I've been fishing a bit which has allowed me to see a fair bit of wildlife, and while i was at the trent last week, i saw 3 Kingfishers going up and down the river and perching in some overhanging branches on the far bank. There was also a Common Sandpiper that kept popping up every now and again. Black Headed gulls and Common Terns were also in abundance.
On Sunday the 18th i had the chance to go to a developing RSPB reserve called Langford Lowfields, about 6 miles out of newark, so i hopped on the train with my bike and went down. The reserve isn't open to the public for another 7 years (!) and the RSPB have been managing it since 1998, so the only way to go round is via a guided walk with the warden. The theme of the walk revolved around the Marsh Harriers which have been breeding there this year (a first for nottinghamshire), and we got incredible views of these handsome raptors, both male and female out hunting and flying together over the extensive reedbeds. We didn't get to see a food-pass though, which was a little disappointing but they nearly did it!
One of the developments at Langford Lowfields
Along with the harriers, i also got another 2 lifers, 3 Hobby, one of which gave excellent views as it was hunting near the marsh harriers, and a small group of juvenile Yellow Wagtails which were flitting about over one of the waterways. To top it off we also saw a Buzzard, heard a turtle dove and had sightings of 3 Oystercatcher and a Little Egret (3rd time i've seen them now this year!!!) In all it was a great day and it will be great to see the reserve when it opens, as it is still a working quarry for the most part, but eventually the RSPB will take over the whole place and it will form the largest reedbed habitat in the midlands, i look forward to it very much and feel lucky to have seen it in its early stages of development.
The Marsh Harrier Reedbed
I visited some friends in lincoln on tuesday night and the next day i hopped over to Whisby Nature Park, a Wildlife Trust reserve on the outskirts of lincoln, as i've wanted to visit for a while. It was largely quiet across most of the reserve, away from the main lakes, and aside from a few warblers (Reed, Willow, Whitethroat, Chiffchaff and Blackcap) there wasn;t much birdlife. However in the main lakes the tern and gull colonies were making themselves heard, and i got some quality views of both juvenile Common terns and Black Headed Gulls.
Also seen were around 40 Lapwing flying over the 'Grebe Lake' and coming to land amongst the terns, and i saw 2 Oystercatcher on the reserve too. There were a lot of butterflies about, but more on that next post :)
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