Broadwater Warren

First Spring Sightings

2023-04-07T09:30:00Z

We have had a good show of Dartford Warbler this Month with a few sightings near the old WW shooting butts. Male song has clearly been heard on a few occasions as well as clear sightings.
Wood Lark have been heard towards the goat enclosure since early March with 5 spotted during one survey.
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker’s drumming also heard near the decoy pond.
Thanks to our surveyor Trevor Manship.

Wildlife Sightings

2023-04-06T14:25:00Z

This afternoon I saw my first woodlark of 2023 on the western heath. Unfortunately not singing its beautiful song. On 3 April our volunteer reptile survey team recorded 15 slowworm, 1 common lizard and 2 female adders (see attached photo of one of the adders).

Butterflies and ants

2023-04-04T14:13:00Z

Despite the sun it was only just warm enough today to do our first butterfly survey of the year for the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme. We recorded 9 Brimstone and 5 Peacock across the reserve. There were a lot more wood ants about, the warm weather having woken them up.

Brimstone Butterflies

2023-04-03T16:26:00Z

Fire and Brimstone?

Well, just Brimstone this morning, thankfully. Today, we have seen a fantastic display of bright yellow wings brightening up the muddy woodland.

Did you know

The word Brimstone means sulphur and describes the striking male butterfly's acid yellow and green wings. Females are often mistaken for cabbage whites as they are a much paler creamy colour.

The original butterfly

Historians believe the word butterfly originates from the Brimstone butterfly. Our butter-coloured fly was once thought to bring happiness and good fortune.

And what's more

Brimstone butterflies hibernate during winter, camouflaging themselves in the trees to look like leaves. They have a natural anti-freeze in their blood, which helps them to survive, waking up at the first sign of spring.

Today, we encountered a colourful show of six Brimstones and two Peacock butterflies on our walk at Broadwater Warren, a beautiful first show of spring. Let us hope the good fortune will bring us an upturn in butterflies species this year.

What have we been doing?

2023-03-17T19:33:00Z

I know what you are thinking.

You must be wondering why we have been chopping down trees.

The big answer?

Heathland. Did you know that in the last 150 years the UK has lost 85% of its heathlands?

At Broadwater Warren we are restoring the heathland to its original beauty, and with careful land management, we can restore the heather and encourage back the ground-nesting birds that so desperately need it.

Our ponies and goats do a great job in helping us manage the new shoots and unwanted saplings, but we need to clear areas for the heathers to revive.

Who benefits?

Not only the birds such as Woodlark, Nightjar, and Tree Pipit have returned to our heathlands at Broadwater. A whole host of creatures rely on us to restore their natural habitats. Butterflies, reptiles and dragonflies thrive in these environments. Please tell us what you spot on your walks! We will be updating you on our nature surveys soon.

Adders at risk.

We are prioritising our reptile surveys this spring and looking at how we can support our Adders. Did you know Adders are a protected species and are now a Priority Species under the UK Post-2010 Biodiversity Framework? Please help us to report any sightings. These beautiful creatures mustn't be disturbed as they bask in the spring and summer sun. It takes a whole two months for the males to warm themselves before mating.

Now, this is important.

We love dogs at the RSPB. We wardens often walk them around Broadwater. But here's the bottom line, if we don't keep our dogs on leads, we put nature under stress.

It only takes one little sniff from a dog for a mother to abandon her nest. Please help us to keep the diverse wildlife we enjoy on our dog walks safe and thriving by keeping your furry friend on a short lead. We will give you a thumbs-up when we pass by!

Your RSPB Needs you

We are looking for new volunteer wardens to join our friendly team. If you regularly walk around Broadwater, why not do this for a good cause?

Please email helen.mcardle@rspb.org.uk if you would like to learn more.

What's coming up?

Dawn Chorus Walk

Get up very early and be rewarded by the wonders of the dawn chorus. Learn to identify the different melodies and calls of birds as they warm up their vocal chords. Our experts will help you distinguish between a melodious blackbird, a rather intense wren, a newly-arrived warbler and perhaps the beautiful song of the woodlark.

Book now: https://events.rspb.org.uk/broadwaterwarren

Hello 2023 and the start of Spring

2023-03-17T17:01:00Z

With only a few days till the equinox, we welcome the start of spring and the first calls of Woodlark at Broadwater Warren. We need to catch up on compiling our nature survey's this year due to the cold and wet weather, but we will update the blog with sightings of birds, reptiles, and dormice at Broadwater Warren. Our Konik ponies, however, are very happy, especially when they see our hard working wardens bringing them some extra hay.

Dormice Waking Early

2019-07-23T12:24:00Z

The recent hot weather has caused the reserve's dormice to wake up a bit earlier than usual. They are normally still fast asleep when we check our nestboxes in the morning, but this year quite a few have been very lively. That means our expertise at handling dormice so that we can weigh and sex them and check on their breeding condition is really tested. Photographing an active dormouse is difficult but there are still a few curled up and in deep sleep as you'll see from this photo

Wildlife Sightings April/May

2018-05-22T22:56:32Z

2 ring ouzels were seen on the heath on Friday the 13^thApril. The ring ouzel (or “mountain blackbird”) were stopping off on their migration up north to breed in the hills and mountains of Northern England and Scotland, this was a new record for the site so brings the total for the reserve to 98!. I reported the sighting to the ring ouzel study group who are monitoring their migration patterns, you can find out more here http://www.ringouzel.info/

A wood warbler was also reported last week near the sphagnum paddock which was a new species for the site so we are edging towards the big 100!

Tree pipits have started to sing out on the heath and in the scrubby margins blackcaps, garden warblers, willow warblers and chiffchaffs can be heard. A peregrine falcon was also seen flying across the main heath at the beginning of the month. 5 ravens were seen flying over and the first cuckoo was heard at the end of April. Spotted flycatchers have also started to return with the first one being seen near the straight boardwalk on the 15th May.

Other highlights this month include lots of toad and frog tadpoles in deocy pond, smooth newts and dragonfly larvae being found in the new pond next to the veteran oak, this pond was only created 18 months ago.

Several butterflies have been recorded in the last few weeks, look out for the bright yellow brimstones flying across the heath or woodland or the distinctive orange tip butterfly, other species seen include commas, holly blue, green hairstreak, peacock and small tortoiseshell.

Dragonflies recorded this year so far include

Beautiful Demoiselle
Azure Damselfly
Large Red Damselfly
Blue-tailed Damselfly
Emperor Dragonfly
Hairy Dragonfly **
Downy Emerald
Broad Bodied Chaser
Four Spotted Chaser

Our Sleepy Dormouse event was held on the 19th of May, it was a great success with everyone getting to see some as well as learning about their habitat and what work we do to enhance this at Broadwater Warren.

The Exmoor ponies are now back on the reserve, this year 10 ponies will be on site to carry out conservation grazing out on the heath. They provide a natural structure to the Molinia grass and heather which provides ideal habitat for feeding and nesting of our ground nesting birds – Woodlark, tree pipit, nightjar and woodcock. Please be aware that these are wild ponies and such shouldn’t be fed as this can cause them to become ill.

Wildlife sightings 17/11/17

2017-11-17T17:31:21Z

Winter wildlife has started to return to Broadwater Warren in the last few weeks. Look out for flocks of finches on the heath, a mixed flock of 40+ chaffinches and linnets has been seen feeding on the heathland near gate 1 and you never know if a brambling might be joining them. The odd redwing and fieldfare has also been seen feeding on site, these numbers will probably increase over the coming months. Last year there were flocks of 100+ feeding on the heath and berry bushes.

On our fungi walk last month we found a good range of species including a few new ones for the reserve. Although not a new record for the reserve one of my favourites was this nicely patterned fungi called the Deadly webcap, so named because even the smallest bit ingested can cause kidney failure! Only one specimen of some of the species seen was collected to show the participants on the guided walk the identification features and they were placed back on site. Please remember to leave fungi where you find them, as a lot of invertebrates rely on the fruiting bodies for feeding or their life cycle.

Our last dormouse check of the year was very productive with 16 being seen in the box. They were all very good weights so will hopefully survive the winter. Normally over 15g is sufficient for them to survive depending on the weather conditions and we had one female which was 35g! We also found 7 crammed in one box, 2 adults and 5 juveniles. The picture below of 2 in a sandwich bag is because we need to weigh and sex the dormice before returning them to their nestbox.

The heathland was looking particular picturesque last week with the morning due on hundreds of spider’s webs across the heath.

Wildlife sightings 21/07/17

2017-07-21T22:26:23Z

Its a quiet time of year at the moment for birds on the reserve. But despite this a few interesting things have been seen in the last month. A king fisher was seen at decoy pond as well as grey wagtails on both decoy and the pond on the northern heath.

Initial results from our bioblitz event indicate that we recorded over 350 species in on day including over 50 birds with highlights being redstart, spotted flycatcher and honey buzzard!

The time of year is a good time to focus your attention on some of the smaller creatures that call Broadwater Warren home, invertebrates are abundant in the summer with 18 different dragonfly and damselfly species being recorded on the reserve. Its also a good time to look out for silver washed fritillary and white admiral butterfly in the woods.

This unusual looking caterpillar of the puss moth was found feeding on willow down by the decoy pond the other week!

We have also been busy carrying out dormice surveys on the reserve, normally this time of year they are quite active but this one decided to dose off in my hand.

