Autumn 2019 at Longham Lakes

One of the highlights of an excellent autumn at Longham Lakes.

31st December
I had a short ringing session at Longham this morning from 6am (putting up nets) to 8.45am [that’s beyond the call of duty, Roger!]  Aiming for Redwings but only caught one, plus a new Robin. Two re-traps – a recent Robin, and a Blue Tit which was ringed in Sep 2014 as a first year bird. I think this is the oldest Blue Tit I have caught at Longham. 3 Ravens flew over, too (Roger Peart.) All three species of egret were present on this last day of the year,including at least 1 possibly 3 Cattle Egrets, and 1 Great White feeding in fields close to Hampreston Farm. Otherwise 4 Scaup on the south Lake (George Green.)

28th December
Two very distant Cattle Egrets feeding close to Hampreston Farm viewed from the west bank of the north lake. Earlier Lorne Bissell had seen 3 Cattle Egrets fly in that direction. Otherwise the usual suspects – 4 Scaup (1 imm male and 3 females) and a Great White Egret which flew off SW. Earlier 3 Great White Egrets had been present. Oddly I could not find any Little Egrets, so only 2 species for me today! (George Green).

24th December
Much the same as recently – 4 Scaup and 1 Great White Egret. Also 90+ Wigeon is a good count for this site (George Green.)

21st December
Much the same as recently with 4 Scaup (immature male, 3 females) and 3 very vocal Great White Egrets. Otherwise a lot of water!! (George Green, Martin Wood.)

17th December
Got wet!! Otherwise 4 Scaup (3 females and immature male) and 1 Great White Egret (George Green.)

14th December
A good selection of wildfowl this morning including 3 female Scaup (with stunning white faces), a pair of Pintail (uncommon at Longham), 1 female Goldeneye and an Egyptian Goose. Also good numbers of commoner species. Best of the rest – 2 Great White Egrets (George Green.)

11th December
Not much change from recent visits: 3 female Scaup and 2 Great White Egrets (George Green.)

9th December
Numbers for today: 21 Canada Geese, 4 Great Crested Grebe, 115 Tufted Duck, 67 Pochard, 31 Mute Swan, 3 Great White Egret, 7 Little Egret, 2 Common Gull, 2 Grey Heron, 36 Cormorant, 2 Egyptian Geese, 14 Shoveler, 32 Teal, 35 Gadwall, 84 Coot, 1 Common Buzzard, 16 Little Grebe, 2 Greater Scaup, 14 Wigeon, 9 Redwing and 2 Fieldfare (Samuel Levy.)

4th December
Just the usual suspects this morning – 2 Scaup (immatures/females) and 3 Goldeneye (immatures/females) on South Lake and Great White Egret by river (George Green.)

3rd December
A brief visit towards the end of the afternoon. I had a short walk up about a quarter of the west path, with the following: Water Rail – one flew up from the vegetation on the south-west bank for a few seconds to move further along out of sight; Fieldfare – flock of 8 heading over NW calling (Roger Peart.)

2nd December
Best sightings this pm were Scaup (1 imm/female), Goldeneye (1 imm/female), Great White Egret (1) and Black-tailed Godwit (flock of 16 flying over). The water level on the south Lake is dropping revealing a nice beach around the large island. At least 12 Snipe were on view (George Green.)

30th November
A good afternoon trip to the lakes this afternoon. Hightlights were Cattle Egret on the large island a male Pintail and 3 Goldeneye. Others were Scaup, Pochard 60, Wigeon 34, Gadwall 41, Mallard 18, Shoveler 2, Teal 20, Little Grebe 16, Great Crested Grebe 3, Snipe 3, Little Egret 4, Grey Heron 1 and plenty of Coot and Tufted Duck (Martin Wood.)

29th November
Another November and another 3 species of egret at Longham Lakes including a very distant Cattle Egret on Hampreston Fields perched on a cattle trough close to farm barns. Obviously both Great White Egret (a single by the river) and Little Egrets were present. Otherwise 2 female Scaup and 3 Goldeneye were the ‘best of the rest’ (George Green.)

24th November
Late to mid morning visit for a walk round South Lake produced some nice birds. The Hampreston fields were flooded, with Shoveler and Gadwall on them. Out on South Lake there were plenty of Tufted Duck and Coot, 12 Little Grebe, 4 Great Crested Grebes, 21 Pochard, 4 Wigeon, 10 Gadwall. A fly over of 20 Black tailed Godwit, 1 Common Snipe, 16 Fieldfare (Martin Wood.)

11th November
There was a report of a 1st-winter Caspian Gull this morning, via Birdguides.

