Lamsdell Bird Ringing and Wildlife Blog: Langham Pond, Runnymede and Hilfield Park Reservoir

Friday 18 June 2021

Langham Pond, Runnymede and Hilfield Park Reservoir - 13th June 2021

Another visit to Langham Pond on Runnymede that turned out to be a good decent Odonata pond with a good mix of species. Emeralds were present with three Downy and a single Brilliant, Broad-bodied and Four-spotted Chasers, single Black-tailed Skimmer, usual Damselflies and somewhat unexpectedly a Golden-ringed Dragonfly.

Golden-ringed Dragonfly

Red-eyed Dragonfly

Emperor Dragonfly

Downy Emerald

Brilliant Emerald

Also came across a single Meadow Brown, the first of the year.

Meadow Brown

In the later part of the afternoon I dropped into Hilflield Park reservoir int he hope of coming across Lesser Emperor or more Red-veined Darter. It was hot and a little quiet on the activity front with neither of the target species seen, with the species present being very much similar to those at Langham Pond, minus the Golden-ringed and Emeralds.

Broad-bodied Chaser

Black-tailed Skimmer

Emperor Dragonfly

Four-spotted Chaser

About us

Chris and Denise Lamsdell

We have both been birders for about 40 years based in South Bucks near the West London reservoir complexes.

Since September 2021 we have been based in North Norfolk. We have done our bit of twitching in the past, but with other priorities this has become a much reduced activity with a preference for seeing new birds where ever our travels take us.

We both have been ringing since 2005. Our local group was the Runnymede RG while based in Buckinghamshire. Since moving to Norfolk we have started a new group called The Iceni Bird Monitoring Group, aimed at increasing public engagement through colour ringing projects on Black-headed Gull, Turnstone and Lapwing. We ring at several sites including Sculthorpe Moor, Sandringham Estate, Deepdale Farm and also monitor bird populations for the Norfolk Rivers Trust. We do ringing at home and support with foreign projects when opportunities allow. Chris also has an interest in Butterflies and Dragonflies and contains his limited photographic skill to them.