30th November
Much better views of the stint this morning along with several other observers. The consensus view is that the bird is a Little Stint albeit in unfamiliar plumage (George Green).
Other good birds present included 3 Great Egrets and 8 Black-tailed Godwits (Dave and Pat Harris).
29th November
Popped in very briefly this afternoon to find THREE Great Egrets together on the main island on Longham Reservoir North. Surely this is the largest ever gathering in Dorset? Lorne Bissell was also there and had found a very small wader on the island – indeed, you could see Great and Little Egret and the wader through the same telescope view. Immediately it was obvious that the bird was of a stint type, since it clearly had a much shorter bill than a Dunlin or Sanderling. It was also barely larger than the Pied Wagtails walking nearby. But which species? The problem was, the island is quite a long way out and the light was against, and fading. However, the wings seemed too short for White-rumped (or Baird’s) Sandpiper, a former a species that appeared here around this time of year a few years ago. There was a noticeable white patch between the wing and the belly, and otherwise the underparts were clean white, with an obvious demarcation against the breast band. There were no obvious white V-lines across the back, so typical of Little Stint. The bird was portly (as Little Stint) but remarkably sluggish for that species. Semipalmated Sandpiper has to be a possibility. Hopefully it will be there tomorrow. Also a Water Rail called (Dominic Couzens). Also 1 Black-tailed Godwit this morning (Martin Wood).
28th November
Two Great White Egrets still on the island in the South Lake (George Green). Also 5 Little Egrets, 8 Great Crested Grebe, 3 Little Grebe, 3 Greylag Geese, a family of Mute Swans with 6 juveniles, 12 Cormorants, 2 Meadow Pipits and 2 Pied Wagtails (Trevor Wilkinson).
25th November
Now 2 Great White Egrets at Longham Lakes still present 11.30 roosting on the big island in the South Lake. Also 16 Black-tailed Godwits feeding on a small pool on Hampreston Meadows (George Green).
23rd November
Great White Egret was still on the large island in the South Lake at 14.50pm. Also found an adult Yellow-legged Gull – only my 2nd site record (George Green). Hampreston Fields flooded with little about apart from small number of Teal. Around the lakes, 1 male Stonechat and a Sparrowhawk (Alan Pearce).
15th November
A trip round the South lake this afternoon after work and finally I connected with a Bullfinch for the Patchwork Challenge. Out on the lakes were 3 Wigeon, c33 Gadwall, 1 Teal, 12 Mallard, 1 Shoveler, 1 Pochard, c100 Tufted Duck, 2 Little Egret,
14 Little Grebe and 10 Great Crested Grebe. Also Cetti’s Warbler, Stonechat and Grey Wagtail (Martin Wood).
14th November
Wheatear still present on the Causeway. Best of the rest was the first time I’ve seen 4 species of raptor on one visit – Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel and Peregrine (George Green). Some numbers included: 4 Teal, 2 Greylag Geese, 6 Gadwall, 8 Little Grebes, 14 Cormorants, 2 Little Egrets, plus Kingfisher, Cetti’s Warbler, 1 Grey Wagtail and 4 Meadow Pipits (Trevor Wilkinson).
13th November
The Wheatear on the causeway again this morning (Trevor Thorpe).
11th November
The Wheatear was still present on the causeway this afternoon. Also a Marsh Harrier high over the large lake (Trevor Thorpe).
8th November
A Wheatear on the causeway was a bit of a surprise,e particularly as it was my first site record this autumn (George Green).
Egyptian Geese, Longham Lakes, 7/11/16 (Ron Poulter)
7th November
4 Egyptian Geese were present (Ron Poulter).
6th November
I was at Longham just after 10am and was encouraged by a Snipe flushed from the grass as I crossed the causeway and a Sparrowhawk overhead. However, things then went downhill as a party of around a dozen canoe paddlers turned up and five of them proceeded, under instruction I think, to paddle across and around about three-quarters of the south lake. So, disturbance with tuffties and other ducks in the air. I thought that these on the water activities we supposed to be confined to the NE corner of the south lake. Have the ground rules changed? (Alan Pearce). [No, not as far as I am aware].
Anybody else see the canoeists or other users disturbing wildlife? If so, try to take photographs and get details and pass these on to me. Dominic.
