Summer 2016

20th August
Had walk round the south lake late morning early afternoon, 4 Swifts, lots of Sand Martins and House Martins over the lake. Also of interest were 2 Common Sandpiper, 1 Hobby over and a Pochard at the south end of the lake, and a Tufted Duck with 4 ducklings (Martin Wood).

18th August
Birds included 23 Mute Swans, 8 Swallows, a Coot with young, a Tufted Duck with 4 ducklings, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Common Sandpiper and Common Whitethroat. Non-bird sightings included 9 Red Arrows and the Memphis Belle! (Trevor Wilkinson).

14th August
A quick walk round the North Lake this afternoon the highlights were Willow Warbler – 4, Common Whitethroat – 2, Stonechat – 2, Sparrowhawk – 1, Great Crested Grebe – 7 (Martin Wood).

13th August
I had an evening ringing session at Longham yesterday. From 18.00 to 21.00 there were 15 new Chiffchaffs, 13 Willow Warblers, 8 Long-tailed Tits and, the last bird, a single Reed Warbler. Also one re-trap Chiffchaff ringed at the end of July. A bit strange that there were no Blackcaps and only the one Reed Warbler. (Roger Peart)

12th August
Quite a good session at Longham yesterday. 28 new birds ringed and two re-traps (one an adult female Chiffchaff ringed earlier in June and the other a Great Tit first ringed in 2012 as a juvenile). The new birds were: 8 Chiffchaff, 7 Blackcap, 7 Willow Warbler and one each of Blackbird, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Garden Warbler and a juvenile Green Woodpecker. Kestrel over the nets about 05.45 and Grey Heron on small island in Longham Reservoir South about 10.20.
(Roger Peart).

2nd August
A walk round the South Lake, 11.00-13.15 revealed 12 Great Crested Grebe (in fact on Longham Reservoir North), Coot (58 in far SW corner of South Lake alone) 2 Little Egret, 8 Mute Swan, Sedge Warbler, 2 Reed Bunting (f), Blackcap (f), 50+ House Martin (12.00), 30+ Swift and 30+ Swallow at 12.20,  then 20+ Swift and 25+ Swallow (12.55), 20 Jackdaw, 2 Willow Warbler and 4 Little Grebe. Dull, grey sky, following rain showers (Trevor Wilkinson).

31st July
Although referring to last year, I thought people would be interested in what dragonflies and damselflies are present on-site in the summer. Here is George Green’s 2015 report.

Although a total of 13 species were recorded at Longham Lakes during 2015 it is very likely that a few additional species were overlooked. The 2 pools just to the south of the South Lake were excellent sites for damselflies and dragonflies and were particularly favoured by the Red-eyed and Small Red-eyed Damselflies and the Four-spotted Chasers.

Banded Demoiselle (Calopteryx splendens)
A wanderer from nearby River Stour.
Small numbers present on 17th, 25th & 29th June 2015.

Red-eyed Damselfly (Erythromma najas)
Scarce breeder.
Small numbers present 15th July-2nd August 2015.

Small Red-eyed Damselfly (Erythromma viridulum)
This is a recent colonist to Britain.
Small numbers present 9th-31st July 2015.

Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum)
Common breeder.
Present 13th June-26th August 2015.

Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ishnura elegans)
Scarce breeder, perhaps overlooked.
Present on 25th June 2015.

Brown Hawker (Aeshna grandis)
Fairly common breeder.
Present 31st July-27th August 2015.

Migrant Hawker (Aeshna mixta)
Scarce breeder.
Present on 26th August and 2 late Individuals on 4th November 2015 including one eating a bumblebee!

Emperor Dragonfly (Anax imperator)
Common breeder.
Present 17th June-31st July 2015

Golden-ringed Dragonfly (Cordulegaster boltonii)
A presumed wanderer from nearby heathland habitats.
Singles on 29th June & 15th July 2015.

Scarce Chaser (Libellula fulva)
A presumed wanderer from the nearby River Stour which is a favoured river for this nationally rare species.
Singles on 23rd May and 9th July 2015.

Four-spotted Chaser (Libellula quadrimaculata)
A scarce breeder.
Present on 29th June 2015.

Black-tailed Skimmer (Orthetrum cancellatum)
Fairly common breeder.
Present 13th June-2nd August 2015.

Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum)
Fairly common breeder.
Present 31st July-26th August 2015.

26th July
Ringing produced 14 new birds (3 Chiffchaffs, 2 Reed Warbler, 2 Wren and one each of Willow Warbler, Blackcap, Robin, Bullfinch, Song Thrush, Great Tit and Garden Warbler). All were juveniles except one Wren and the Blackcap, Great Tit and Bullfinch. The Garden Warbler was nice to have – didn’t get one at all last year and only one in 2014. Also one re-trap Reed Warbler which was ringed in early June last year also as an adult. (Roger Peart).

24th July
The most notable sightings on today’s Wetland Bird Survey (WEBS) were: 3 Common Sandpiper, 5 Lapwing (2 adult and 3 full grown juveniles among the tall herbage on riverside water meadow. Could they have bred here I wonder?) 1 Raven, and 37 Tufted Duck with 3 broods of 5, 2 and 2 ducklings. No synchronized mass hatchings yet this year (Trevor Thorpe).

