23rd February
A flock of 50+ Lesser Redpolls was a nice surprise at Longham Lakes this morning since this species is an uncommon visitor to this site. The flock was favouring the catkin covered trees by the small pool at the SW corner of the South Lake. Also signs of the start of the spring passage of Mediterranean Gulls with 4 birds present. Further signs of spring with plenty of birds singing including a Chiffchaff (George Green).

20th February
Greylag Goose 2 on the water meadows, Kestrel 1, Snipe 1 on the small island on South lake, Common Gull 6, Mediterranean Gull 7, Great Black-backed Gull 2, Redwing 30+, Chiffchaff 3 (Robin Trundle).

16th February
My first decent bird at Longham for several weeks in the form of a Firecrest this afternoon. This is also a site tick for me. Otherwise nothing much else with wildfowl numbers remaining very low with the exception of Pochard (33) (George Green).

13th February
Martin Wood went birding today for the Patchwork Challenge and saw, among others: Pochard – 30, Tufted Duck – 62, Gadwall c33, Shoveler – 5, Black-headed Gull c130, Mediterranean Gull – 3, Kestrel – 1 male, Redwing – 20, Collared Dove – 2, Greenfinch – 4 and Meadow Pipit – 1. His year-list is up to 50 species.

11th February
I invited Bob Gibbons, the renowned botanist and writer, to Longham today to check out some of the waterside plants on site. Of course, it being winter there wasn’t much in flower, but hopefully this will be the first of a number of such checks. Anyhow, we only covered parts of Longham Reservoir South and the pools at the southern end. Among the species we found were Lesser Pond-Sedge Carex acutiformis, Compact Rush Juncus conglomeratus, Jointed Rush Juncus articulatus, Soft Rush Juncus effusus and Hard Rush Juncus inflexus, Galingale Cyperus sp, Common Water-Plantain Alisma plantago-aquatica, Water Starwort Callitriche sp., Brooklime Veronica beccabunga, Purple Loosestrife Lythrum salicaria and Common Fleabane Pulicaria dysenterica.

7th February
A good one today: Alan Pearce had a Firecrest in a bramble thicket on the west bank of Longham Reservoir South; also 3 Chiffchaffs.

4th February
Here is an interesting recovery/control that I have just received: a Reed Warbler ringed in July at Longham, retrapped (twice) at Christchurch in August, then controlled in France in September less than a fortnight after that. Must be getting quite used to being handled! (Roger Peart).

Reed Warbler D982526
3J 15/7/2015  Longham Lakes (11), Dorset
3J Recaptured 11/8/2015  Hengistbury Head Centre, Christchurch, (12 km, ESE, 27 days)
C3 Recaptured 22/8/2015 Wick, Christchurch, (12 km, ESE, 38 days)
C3 Recaptured 3/9/2015 Marais-Moisin-Ouest, Messanges, Landes, France (775 km, S, 50 days.

Meanwhile, at the lakes it was pretty quiet. However I did flush 26 Snipe from the West Fields this afternoon, which is the highest number recorded there. There was also a Treecreeper in Emily’s Wood. For previous counts click Common Snipe.

2nd February
Had a group out at Longham Lakes this morning, bird of the day was definitely Chiffchaff with a minimum of 4 seen at any one time enjoying the beautiful sunshine out of the wind. On the lakes usual species a few Common Gulls with the Black-heads, a few Shoveler and did find a pair of Teal eventually in flooded part of the field, a pair of Great Crested Grebes starting courtship head shaking. Some other highlights: Redwing 6+, Song Thrush 3+, Goldcrest 1, Kestrel 1 pair, Green Woodpecker 3, Greenfinch singing, Little Egret 5 (Jackie Hull/Two Owls Birding).

31st January
Darran Jones Patchwork Challenge (PWC): A walk undertaken with the family produced three new species for the year: Little Egret, Goldcrest and Bullfinch. He ends the month with 43 species.

