Many Happy Returns
Saturday 24th December As of today, a redhead (female/immature) Smew is back at Longham Lakes, found independently by Chris Parnell and George Green. Last winter there were up to 6 on Longham Reservoir South, and the first one appeared on December 1st. A great...
Rail Delight as Teal Leaves
The Longham Lakes Blue-winged Teal appears to have gone. It was last reported on 13th December. Bon voyage to a bird that gave great delight. Sunday 18th December Philip Horobin says: "It was a beautiful afternoon at Longham today. I parked the scope by the NW corner...
Back to Not Quite Normal
Friday December 9th It was a case of almost back to normal at Longham Lakes today: hardly any birders around, but plenty of common birds. However, it is true that the Blue-winged Teal is still here, which makes true normality impossible. Apart from this, just a couple...
Choppy Waters and Rare Ducks
Thursday 8th December The female/immature Blue-winged Teal was in its favoured corner (north-west) on Longham Reservoir South at lunchtime today, looking contentedly settled - not only in its choice of locality, but also in its regard for one of the local Shovelers....
Magic Sunday at Longham
Sunday December 4th The Blue-winged Teal remains on-site to the delight of the many who have gone looking for it. With so many birders present it was no surprise that lots of other birds were found, the pick being a first-winter Scaup picked out by Shaun Robson, plus...
American Brings Birders Running
Saturday December 3rd All hell broke loose today at Longham Lakes when George Green, Dorset birder of long standing, managed to pick out a female Blue-winged Teal on Longham Reservoir South. The bird was associating with a couple of Shovelers and proving pretty...
Some Recent Records
Here are some recent records from Longham: 27th November: Single Goosander redhead on LR North (Chris Parnell). 20th November: 1 first winter Red-breasted Merganser at 7.30am on LR South (Robin Trundle). This is the 4th record for the site. 50 Lapwings settled on the...
Late autumn rarity
A Black Tern showed up on Longham Lakes this morning, showing superbly on Longham Reservoir North among the Black-headed Gulls. Paul Wilkins got this awesome picture: It's a very late migrant, and the still obvious neck ring and scalloping on the wings shows that it...
Goldfinches Galore
Tuesday 18th October. Chris Parnell: not much visible migration today, but there was a large flock of Goldfinches (I’d say 80+) and 2 Siskins. Also Treecreeper and the Whinchat still present. On a quick count 46 species in total
Return of the Prodigal
Monday 17th September There was some light visible migration over Longham this morning 09.00-09.50, with totals as follows: Siskin 5, Lesser Redpoll 2 (south), Chaffinch 5 (south), Greenfinch 11 (south), Goldfinch 30 (mainly south), Linnet 17 (south), Pied/White...