Hello again from the Exminster Marshes! Last week Dan Mason wrote about all the flooding we’d had, and I’m pleased to report that that since then the water levels have dropped to something approaching normal for this time of year. It’s still very wet, but we don’t have to wade onto the site anymore (although I secretly quite enjoyed that, apart from the time I had to do it barefoot – it was COLD) and we’ve been able to get back to work out on the reserve.
Winter flooding is actually an essential part of the ecology of wetlands like the Exminster Marshes. Far from being a disaster, other than in extreme cases, raised water levels in the winter are what make us so attractive to birds. Dabbling ducks like teal love the expanses of shallow water to feed in, plus there’s plenty of deeper water for diving species like tufted ducks. The water flushes seeds out of the vegetation for the ducks to feed on, while the areas of raised ground that remain dry provide secure roost sites that ground predators can’t reach unless they fancy a cold, wet swim. For wintering wildfowl and waders it’s paradise!
Lapwing and two chicks
But what about spring and summer? Well, in spring all the water provides muddy margins for waders to feed in and breeding areas for invertebrates, again providing more food for the birds. As we gradually lose water over the summer, new muddy feeding grounds are revealed for all our wader chicks while other areas remain wet enough for ducklings to feed. We do most of our cattle grazing in the spring and autumn, in between the winter flooding and the breeding season. This is to make sure the vegetation is just right for wintering grazers like geese and wigeon and breeding waders like lapwing, who like a nice, short, open sward so they can see any predators coming. So winter flooding is really what drives the whole system, and the wet grassland here wouldn’t be the same without it.
We’ve been busy with a mixture of work on the new predator exclusion fence, and hedge laying with our Thursday volunteer work party. In time this will give us some good, thick hedges that birds like cirl buntings love because they provide plenty of cover to nest in and feed from. Cirl buntings have increased to over 800 pairs in the UK from just 118 in 1989, mainly restricted to Devon, so it’s really important that we continue to give them a home! The predator exclusion fence is on track to be finished in time for the breeding season, when we hope plenty of lapwing will think the area inside is just as good a nest site as our other fenced area at Powderham on the other side of the railway line.
Hedge laying (image courtesy of Steve Elcoate)
Next weekend sees the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch! All you need to do is spend an hour over the weekend of 25-26 January counting the birds in your garden. It's that simple! Bird populations are a great indicator of the health of the countryside. That's why it's so important to take part in surveys like the Big Garden Birdwatch to keep an eye on the ups and downs of the wildlife where we live. Follow this link to take part:
https://www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch/