Lively Longham

Earlier this week I visited Longham Lakes, the former gravel pits which are now reservoirs. (I wrote about my first visit to the site in December here.).  I was pleased to see there were plenty of young birds on the lakes including these strange looking chicks:

These odd looking birds are actually coot chicks. 

It's a hard life being a coot chick. Coots tend to have around nine hatchlings but most die within the first 10 days of hatching- and not usually through predation. Coots feed their young on tiny insects and shrimps which means an awful lot of effort to keep a large number of hatchlings happy. After about three days they start attacking the young that beg for food, usually going for the weaker ones. This either kills the chicks or eventually the chicks give up begging and starve to death. Most coots only raise two or three out of nine hatchlings. That's what you call a tough childhood. 

I also saw several groups of tufted duck ducklings. One had three young but there was also a large family with a ridiculous seventeen ducklings! 

Now I'd like to be able to tell you that these ducklings have a better chance than the coot young but that just wouldn't be right. The reasons these birds have so many young is because so many are predated on. Herons, foxes, birds of prey and fish will all happily take small ducklings. I suspect that the chance of all 17 of this making adulthood is very slim indeed.

I also got a couple of good shots of great crested grebes on the lakes too. 

I was lucky to visit Longham during the only period of sunshine we've really had this week, which meant it was ideal weather for seeing insects. 

Longham Lakes has become something of a dragonfly haven this year with several more unusual species being seen as well as the very unusual in the UK scarlet darter. I did spot several dragonflies during my visit but the only one I got a clear shot of was this black-tailed skimmer.

I was pleased to see how well the site is being managed for insects with beds of wildflowers most of the way around the lakes. This combined with the weather meant I saw twelve different species within the hour or so I was on the site. Most were species I see regularly such as large whites, red admirals, peacocks and common blues.

I did see several species that I haven't seen yet this year though. One was a clouded yellow but that species is such a fast flyer it's extremely tricky to get a photo of. The other I did get a really clear shot of, a painted lady. 

This is a migratory species that comes to the UK from North Africa- it can't cope with UK winters. It's one of the world's most widespread species being present on every continent except South America and Antarctica. It's also the only species of butterfly ever recorded in Iceland, which shows you just how far this species is able to migrate. 

I added another species of butterfly to my 2017 list the following day when in the New Forest with this small copper. 

This species lives in discrete colonies across the UK and there are usually 3 or 4 generations a year- this is likely a second generation adult. 

Not far from this spot I spotted a rosy footman moth. 

This is a nocturnal moth though it can be seen in the day on it's favoured woodland hedgerows. They are unique in that they are the only moth with a vivid pink colouring (on the edge of their wings).

Finally, one more butterfly today. It's a very common brimstone but I think this is probably the best photo of a butterfly I've ever taken. 

That's all for today but I'll hopefully be back here with a new post on Wednesday! See you then.

Longham Lakes

I’m always on the lookout for new nature reserves to visit and last week I discovered Longham Lakes. Located between Ferndown and Bournemouth, the site consists of two reservoirs. The area was originally filled until they began to be dug for gravel extraction in the 1990s. Eventually the gravel pits were flooded and since 2010 the site has been a good habitat for a variety of bird life.

I perhaps didn’t choose the best day to visit, going a few hours before Storm Barbara really took hold. This meant it was quite cloudy and really windy- the reservoirs were full of waves for much of my visit. I was still delighted to discover there was plenty of bird life to see.

This was the scene on the South reservoir- you can see mute swans, lots of coot and a few tufted ducks. One of the swans was clearly one of this year’s cygnets.

The first bird I saw clearly was actually just on the gravel path at the edge of the reservoir. It was this carrion crow which had hold of an apple core. It was desperate to fly off as I approached but it made sure it had a good grip on the apple before it did so.

There were plenty of more interesting birds on the lakes too- pochards, shovelers  and both great Crested and little grebes. With the low light and windy weathers getting clear photos was virtually impossible!

At the middle of the South reservoir were some solar panels which cormorants were making good use of.

As you can see, much of the lakes are surrounded by reeds and in one section of these I spotted a stonechat darting around.

Just outside of the Longham Lakes site lies Hampreston Fields. Due to their location between the lakes and the River Stour they are usually filled with geese, as they were on my visit (in this case Canada geese and possibly a couple of greylag geese too), and swans.

The highlight of my visit to Longham Lakes had to be the great white egret though. It was sat amongst the reeds on the North Reservoir right near the path which meant I could get a really clear look at it. I’ve seen the Blashford egret regularly but never at such close range so this was a real treat.

As I was in the area I walked up the road to where it crosses the River Stour. I have often driven over the bridge there are there is always birds to be seen. On my visit there was a little egret amongst the reeds and I managed to see this kingfisher too.

I really enjoyed my visit to Longham Lakes and will definitely return- next time I’ll try and go in better weather! You can find out more about the site on Dominic Couzens website here and there’s even a blog of recent sightings!