Tuesday 21 June 2022

Trip away from SS15 – EWT Langdon (Dunton)

EWT Langdon is located a few miles from where I live and fortunately reasonably accessible by public transport.

As I walked to the bus stop, I passed through part of the southern area of my St. Nicholas Church local patch site. During this walk, I saw a Reeves' Muntjac cross the road on Church Hill, heard 2 singing male Blackcaps and a singing Chiffchaff and saw c.5 Large Skippers and c.5 Meadow Browns. On the return walk home, I saw 3 Marbled Whites in the rough grassland area adjacent to St. Nicholas Lane.

Dating back to Saxon times, Langdon simply means ‘Long Hill’. EWT Langdon sits on a 385 feet high crescent shaped hilly ridge which extends from Dunton to Vange.

EWT Langdon is the largest inland reserve managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust, comprising 461 acres of ancient and secondary woodland, flower-rich meadows, lakes and former plotland gardens. It occupies some of the highest land in the county, has some panoramic views over the Thames Estuary and across to London and offers miles of excellent walks. Its attraction lies in an abundance of wildlife once common in our countryside.

The area that I concentrated on this morning was the  Dunton section of the reserve, including the wooded area west of Great Berry and then a walk through the meadow and a circuit around the lake .

Before entering the reserve, I saw several Moorhens (2 adults with 6 very young juveniles plus 4 well grown juveniles) and Mallards (12) on Great Berry pond.

The main purpose of my visit to EWT Langdon was to find and photograph butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies and it proved to be very rewarding.

Butterflies – 7 species: Meadow Brown (50+), Large Skipper (5+), Marbled White (5), Small White (4), Ringlet (2), Painted Lady (1), Comma (1)















Photo: Painted Lady















Photo: Painted Lady















Photo: Large Skipper















Photo: Small White















Photo: Small Whites















Photo: Small White















Photo: Small White















Photo: Meadow Brown















Photo: Meadow Brown

Dragonflies – 3 species: Emperor Dragonfly (c.10), Broad-bodied Chaser (2 males and 2 females), Black-tailed Skimmer (1)















Photo: ovipositing female Emperor Dragonfly















Photo: Emperor Dragonflies















Photo: Emperor Dragonfly




























Photo: Black-tailed Skimmer

Damselflies – 3 or 4 species: Common Blue Damselfly and/or Azure Damselfly (50+), Blue-tailed Damselfly (4), Large Red-eyed Damselfly (1)

Photo: Large Red-eyed Damselfly

Photo: Large Red-eyed Damselfly















Photo: Common Blue Damselfly















Photo: Common Blue Damselfly















Photo: Common Blue Damselfly















Photo: Common Blue Damselfly

With regard to birds, the most notable sightings were as follows (heard only records in italics)Common Tern (1 fishing over the lake), Swift (2 flying over the lake), Mallard (c.15 on the lake), Coot (1 on the lake), Grey Wagtail (1 hawking for insects around the edge of the lake), Lesser Whitethroat (1 singing male), Common Whitethroat (2 singing males plus another singing male heard), Blackcap (1 male with a dragonfly in its bill plus 10 singing males heard), Chiffchaff (1 singing male plus 5 other singing males heard), Great Spotted Woodpecker (1), Stock Dove (1 calling male)















Photo: Common Tern















Photo: Common Tern















Photo: Common Tern















Photo: Common Tern















Photo: Grey Wagtail

Here are some other photos from my visit:





























💚🦆 🦉🦋🐝🦊🦡🌼 🌳💚
Stay safe, stay well, stay strong, stay connected with nature

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