Campfield Marsh

It seems a long time ago now that devil's bit scabious plants, all neatly and individually potted, appeared beside the visitor centre at Campfield. At first there were said to be 1500 plants, then somehow the number grew to 2000, all needing to be planted on the reserve. The food plant of the rare marsh fritillary butterfly, they were to be planted to encourage the butterfly to spread from the the remote part of the…

Over the last few days of high tides the saltmarsh and its new lagoons have been flooded. This has attracted large numbers of waders and wildfowl to its midst resulting in thousands of Geese (mainly Barnacles), Oystercatchers and Lapwing. It is pleasing to see that the substantial remodelling which took place over the last Autumn and Winter is paying dividends.

17 10 20

Greylags landing on Saltmarsh Pool.

Greylags…

18th September.

Male Migrant Hawker still flying around.

Wheatear on saltmarsh driftwood.

19th September.

Mature female Common Darter.

20th September.

Mature female Black Darter on side of Kingsland Viewpoint.

Male and female Black Darters along Red Route.

Buzzard on Osprey Platform.

Reed Mace in Discovery field.

Ox-eyed Daisies along wildflower bunds.

21st September.

Fly Agaric in hamlet garden.

Oystercatcher…

1st September.

Male Migrant Hawker.

Forest Bug :- pentatoma refipes

Speckled Wood Butterfly.

Small Tortoiseshell on Apple Mint.

4th September.

Distant Buzzard on predator fence overlooking Paisley Pools.

Teal landing on Holton Fen - Pool in front of hide .

Teal landing.

. . . and such excitement.

Shoveler taking off from Holton Fen.

Small Tortoiseshell butterfly basking in sunshine on Lonning track.

Gulls roosting…

A male Migrant Hawker flew into my orchard and landed on a damson branch right in front of me, where it proceeded to sun itself for a few minutes. It came in from the direction of the Reserve Discovery Pool which was only a few hundred yards away over my garden boundary field drain. The afternoon was overcast with occasional bursts of sunshine.

Females have a propensity for laying eggs on the stems of Reed Mace and Yellow…

16th August

16th August -  Curlew landing on saltmarsh.

Snipe, Lapwing and Black-tailed Godwit foraging on International Pools.

Goldfinches feasting on thistle seed heads.

Kestrel hunting along the Lonning.

Teal flying into International Pools.

 Teal showing short white wing bar and glossy green speculum.

19th August.

Grey Heron fishing the tideline at high tide.

20th August.

Small Tortoiseshell on Ragwort.

21st…

1st August.

South end of International Pools - now flooded (View from new viewpoint - 'Marjorie Kingsland' Viewpoint

Black-headed Gulls round south end of International Pools.

Canada Goose and juveniles on International Pools.

Lapwings and Starlings gleaning the recently cut Hay Meadow.

Lapwings and Starlings in the Hay Meadow.

This year's hay harvest.

Wildflowers on bunds along the Blue Route.

Corn…

19th July

Female Blue-tailed Damselfly egg-laying on Lonning vegetation.

Great Willow Herb along Lonning.

Little Egret flying along new saltmarsh lagoons.

Waders and Gulls off Scargavel Point at low tide.

Little Grebe on Paisley Pools.

21st July

Juvenile Coal Tit.

Oystercatcher roost off Byers Cottage.

Dunlin, Redshank and Black-tailed Godwit at Port Carlisle, in Summer plumage.

Common Sandpiper in harbour at…

16th July

In Spring the Thursday workparty sowed wildflower seeds along the then very muddy bunds, placed so as to protect the Blue Route path from the electrified fence. The intervening months have been extremely dry, but with recent showers, surprisingly the vegetation has sprung into life and these spectacular displays of Corn Marigold, Corn Cockle, Cornflower, Scentless Mayweed and Common Red Poppy delighted me as…

This week I have asked our area manager David Morris to write a blog celebrating the unique and important nature of the bog here at Campfield Marsh and some of the tough challenges we face over its management. 

Two weeks ago, on the 26^th July the world celebrated International Bog Day, an annual event, in celebration of bogs, fens & swamps to raise awareness of peatlands – the benefits they provide, the threats they face…