I've visited the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust reserve at Langford Lakes on several occasions, but today I was particularly hoping to see a new wader for me - a pectoral sandpiper. It had been reported there for a few days so I was hoping that it would still be present. Unsure of how popular the reserve would be on a Saturday I left in good time and after a straightforward one and a quarter hour's journey southwards I arrived at around 8.30 am. The car park only had three other cars in it which was a bit surprising, but maybe a pectoral sandpiper isn't a particularly rare species, or most birders have already seen one this year. I had already guessed that the bird would be seen from the Meadow Hide as this tends to be the place where the best birds are seen, so I made for this area, which was at the far end of the reserve. On the way I passed the visitor centre which confirmed on a blackboard outside that the Meadow hide was the place to look. Entering the hide, I found two other occupants, neither had yet located the pectoral sandpiper, and after a while one of them left. There were around 100 lapwing standing in the shallows and on the islands preening, and ducks too. On the far bank were about 10 snipe, spaced out along the shoreline.
There was no evidence of any other waders, but as I was scanning the shoreline, a kingfisher flew in and landed on a dead branch which was jutting out of the water. quite near to the hide. Unfortunately, the sun had not got round that far, so the bird was in shadow, backlit by the sun.
The kingfisher did not stay long though, and I resumed my look for the pectoral sandpiper. Suddenly the other occupant pointed out a sandpiper on the far bank, but it was a green sandpiper. A couple of other people joined us in the hide, then the original birder, located a wader in the distance with yellow legs, it looked to me like the photos I'd seen but I checked an image on my phone to make sure. It was slightly larger than a dunlin, with yellowish legs and a prominent pale stripe over the eye. This particular bird was now at the furthest point away that it could be but thankfully was still visible through binoculars and I watched it make its way round the back of the lake, sometimes running along at speed, and eventually catching up with the green sandpiper, although they seemed to ignore each other's presence.
Whilst watching, we were became aware of a flock of geese, which flew in toward the lake landing with a splash in the water. This was a mixture of Canada geese and greylags and all of a sudden the lake became full of activity (and noise!). We briefly lost sight of the sandpipers then realised they had moved around to our right, and thankfully a bit closer. My zoom wasn't good enough to get particularly good pictures but I managed some record shots.
It was now 10.30 so I decided to leave the hide and visit some of the other hides, although these were pretty quiet. The hide overloooking the woodland edge had a sign saying that birdfeeding had been temporarily discontinued due to concerns about disease which was a pity.
The beautiful autumn sunshine made the lakes look lovely as the water sparkled in the sunlight. I bought a coffee from the newly refurbished Kingfisher cafe which had a seating area overlooking one of the lakes and then found a bench in a quiet area by a stream to eat my lunch, during which I was accompanied by a robin quietly singing in adjacent
bush.
As I returned to my car, I found a group of people admiring a Southern Hawker dragonfly perched motionless in the hedgerow so I took a few pictures of it, and also a common darter.
It was still sunny as I made my way back home, after another worthwhile excursion to one of Wiltshire Wildlife trust's lovely reserves.
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