Mid-May again. It`s that time of year when I struggle to sit at my desk or in meetings. The sunshine, the blue sky and the wildlife goings-on have a huge magnetic draw and the urge to be `out there` is intense.
Needless to say I succumbed today and had my lunch break walking around part of the reserve. Black-headed Gulls and Common Terns are now settling on the islands and floating pontoons that we have made for them ... and they are raucous.
As I walked I was `buzzed` by a small squadrons of Sand Martins. Our artificial nesting bank is full to the brim; nearly 100 pairs, and adults are now feeding their young it seems.
Lots of goslings out on the wet grassland and I watched Dean one of our Assistant Wardens, on his rounds in the 4X4 checking out numbers of Lapwing broods. A painstaking job requiring much patience as the chicks are usually well hidden.
I stopped at the hay meadow just to see how the yellow rattle was getting on. Peter, one of our volunteers, sowed thousands of seeds. This is a plant whose roots tap into the root systems of grasses and steals their food. In turn this reduces the vigour of the grass and prevents it from being so dominant, allowing other flowering plants a chance to take hold. The meadow was heavily fertilised when Saltholme was a productive ICI farm, producing a heavy crop of grass. It will take years to get back to being rich with flowers and pollinating insects but we are just as good at the `long game` as we are getting the quick wins. Pleased to report that the yellow rattle is helping in its own way.
The first family of fluffy black Moorhen chicks were newly hatched at the Wildlife Watchpoint; seven in total. A species that often suffers heavy rates of brood attrition but one where the early broods will help mum and dad bring up a subsequent bunch of kids, maybe a way to combat the heavy losses Moorhens have to sustain. Everywhere the clamour of Reed and Sedge Warbler song was issuing from the reedbeds, reedbeds that were not there a decade ago!
Saltholme is like a growbag at the minute, just bursting with spring growth.
Dave