A wet Wednesday morning this week found Becky and I (Rachel), along with Kayleigh Brookes (last year’s warden intern) taking a rather scenic route around the reserve in the search of the homes of some of Coombes Valley’s very special residents.
There are eight species of bat found at Coombes Valley including pipistrelles and long-eared, and the woodland here contains a number of old trees that provide excellent roosting habitats for these species.
Bat roost (Rachel Coyle)
Our upcoming winter work at the reserve includes selectively removing trees from areas of the woodland to improve the habitat for some of our spring migrants. However, it is important that during this work we don’t disrupt the habitat of our other woodland residents. We therefore spent our Wednesday morning this week, searching out and mapping trees with large hollows or cracks that could potentially be great homes for bats.
There is some amazing wildlife at Coombes and though sometimes it is not always out on display, recognising the signs that animals leave behind can be a great way of knowing where to look for them. Whilst out on our walk, we stumbled across some other signs of more secretive wildlife on the reserve.
While fighting my way through the undergrowth I noticed that something else had carved its own path through the bracken and sure enough, I soon came across a large muddy patch of ground with cloven hoof prints, showing that a deer had been in the vicinity. Looking out for runs in the vegetation or footprints in the mud is a great way of finding out what animals are in the area.
Deer footprint (Rachel Coyle)
Elsewhere on the reserve, some of our winter migrants are also beginning to appear, making the most of the copious amounts of berries the rowan trees have to offer. Whilst out on chainsaw training earlier in the week, I caught my first glimpse of a flock of redwing down near Buzzard Bank. Redwings are very shy birds so it was indeed just a glimpse, and with a rush of wings, they took flight into the undergrowth. However, I have spotted them there on several other occasions since and if you stand quietly enough you can get great views of them feeding up in the treetops.
Photo by Ben Hall (RSPB images)
Even with the cooler weather drawing in we are still getting moths in our nightly trap including this beautiful red-green carpet.
Red-green carpet (Rachel Coyle)
The clear night skies at this time of year do make for a quieter moth trap as moths are drawn to the light of the moon rather than our artificial light trap; however, it does mean some excellent stargazing opportunities away from the bright lights of the town. We have a number of stargazing nights coming up in November, on Wed 13th, Wed 20th and Wed 27th. For more information, visit our events page http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/c/coombeschurnet/events.aspx