American Wader Touches Down
1st December 2012 Not content with finding Longham Lakes's first Kittiwake this week, Lorne Bissell has triumped with the discovery of a much rarer bird, a White-rumped Sandpiper. This is the second American vagrant on the site after last year's Blue-winged Teal, but...
New Species for Longham
27th November 2012 It's always a red letter day when something drops in that is new to Longham. Today Lorne Bissell found this splendid adult Kittiwake in mid-morning, on Longham Reservoir South. It didn't stay around long enough for the other regulars to see, sadly....
Slow Winter Buildup
Winter is coming gradually to Longham Lakes. Here's what has been seen in the last week or two, beginning with today: 19th November George Green reports: 1 Goldeneye female, 1 Mediterranean Gull and 1 Lesser Redpoll heard overhead. Wildfowl increasing. 18th November...
Early November update
Thursday 8th November 1 Cetti's Warbler calling; Snipe x 2 on one of the islands, flushed by a crow; Fieldfare x 1 - settled bird; Redwing x 1 - Settled bird (Paul Morton). 2 Chiffchaffs am (Lorne Bissell). Tuesday 6th November Definitely 16 Black-tailed Godwits were...
Late Departures
1st November 2012 Most surprised today to see 3 House Martins flying over Longham Reservoir North in the afternoon. This is the latest record by over three weeks. Also 3 Ravens over (Dominic Couzens).
Big Rarity Drops in
OCTOBER 2012 reports If you want to hear about arguably the most exciting bird ever to drop in on the Longham Lakes site, then details are below. I write this with a heavy heart, because the wretched thing turned up while I was away - a Patchwatcher's nightmare....
September at Longham Lakes
September has been steady this year so far. We await something really unusual, or even a first for the site. Here are the records so far, in reverse order: 20th/21st September Ringing on the evening of 20th and early morning of 21st September revealed 34 and 31 new...
Summer at Longham Lakes
The months of July and August can be a little quiet on an inland patch, but here anyway are the summer sightings: 31st August: 1 female Redstart and 1 Wheatear present today (Chris Parnell). 30th August: Relatively quiet Constant Effort Site (CES) ringing session with...
Happy Family Tale
Here's an uplifting tale of a successfully fledging Reed Warbler. Its story began for us on May 25th when it was discovered as an egg in a nest, one of four in the clutch overall... It soon hatched... ...
Swifts and Hirundines
The spring was remarkable for passage of Swifts and Hirundines over Longham, with 5000 Swallows on 3rd May, plus 1000 on both 4th and 9th, while there were at the very least 500 Swifts on 3rd. House Martins were also caught up in the movement, with a few hundred at...