9th November
There was a Scaup, 2 Goldeneyes, 3 Great White Egrets and a Ruddy Shelduck present today (George Green.).

6th November
A short ringing session at Longham this morning in much better weather conditions than yesterday – hardly any wind. I only caught 8 birds though, the highlight being a Fieldfare. There were 3 more Redwings and single Song Thrush (probably moving with the Redwings), Goldcrest, Chiffchaff and Robin (Roger Peart.) Restricted viewing due the temporary closure of paths around much of the South Lake due to maintenance work. However I did see 2 Goldeneye and 2 Great White Egrets. I also spoke to a reliable observer who had a brief view of the female Vagrant Emperor on the west side of the North Lake a few days ago (George Green.)

Also today, Lorne Bissell came upon this Scaup-type duck that was clearly smaller than the various Greater Scaup on-site. One possibility would be female or immature Lesser Scaup. However, George Green comments: “I had seen your interesting Scaup a few days earlier and thought it looked slightly odd, but not odd enough to be lesser Scaup. I saw it again today at close range and in good light before the rain arrived. On this occasion it stretched a wing out which showed a wing-bar consistent of being a Greater Scaup or possibly hybrid. Another feature that worried me was the fairly prominent pale ear covert patch which seems to be very faint or non-existent on immature/female Lesser Scaup. Also I don’t find the head shape convincing for Lesser Scaup. Nevertheless it does look a bit small for Greater Scaup and the head shape doesn’t seem as rounded as it should be.  Perhaps a juvenile Greater Scaup or hybrid in the answer.”

5th November
A short ringing session at Longham this morning. Rather slow going and caught just 9 new birds and a re-trap Blackbird, ringed as a juvenile in August last year. New ones were 5 Redwings, 2 Goldcrests, 1 Robin, 1 Great Tit. It was a bit too breezy for decent netting. There was a large flock, 100+, of mostly Redwings and some Fieldfares overhead by the sludge pits nets at about 8.40am (Roger Peart)

3rd November
No sign of either juvenile Ring-necked Duck or juvenile Red-crested Pochard, but 3 immature/female type Scaup were present. Also a imm/female Goldeneye which is a scarce species at Longham Lakes. Still 500+ waterfowl present, mostly Tufted Ducks and Coot but including good numbers of Gadwall and Pochard plus a few Wigeon and Shoveler. Otherwise Great White Egret best of the rest (George Green.)

2nd November
A late morning and earlier afternoon trip round South Lake, with the following seen (also another birder round the lake saw a Woodcock): Canada Goose- 29, Mute Swan -25, Mallard – 4, Wigeon – 4, Pochard – 58, Gadwall – 35, Shoveler – 13, Tufted Duck – c200, Scaup – 1, Coot – lots of them, Moorhen – 2, Little Egret -1, Little Grebe – 14, Great Crested Grebe – 4, Common Gull – 1, Herring Gull – 33, Black-headed Gull – 179, Mediterranean Gull – 3, Lapwing – 1 flying over, Black-tailed Godwit – 2 flying over, Jay -1, Carrion Crow, Rook, Jackdaw, Woodpigeon, Green Woodpecker -1, Blackbird – 3, Blue Tit -1, Long-tailed Tit – 4, Pied Wagtail, Stonechat – 2, Wren -1 (Martin Wood.)

1st November
An immature Red-crested Pochard has chosen to join the immature Ring-necked Duck and 2 imm/female Scaup (both together today) amongst the 400+ waterfowl on the South Lake. Also 3 brief views of an Otter on the North Lake (George Green.)

30th October
Ring-necked Duck, Scaup and Great Egret all seen at north end of South Lake this morning (Ian Lewis.)

29th October
I had a short ringing session at Longham early this morning. Very frosty and not much about, but I did catch a Yellow-browed Warbler and a Firecrest (both first for the year) and a Meadow Pipit (2nd of the year). There were no Redwings or Chiffchaffs today and only 2 Goldcrests, making 10 new birds in total – the others were 2 Robins, 1 Blackbird, 1 Dunnock and 1 Cetti’s Warbler (Roger Peart.)

27th October
The American Black Tern was seen for the last time today (Dorset Bird Club.)

26th October
The American Black Tern was present (Dorset Bird Club.)

25th October
There was a 1st-winter Caspian Gull today (Birdguides.)

23rd October
On today’s ringing session I got 6 birds – 2 more Redwings and one each of Blackbird, Long-tailed Tut, Chiffchaff and Goldcrest. There were a few Meadow Pipits around, but I didn’t catch one (Roger Peart.)