23rd July
Ringing early morning was rather slow going, with just 12 new birds and 4 re-traps. New ones were: 7 Reed Warblers, 2 Chiffchaffs, Robin, juvenile Bullfinch and Great Tit. The re-traps were two Robins, both juveniles ringed earlier this summer, and 2 Wrens, both adults ringed last year. Not a lot of other birds about which was fairly unusual for this time of year. At least some Reed Warblers and Chiffchaffs have been productive. (Roger Peart).

Meanwhile, a walk round the lakes this afternoon did not produce much, but highlights were 1 Common Sandpiper, 14 Lapwing and 1 Grass Snake (my first for Longham) swimming along the edge of the rocks on the east bank by the pump house (Martin Wood).

22nd July
This morning there were 8 Common Sandpiper in one flock mobile around south lake and occasionally resting on the willows. Also 4 Sedge Warbler (Lorne Bissell).

21st July
There were 2 Common Sandpipers, 3 Common Terns and what looks like a female Scaup [left] (Lorne Bissell).

16th July
Survey work at Longham produced a Little Egret in the ‘off-limits’ south settling pools..

Invertebrates included the usual good numbers of Small Red-eyed Damselfly in the south-west pool and a few Scarce Chasers closer to the river with a good scattering of White-legged Damselfly. Also, of note, Ringlet (an excellent year for them), a Six-belted Clearwing (moth) in the grass at the extreme north end (probably checking out the Bird’s-foot Trefoil there). Also very good numbers of Lindenius panzeri (a solitary wasp) at a discrete site – possibly the best in the Dorset (Steve Morrison).

15th July
14.45-16.45: highlights were Sedge Warbler (new for Patchwork Challenge year-list), 3 Common Sandpipers, 13 Lapwing, a brood of 4 Tufted ducklings and a Grey Wagtail (Martin Wood).

7th July
Lunchtime today 4 Common Sandpipers on North Island in south lake and 2 Sand Martins (Lorne Bissell).

6th July
First Common Sandpiper of the autumn. Also good numbers of Small Red-eyed Damselflies Erythromma viridulum on the small pond just beyond the SW corner of the South Lake (George Green).

2nd July
A single Black-tailed Godwit flew over the South Lake (George Green) and a Hobby flew over (Martin Wood).

26th June
A good number of Banded Damselflies about, plus a few Meadow Browns and Marbled Whites, a Brimstone and one Red Admiral. (Martin Wood).

24th June
Walking up along the causeway there were about 30 Swifts flying this way and that and some darting past at head height after insects. I just love watching these masters of the air as they go about hawking across the lake and high in the sky specially when we have good conditions like this evening.

I decided to count the Tufted Ducks that were about across both lakes and came up with a count of c150 tuftys and 44 Coots on south lake only. The most interesting thing to happen this evening though was a Cuckoo I heard call behind Samuel’s Wood and a Fox trying to catch Woodpigeons. Other sightings were 1 Marbled White , a Cetti’s Warbler, 1 Jay, 6 House Martin, 4 Great Crested Grebe and 2 Chiffchaff singing (Martin Wood).

21st June
Sandwich Tern perched on buoy at south end of South Lake this pm (George Green).

17th June
Out on the water this evening I counted Tufted Duck – c113 on Longham Reservoir South and 60 on LR North, plus Mallards c25, Mute Swan 20 and 2 Great Crested Grebe plus the usual Coots and Herring Gulls. Along the western side up to Samuel’s Wood the best was a Cetti’s Warbler on show for a brief second or two, a Whitethroat, a singing Chiffchaff and a Peregrine (which brings my Patchwork Challenge year list up to 82 for the year). (Martin Wood).

11th June
Had a moderately good time at Longham yesterday morning with 18 new birds and three retraps. Robins were again the star performers with 9 juveniles and all three of the r-etraps (all adults, two ringed last month and the other last July as a juvenile). The other new birds were 2 Chiffchaffs, 2 Dunnocks, 2 Greenfinches, 2 Bullfinches and a Song Thrush. The finches were 2 adult pairs, each pair caught together. No Reed Warblers – they have gone from the layby area and, seemingly, the clump.

Blackcaps and Reed Buntings singing around the clump but not venturing near the nets. Other interest: One Cuckoo calling to the west at 0500 gradually moved closer and then ended up just to the east of the site by 0540. At least one Mandarin heard calling flying over around 0530. One Shelduck seen flying south over the works area at 0640. NO Swifts over this time.

Several Banded Demoiselles flying about, and one Scarce Chaser.

When I set the nets up the evening before there was female Pheasant and four weakly flying young in the long vegetation on the way to the clump [first confirmed breeding record for Longham]. (Roger Peart).

8th June
Very quiet, only two Great Crested Grebes, 5 Gadwall plus the usual Coots and Tufted Ducks. 1 Shelduck on the large island, 7 Swift and 7 House Martin and a Buzzard were the best seen (Martin Wood).

2nd June
I have just had another ringing recovery. Sad but quite a nice movement (Roger Peart).

Willow Warbler
Ringed:
EJK898 N 3 (1st Y) 28/07/14 Longham Lakes (11), Dorset
Recovered:
X Dead 03/05/16 Cascob, Presteigne, Powys (188 km, NNW, 1 yr 280days)