We have 2 events coming up that will be great fun for families and adults alike. Come down and have a ramble on the reserve looking for insects and carry out some pond dipping on our new dipping platform on decoy pond. The family ramble is on the 29th July and the 10 year anniversary event is on the 19th August. More information can be found on our events page on the website.

Matt

Wildlife Sightings 08/06/17

2017-06-08T22:26:46Z

A honey buzzard was reported by a member of the public Alex Reiss, he saw the bird fly off from the track on the way to the heathland viewpoint. He and his dad George managed to get some record shots which show the distinctive tail pattern of the honey buzzard. This brings us up to 94 species of birds at Broadwater Warren since we acquired the site in 2007.

Note the small head and black "ring" like markings on the tail. For help with identification check out this website https://www.bto.org/about-birds/bird-id/bto-bird-id-summer-buzzards-common-buzzard-and-honey-buzzard

Other birds seen in the last few weeks include the first spotted flycatcher near the veteran oak and nightjars have been heard churring on the heath in the evening.

Other wildlife seen in the last week include downy emerald and broad bodied chaser dragonflies, green hairstreak, painted lady, common blue and small copper butterflies.

We have a mini bioblitz on the 10th of June, so if you are interested in trying to identify whats on the reserve come along. See our events page for more information.

Matt

Successful Sleepy Dormouse Hunt

2017-05-23T20:26:30Z

The adults and children who joined our licence holders on the Sleepy Dormouse Hunt on Saturday all had the chance to see these wonderful animals close-up. The looks on the children's faces as they cradled a sleepy dormouse in their hands was something special. The event coincided with our monthly dormouse nestbox check during which we found a total of 11 animals. That's a good result for May and we hope it's a sign we are going to have a good dormouse year.

Exmoor Ponies are back for the summer

2017-05-05T18:03:05Z

The Exmoor ponies have been welcomed back on the reserve, 15 ponies are here for the summer to graze the heath. They do an important job on keeping the purple moor grass grazed as well as taking some of the scrub, this all creates perfect habitat for nesting and feeding for our heathland birds. Please remember that these are wild ponies so do not try to feed them as it cause them to become ill.

Ponies being let back out on to the reserve.

Summer migrants have started to return to Broadwater Warren, although we are still yet to see nightjar or spotted flycatchers but they should return in the next week or so. Blackcaps, whitethroats and garden warblers can be heard in the scrub across the site. Tree pipits can be seen carrying out their parachuting displays on the heathland, have a look on your left as you exit the car park through the white trail. Other species to look out for on the heath include the usual woodlark, stonechat and yellowhammer.

A new species was added to our bird list for the reserve, when 16 Mediterranean gulls flew over the reserve, which brings us up to 93 species for the reserve since we required the site in 2007.

Flowering plants are also starting to emerge along the paths and in the woodland, such as bluebells. A lot of the species found on the paths can be easily overlooked so take a minute to have a search for species like the yellow flowering tormentil or scarlet pimpernel and lousewort (pictured below)

(Left- Lousewort, Right- Scarlet pimpernel)

Please let us know of any sightings you may have on the reserve.

Matt

Dormice Out of Hibernation

2017-04-24T16:25:40Z

We've done our first check of our dormouse nestboxes for the year and were pleased to find 3 dormice (all males) in the boxes. It's a little early for them to be out of hibernation (they only use the nestboxes for breeding) but we hope its a sign that they'll have a good year after a disappointing 2016. Here's a photo of one of them.

Wildlife sightings 5/4/17

2017-04-05T20:17:46Z

Spring has arrived on the reserve in the last few weeks. Willow warblers are singing across the reserve and we had our first tree pipits on the heath today. Woodlarks continue to sing across the reserve and several yellowhammers and linnet were heard singing. Other species seen on the heath include stonechats, raven, kestrel and green woodpecker.

The last week has been a good week for birds of prey, with a Peregrine being seen twice in the last few days. A sparrowhawk was seen displaying over the woods, a kestrel was hunting over the heath and 7 buzzards were on thermals at the weekend.

(Peregrine by Simon liningtons)

In the woods you may be lucky to see a lesser spotted woodpecker if you head down to the straight boardwalk, a male has been seen calling down there several times over the last few weeks. Other species you might see include lesser redpoll, siskin, bullfinch, treecreeper, goldcrest and marsh tit.

Brimstones can be seen across the heath and woodland due to our abundance of alder buckthorn at broadwater warren (one of the food plants), other butterflies include peacock, red admiral, comma and small tortoiseshell. The pond was also alive with noise, with over a hundred frogs and toads spawning on the edges. Unfortunately an American Mink (a non native invasive species) was seen near decoy pond, mink will predate not only the aquatic species found in the pond but also any ground nesting birds such as ducks or even the grey wagtails that nest on the pond. We are hoping to remove the mink as soon as possible.

(Toad Spawn by Matt Twydell)

Please let us know of any sightings you may have.

Matt