21st October
I had a fair morning’s ringing today, with 43 new birds ringed plus two re-traps – one a recent Long-tailed Tit and the other a Wren, the latter first ringed 25th May 2017 as an adult, and re-trapped twice since on 30/10/2017 and 26/10/2018. The new birds were 11 Goldcrests, 8 Chiffchaffs, 7 Long-tailed Tits, 6 Redwings, 4 Great Tits, 2 Song Thrushes, 2 Blue Tits, 1 Blackcap, 1 Bullfinch and 1 Dunnock (Roger Peart.)

Meanwhile, Samuel Levy recorded the following around the Lakes in the afternoon: 2 Greylag Geese (both ringed in Poole Park on 29th June 2019), 8 Gadwall, 1 male Wigeon, 16 Pochard, the female Ring-necked Duck still, 128 Tufted Duck, 2 Scaup, 3 Little Grebe, Water Rail, Mediterranean Gull, Common Gull, American Black Tern still, 7 Little Egret, Common Buzzard, 3 Kingfisher, Kestrel, 11 Chiffchaff, 6 Cetti’s Warbler, 5 Goldcrest, 50 Fieldfare moving north, Grey Wagtail and a Bullfinch!

19th October
Ring-necked Duck, Garganey , 2 Scaup and the American Black Tern were still around in the morning (Ian Ballam.) Pochard numbers up to 20 and 10 Gadwall, 2 Little Egrets and 1 Grey Heron also on the island (Martin Wood.) There were also 2 Vagrant Emperor dragonflies (Phil Saunders.)

15th October
Lorne Bissell found a RING-NECKED DUCK this morning, a new species for Longham Lakes! There was also a Garganey, 2 Scaup, a Barnacle goose on North Island and the American Black Tern was still around.

11th October
The American Black Tern was still around (Peter Moore.)

10th October
The American Black Tern was still around (Robin Trundle.)

8th October
The American Black Tern was still around (Kevin Birch.) A ringing session yielded 23 birds (no re-traps) and all were Chiffchaffs (13) or Goldcrests (10). Two more Goldcrests and 15 more Chiffchaffs will pass last year’s totals. Blackcaps notably absent yesterday (as were other common species) but I usually have caught them in previous years through October.

6th October
The bird first identified as a Black Tern has now been confirmed as the American race, only the 16th record for the UK. Also Garganey, Scaup, 3 Black-tailed Godwits and 2 Spotted Flycatchers today (George Green.)

5th October
Some good birding at Longham Lakes this am. Highlights were: Garganey: immature drake showing well on Dragonfly pond in SW corner of site. Scaup: immature male still present in NW corner of South Lake. NB: recently this bird has not been associating with the main Tuftie/Coot flock but prefers the company of 4 Tufties close to the platform by the orange life-ring in the NW corner of the South Lake. Ruff: 1 flew over at 10.30am. Black Tern: still showing well in South Lake favouring west shore (George Green.) Still good birding in the afternoon with very good views of the Black Tern while standing on the platform as mentioned and a good view of Scaup with the tufted duck show how big it is compared to them. A Peregrine preeedn on one of the pylons. Plenty of Migrant Hawkers about and with Common Darters and a Single Clouded Yellow (Martin Wood.)

4th October
A Black Tern [later identified as American Black Tern] was found today, still present 3-4pm showing well at times on the South Lake favouring the west shore. Immature male Scaup also still present in the NW corner of the South Lake. Finally the immature male Garganey was again on the Dragonfly pond in the SW corner of the site but flew towards the river (George Green.)

3rd October
I found an immature/female type Garganey on the Dragongfly pond this morning. It flew off towards the river but may return. Immature male Scaup still present in NW corner of South Lake (George Green.)

2nd October
I had a good time this morning with 38 new birds – mostly Chiffchaffs (16), Blackcaps (6) and Goldcrests (5). Also 3 Long-tailed Tits, 2 Wrens, 2 Blue Tits and one each of Robin, Song Thrush and Great Tit. I had to close up by 10am in order to get back to Wimborne, so a bit of a rush towards the end with a big surprise as my penultimate catch – a lovely male Redstart! (photos attached) This is the first since 2014, 8th ringed, and also the latest – previous latest was 20th September (Roger Peart.)

30th September
Ringing produced a mixed bag of birds with 25 new – Blackcap 7, Goldcrest 5. Wren 4, Chiffchaff 4 and one each of Dunnock, Robin, Song Thrush, Blue Tit and Great Tit. Just two re-traps – a Robin and a Goldcrest, both ringed this year, the latter earlier this month. Goldcrests numbers are starting to build – in previous years I have kept catching them through into November (Roger Peart.) The immature male Scaup was also present (George Green.)