In the afternoon, 5 Mandarin (1 male, 3 females and 1 immature male), 2 male Pochard, 1 Lapwing and 2 Snipe (Martin Wood).
Cormorants on Longham Reservoir North, 6/11/16 (Darran Jones).
5th November
Late morning to early afternoon: 2 Egyptian Geese, 12 Great Crested Grebes, 70 Tufted Ducks, 10 Shoveler, 11 Gadwall, 28 Wigeon, 1 Pochard, 1 Teal, 11 Little Grebe, 1 Jay, 1 Grey wagtail (Martin Wood).
31st October
Birds present included 12 Cormorants, 2 Little Egrets, 53 Canada Geese, a site record of 6 Egyptian Geese (flying overhead north-west), a Stonechat, 5 Meadow Pipits and 4 Cetti’s Warblers (Trevor Wilkinson).
29th October
Birds today: Cetti’s Warbler – 3; Tufted Duck – 56; Great Crested Grebe – 12; Little Grebe – 10; Snipe – 3; Chiffchaff – 2; Long tailed Tit – 10; Wigeon – 3; Gadwall c10; Little Egret – 2; Meadow Pipit – 4; Reed Bunting –1; Cormorant – 22 (Martin Wood).
28th October
Found a Black Redstart this morning which is my 2nd site tick this month. It was feeding in the compound of Bournemouth Water which can be viewed from the east bank of the South Lake. It favoured the road and fence on the right side of the compound (George Green).
27th October
Among the more usual birds were 2 Ravens and 2 Egyptian Geese (Dave and Pat Harris).
25th October
I had a ringing session this morning but very few birds about and I only caught 10 new birds and 2 Robin re-traps between 0720 and 1100. The most interesting were 2 Meadow Pipits. The others were 3 Chiffchaffs, and one each of Goldcrest, Wren, Dunnock, Song Thrush, Blackbird. One Robin re-trap was ringed last month the other ringed in 2014 as an adult female but not seen since until today (Roger Peart).
23rd October
I went to Longham late afternoon yesterday and just caught 7 birds – 5 Chiffchaffs, 1 Blackbird and 1 Great Tit (Roger Peart).
22nd October
Superb views of an Osprey circling over the South Lake for about 10 minutes around 2pm. Eventually flew west hounded by local gulls (George Green).
Yellow-browed Warbler, Longham Lakes, 21/10/16 (Roger Peart)
21st October
Yet another Yellow-browed Warbler found its way into the nets today, the 6th for the site (and the first I have seen – Dominic). It was one of 21 birds (all new) made up otherwise from 9 Goldcrests, 8 Chiffchaffs and one each of Blackbird, Blackcap and Wren (Roger Peart).
Had a very pleasant walk: 16 Mute Swans, 6 Gadwall, 3 Shoveler, 42 Tufted Duck spread across the two lakes, a Little Egret, 12 Lapwing, a Grey Heron and 2 Snipe. Out on the water c86 Coot , 15 Little Grebe, 7 Great Crested Grebe, 64 Herring Gull, 42 Black-headed Gull. Also 1 Cetti’s Warbler and 2 Grey Wagtails (Martin Wood). There were also 8 Cormorants, 2 Cetti’s warblers and 7 Meadow Pipits (Trevor Wilkinson).
19th October
A short ringing session produced 18 birds, all new: 11 Chiffchaffs, 3 Goldcrests, 2 Blackcaps, 2 Great Tits (Roger Peart).
Yellow-browed Warbler, Longham Lakes, 17/10/16 (Roger Peart).
17th October
Another Yellow-browed Warbler this morning! I was a bit later going than intended as it was raining hard when I woke up, but I had the nets up by about 7.30am and caught in all 37 new birds and 3 re-traps. There was no more rain (and very light wind) until a light shower at about 10.40 when I was closing down anyway. I had 15 birds in one net at the very end, mostly Long-tailed Tits and Goldcrests. The totals for the morning were Chiffchaff 10, Goldcrest 6 (+ 1 re-trap), Wren 5, Long-tailed Tit 4 (+ 2 re-traps), Great Tit 3, Cetti’s Warbler 2, Robin 2, and one each of Yellow-browed Warbler, Jay, Blackcap, Blue Tit and Blackbird. A nice variety (Roger Peart).
