous Grey Squirrel and Rabbit, bring the yearly mammal total to 3 species.
18th January
The monthly Wetland Bird Survey (WEBS) count by Trevor Thorpe and Robin Trundle came up with the following numbers:
Mute Swan 50, Canada Goose 37, Shelduck 1, Wigeon 3, Gadwall 43, Teal 44, Mallard 69, Shoveler 6, Pochard 30, Tufted Duck 111, Little Grebe 23, Great Crested Grebe 9, Cormorant 30, Little Egret 3, Grey Heron 3, Moorhen 3, Coot 305,
Black-headed Gull 260, Common Gull 5, Lesser Black-backed Gull 2, Herring Gull 47, Mediterranean Gull 1.
17th January
Female Scaup showing well in SE corner of South Lake. Best of the rest were a male Sparrowhawk and a Raven (George Green).
12th January
Two young men were shooting on Hampreston Fields this afternoon. They were so close to the western perimeter of the lakes that I was able to engage one of them in conversation. I asked him who gave permission for the shooting, and he quoted somebody who in fact does not own the field concerned. He also told me his workplace which also turned out to be false. So it seems reasonable to suppose they don’t have permission and are thus trespassing – so, if you see anybody shooting here, it might be a good idea to (threaten to) contact police. I have a photograph of one of the lads.
The Scaup was still around, as was a Shelduck, 2 Great Black-backed Gulls, 1 Stonechat, 1 Chiffchaff and 1 Goldcrest.
11th January
Took a quick walk round the south lake this afternoon a very good view of a drake Pintail on one of the flooded pools in the field. Also two Stonechats male and female fliting about round the edge of the lake, a Mediterranean Gull were the best I seen today, along with the usual wildfowl (Martin Wood).
10th January
The lakes and nearby flooded Hampreston Meadows produced a good selection of wildfowl this pm including the female Scaup in the middle of South Lake, a Shelduck also on South Lake and a nice male Pintail on Hampreston Meadows. Best of the rest were 6 Mediterranean Gulls (George Green).
Martin Wood came across a female Pochard with a pale green nasal band with a big letter F centre and one side possible the 24 and the other side 7+. Also 2 Greylag Geese.
[This Pochard was later confirmed to come from France. An adult female, it was first ringed at Saint-Philbert-de-Grand-Lieu on 4th June 2008 and again at the same place on 31st May 2013. Its visit to Longham has thus brought it 415km to the north to spend the winter – odd, because most female Pochards move south in winter!]