Whilst the wildlife on the Marshes isn’t always that obvious, it has certainly been there in abundance this spring. Spring migration not only saw the usual suspects in the shape of Yellow Wagtails, Wheatears and Swallows, but also less frequent visitors such as Cuckoos and Whimbrels too.
The breeding season has started in earnest, with displaying Lapwings being an almost permanent backdrop recently. Young Brown Hares (leverets) have never been more prolific and our Tree Sparrow colony seems to have made a good start to the season. The highlight for me though, has to have been the sighting of a pair of Grass Snakes, seen mating in Beckingham Main Drain in late April. The female was a good metre long and dwarfed the much smaller male. The Main Drain also seems to have a thriving population of Water Voles this year and signs of the animals are increasing on the reserve itself.
There has also been an increase in human activity on site recently. During the week beginning 19th May, Beckingham Primary School helped us trial four new educational activities, both on the reserve and at the Willow Works. We were also ably assisted by two Beckingham residents from the late 1800’s too! Every class came out for an activity and then visited the Willow Works en masse on the Friday for a picnic. During the same week, we were visited by 50 of the 1st Morton Girl Guides, who spent a lovely sunny evening on the reserve.
The wet weather that we’ve been experiencing during late May should at least, mean that the site will remain wet enough throughout the summer to support the dragonflies and damselflies that have just started emerging and can be seen on the occasional sunny day. Also, look out for some of the reserve’s specialist ditch plants such as Fine-leaved Water Dropwort, Amphibious Bistort and Celery-leaved Buttercup, as these should be coming into flower soon.