15th October
Great excitement yesterday when I located a Jack Snipe on the open gravel beach of the island at the north end of the South Lake (George Green).
10th October
Trevor Wilkinson had 2 possible Yellow-browed Warblers around the lakes today, together with 5 Long-tailed Tits, 2 Goldfinches, 2 Green Woodpeckers and a decent range of common water birds.
8th October
On the large Island there were 5 Little Egrets, 15 Lapwing, 3 Snipe and one Grey Heron, on the water round the island there were 15 Shoveler (the first of the autumn/winter? ) a 1st winter Common Gull, 6 Gadwall, 2 Teal, 14 Great Crested Grebes and 8 Little Grebes. 12 Swallows came over high, then later three hawking across the lake. Also had 4 Jays, a Kingfisher, 2 Grey Wagtails and 6 Meadow Pipits (Martin Wood).
3rd October
A Rock Pipit on the main island on Longham Reservoir South today (George Green). Also a very good candidate for Scaup, although a hybrid cannot entirely be ruled out (Ron Poulter).
23rd September
No new birds for the Patch Work Challenge list but was nice to see what was about. A nice Kingfisher on the large pool at the top end of South lake, plus a Snipe. 25 Lapwing were in the air when I arrived and flew east but 3 remained on the large island, with 54 Canada Geese hanging around. Also in the Settling Marsh area I had about 25 Chiffchaffs (with perhaps some Willow Warblers). Other counts: Mute Swan –10; Mallard – 3; Gadwall – 5; Great Crested Grebe – 18; Little Grebe – 22; Coot – c150; Tufted Duck – c70; Buzzard – 2; Swallow – 2; Reed Bunting – 1; Grey Wagtail – 3 (Martin Wood).
21st September
Some useful counts today included 8 Mute Swans, 4 Great Crested Grebes (north lake only), 21 Coots (north lake only), 105+ Tufted Ducks (north lake), 16 Cormorants, 6 Little Grebes (south lake), a Lesser Black-backed Gull and 10 Lapwings (Trevor Wilkinson).
16th September
Early afternoon 11.50 – 14.15, birds included Kestrel – 1, Gadwall – 10, Wigeon – 8 the first of autumn, Teal – 2, Green Sandpiper – 1 flushed from the large pool at the top of South Lake, Coot – 146, Tufted Duck – 70, Great Crested Grebe – 14, Little Grebe – 22 and Lapwing – 4 (Martin Wood.)
15th September
Ringing results: new birds 28 Chiffchaff, 1 Blackcap, 2 Bullfinch (juveniles), 1 Blue Tit. Also 2 re-traps – a Chiffchaff ringed on 13th August and a Reed Bunting (Y512436) ringed 27 Jun 2012 (adult male) and re-trapped again at least once each year since – 8 handlings in all. It is (was) now 4yrs 80 days since ringing – my oldest Reed Bunting and second oldest Longham bird [oldest is Reed Warbler L902332, ringed 21/06/2011 and retrapped 03/05/2016]
14th September
Ringing results: new birds 11 Chiffchaff, 4 Blackcap, 3 Robin, 2 Long-tailed Tit, 1 Blue Tit, 1 Wren. Also two re-trap Long-tailed Tits, both ringed on 30 May this year (Roger Peart).
11th September
Little Gull (juvenile), Longham Lakes, 11th September 2016 (Martin Wood)
Juvenile Little Gull testing in north west corner of south lake was highlight today (Martin Wood).
10th September
This afternoon I made the following counts across the two lakes: Mute Swan-11, Gadwall –2, Mallard – 5, Little Grebe – 21, Great Crested Grebe – 23, Grey Heron – 1, Coot – 157, Lapwing – 12, Green Woodpecker – 2, Swallow – c50 (Martin Wood.)
4th September
Good start to the autumn with an immature Little Gull over the lakes this evening. Also 16 Lapwings (Martin Wood.)
1st September
Generally quiet so only Grey Wagtail, 3 Lapwings and Kingfisher. Perhaps also as many as 30 large fish cruising the still waters of the south lake. From the those showing the scales beneath the dorsal fin, I am sure they are all carp. I have seen 5/6 large carp here in past years, but never these numbers (Alan Pearce