28th September
Scaup still in the north west corner of South Lake, plus Coot c100, Little Grebe 12, Great Crested Grebe 6, Tufted Duck 30, Gadwall 2 and Mute Swan 22 (Martin Wood.)

26th September
Cattle Egret flew west over the North Lake towards a distant flock of cattle near Hampreston Farm, and there was a good count for the time of year for Sand Martins – 50+ (George Green.) The Scaup was keeping company with half a dozen Tufted Ducks, looking a bit like the Sergeant-Major in charge of his platoon! There was a big flock of Coot at the North End. I took a photo and have tried to count them on an enlarged print – I made it 98 but could be 5 or so out either way. There were three others towards the south end so at least 100, and there would be more in other areas. Also, 1 Meadow Pipit flew up from the lake side near the SW corner, there was at least 1 Chiffchaff calling, a Tawny Owl gave two or three calls at one point, there were at least 8 Great Crested Grebes and there were 2 Peacocks and 2+ Speckled Wood along the path (Roger Peart.)

21st September
Immature drake Scaup still present in NW corner of South Lake with flock of mainly Tufted Ducks and Coots. Also brief but good views of an Otter was a nice surprise (George Green.)

19th September
This morning at Longham was another good ringing session with a wide variety of species but predominantly lots of Blackcap and Chiffchaff. Total 51 new birds: Blackcap 20, Chiffchaff 18, Goldcrest 3, Robin 2, and one each of Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Dunnock, Chaffinch, Song Thrush, Reed Bunting and Green Woodpecker (adult female in moult). Just one re-trap – a Cetti’s Warbler ringed 22 July this year. The Blackcap total for the year now 97 which is the best since 2014. Small numbers usually continue through to mid-October. I also disturbed a young Pheasant (Roger Peart.) An immature drake Scaup was an unexpected find this morning considering the time of year. It was associating with a flock of Gadwall, Tufted Duck and Coot in the NW corner of the South Lake. Still good numbers of Chiffchaffs (50+), best of the rest – Raven (George Green.)

17th September
As seems commonplace recently, little activity around the lakes this morning, small numbers of Swallows and House Martins. Best was 2 Spotted Flycatchers feeding from the same dead branch of the fallen oak in Samuel’s Wood (Alan Pearce.)

15th September
Ringing this morning produced 21 new birds in total: 6 Blackcaps, 6 Chiffchaffs, 4 Goldcrests, one each of Blue Tit, Great Tit, Robin, Reed Warbler and Goldfinch (juvenile). There was one re-trap adult Robin in moult, ringed 13 July this summer (Roger Peart.) Best of the bunch among 23 species seen today was Spotted Flycatcher (Ron Poulter.)

10th September
I went to Longham this morning and had a total of 53 new birds (39 Blackcaps, 8 Chiffchaffs, 3 Great Tits and one each of Robin, Wren and Sedge Warbler). Many of the Blackcaps were in the nets early on and I thought I might have to shut down temporarily but managed to get through the rush hour and it was fairly steady after that. Two retraps – one a Blackcap ringed last week, the other a Song Thrush in full moult which I ringed on 22nd August last year as an adult. I don’t get many retraps of them. So a good morning. Blackcap total for this year is now only 15 short of the full count last year. So could overtake that soon. That would be the highest since 2014 (Roger Peart.)

5th September
There was a mass of martins, easily 1000 of them, mostly Sand Martins and some House Martins, plus 1 Common Sandpiper on North Island South Lake and this Wheatear by Study Centre (Lorne Bissell.)

4th September
Very large numbers of hirundines at Longham Lakes this morning roughly estimated between 700 and 1000 involving mainly Sand Martins (George Green.)

2nd September
Ringing early morning produced a good number of birds, 33 new and one re-trap Robin (ringed last September). New birds were 21 Blackcaps, 5 Chiffchaffs, 4 Great Tits, 2 Robins and 1 Blackbird. Later on, a PIED FLYCATCHER again today just a bit north of where i had one last Thursday. A large group of Pied/White Wagtails were in the horse paddocks at the western end of Green Lane, which also held a single Yellow Wagtail (my 110th patch yearbird) and also 2 fly over jobs. Single Spotted Flycatcher near the ringing area. My first Goldcrest for a while. A group of 13 Collared Doves on the deck near the Study Centre is noteworthy! There was a family of Stonechats on Hampreston Fields. And 2 Clouded Yellow butterflies on the wing. A visitor also had 2 Swifts and a Wheatear earlier in the day (Matt Bell).

1st September
This morning I saw my first very long overdue Coal Tit for the site, 1 possibly 2 Lesser Whitethroats in scrub in NW corner of North Lake and still a big flock of Willowchiffs (50+) in Samuel’s Wood (George Green.)