29th January
Made a short visit this lunchtime, to find the site rather quiet except for one thing….of which more below. Wildfowl numbers are nothing special, although 45 Gadwall isn’t bad; otherwise there were 17 Wigeon, 2 Teal and 2 Shoveler. A Snipe on the small island at the south end of the large reservoir was a decent bird and, in addition to 2 Chiffchaffs along the western edge, where a Cetti’s Warbler also called, the first of the year. However, gulls stole the show. Apart from a decent showing on the lakes themselves, including 85 Black-headed Gulls in a single group and 2 Great Black-backs, the real action was on Hampreston Fields, which was simply covered in gulls. This included a new site record for Herring Gulls of at least 320 birds, and there were good numbers of the rest too, including 1 Mediterranean Gull. No rarities showed themselves, but it was a mighty impressive sight nonetheless (Dominic Couzens). If you’re sad enough, check out the numbers under Herring Gull.

Martin Wood PWC: In addition to some of the above, he saw a Meadow Pipit and finishes the first month of the Patchwork Challenge with 46 species.

23rd January
First species of minor interest this year with a pair of Pintail circling the lake. Otherwise very quiet with very few waterfowl except for 41 Pochard – a high count for this site in recent winters (George Green) – for details see Pochard.

17th January
Martin Wood PWC: Had a walk round north lake today, got 4 new birds for my Patchwork Challenge site. These were: Kingfisher on a fence post by the river, Stonechat on the fence wire in Hampreston Fields and a Common Gull by the slipway; and an easy one I should have got ages ago was a Chaffinch. Out on the north lake there were c40 Pochard, a few Tufted Ducks, about 5 Great Crested Grebes, a Little Grebe and Cormorants.
Darran Jones PWC: A good visit with the following new species: Robin, Wren, Collared Dove, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Grey Heron and Wigeon. Total now 40 species.

12th January
A very quick visit to Longham would have started well had I not been too slow in getting binoculars on to a raptor that was probably a Merlin – but remains unproven. The only other bird of note was Siskin flying over Emily’s Wood (Dominic Couzens).

10th January
Martin Wood PWC: I began with Redwing in the car park and another singing Song Thrush not far from the Study Centre. On the small lake I counted 20 Pochard. I walked round both lakes this afternoon with the hope of getting some new birds to build up the Longham list. The first new bird was a lone Greylag Goose among 72 Canada Geese out on the flooded Hampreston fields. The new birds: Greylag Goose, Great Black-backed Gull, Greenfinch, Green Woodpecker, Moorhen, Dunnock, Grey Wagtail.
Darran Jones PWC: I didn’t have a lot of time today, but did manage to add a few new birds to my patch list for the Patchwork Challenge. These included Shoveler, Teal, Greylag Goose, Starling, Greenfinch, Pied Wagtail and Buzzard. I scanned the fields and added quite a few Corvids to the list, including Carrion Crows, Jackdaws and about 6 Magpies. There was a large flock of around 30 Rooks too, adding another new bird to the patch list. That now brings my patch total to 33 birds. (Darran Jones).

8th January
Just for a change, I decided to start my Longham year off by doing a night-time visit. Had an 80 minute walk in the dark around the lakes. Great idea, right? Perhaps, but it certainly wasn’t rewarded, and I hardly saw or heard anything. There was compensation in hearing a Tawny Owl in Emily’s Wood, at least (Dominic Couzens).

5th January
Among 30 species seen or heard were the following: Great Crested Grebe (6 in Nth lake), 10 Pochard (Nth lake), Kingfisher (Nth lake, flying between reedbeds), Shoveler (m,f), 5 Wigeon, Gadwall, 7(6m,f) Mallard, 14 Canada Geese, 5 Teal (flooded west fields), Cetti’s warbler (Causeway, only heard). (Trevor Wilkinson)

3rd January
I am delighted that two birders, Martin Wood and Darran Jones are using Longham Lakes as their site for the Patchwork Challenge (PWC) http://patchworkchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/. Throughout the year I will use fragments of their experiences on this blog, but for the whole story I refer you to their own websites.

Martin Wood (http://wessexbirding.blogspot.co.uk/)
I started late this morning at Longham Lakes in very windy wet weather not ideal conditions but managed to record 29 species giving me a total of 30 points to kick off my challenge at this patch.

Darran Jones (http://greatbritishbirdhunt.blogspot.co.uk/)
My first trip to Longham Lakes was interesting as all the back fields have flooded. As a result all the geese and swans were very active and a lot nearer than they usually are. It wasn’t a bad start and I saw a total of 24 different species.