Hello again, it's been another gorgeous day in the Dearne Valley. What a summer we are having!
I'll start today with a bit of a report of work done recently on Adwick - via Karen, assistant warden.
Rotavating at Adwick
There has been a bit of recent rotavating work done by the reserve team at Adwick. It was done to try to get rid of as much of the crassula as possible. There is a lot of crassula in the Dearne Valley. It’s a thick green ‘mat like’ covering over the water. For example it used to be under the little bridge as you go left around the ponds.
Here’s a photo of it that Karen took last year.
Crassula is an invasive non-native plant and the common name is ‘New Zealand pygmy weed.’ It’s not good news because every crassula stem has its own root system. As these thick mats form, they exclude the light. That’s a big deal for any other plants which could grow there and also for any invertebrates which could live in the water.
The idea behind the recent rotavation is to use the hot sunshine to help get rid of it rather than having to spray it. Adwick has clay soil and the sun bakes it into a very hard surface. But at the same time, the sun is baking the crassula so it’s naturally dying off. The first rotavation churns up the impacted clay soil as well as the crassula that’s dying off. But again at the same time, it brings up green crassula shoots (ie living crassula) from below the soil. The process is then repeated, lots of hot sunshine on the green crassula will make it start to go brown and die off. A second rotavation then takes place and so on. The end result being a lot less crassula and a more healthy habitat full of fish, plants and invertebrates.
This rotavation also helps waders as the clay soil is now no longer a hard baked surface. This means that it will be easier for waders to feed on the invertebrates.
Alan recently posted a forum thread about his visit to Adwick. His lapwing photos brilliantly show the crassula dying off and then new green bits after rotavation. His whole forum thread can be found here.
In the first photo you can see the brown crassula that is no longer growing...as well as the lovely lapwing.
In the second, you can see both green and brown crassula. The green crassula is what the rotavation has brought to the suface…And a lovely lapwing again. Thanks Alan :)
I started my day at OM today with the moth trap. We had quite a few species of moth as it was a warm and humid night last night.
The gorgeously yellow, Canary Shouldered Thorn.
Equally gorgeous Orange Swift.
This beautiful moth is the Coxcomb Prominent.
We had fabulous butterfly sightings today with the following species fluttering around Old Moor: Holly Blue, Common Blue, Small Copper, Green Veined White, Large and Small White, Comma, Ringlet, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, Comma and Painted Lady.
Here's a Holly Blue.
And a Small White.
Dave (our warden) was on site early this morning to watch the little egret roost leave. He spotted 51 little egrets, he also spotted - Black Tailed Godwit 2, Ruff 1, Dunlin 1, Little Ringed Plover 3, Green Sandpiper 4, Common Sandpiper 1, Garganey 1, Teal 60, Shoveler 35, Kingfisher 4 and 1 Green Woodpecker. Further updates gave further sightings of - Gadwall 618.... Reedbeds - Bearded Tit 1, Cetti's Warbler 2, Water Rail 5 and Kingfisher 4.
The final update from early this morning gave sightings of - a Peregrine, a juvenile female, Buzzard 2, Common Tern 2 and Little Grebe 45.
I forgot to take a photo of the book so here is what else I saw or was told of.
Reedbed Screen & Hide
A juv Water Rail, Kingfsher, 3 Common Terns, Buzzard, 4 Great Crested Grebes inc 2 juvs, Little Grebes, Gadwall, Cormorant, Coots and Little Egrets.
Green Lane
Sand Martins, Swifts, Swallows, Male Blackcap, Reed Warbler and Goldfinches.
I heard a Green Woodpecker 'yaffling' several times on the TPT side of the water at Wath Ings. I also heard one near the farmhouse as I was leaving.
Wath Ings
CC Marsh Harrier (am and late pm), 2 Black Tailed Godwits, Little Egrets, 30+ Mute Swans, a Ruff, Green and Common Sandpiper, Grey Heron, Gadwall, Lapwing and Common Terns.
Wader Scrape
Grey Heron, Linnets, Goldfinches, Swifts, Swallows, Sand Martins, Little Egrets, Green & Common Sandpiper, Mute Swans and Little Grebes.
There are sightings from our satellite sites - look at the Twitter feed for the @BarnsleyBSG for those. Highlights from Adwick are Redstart and Wood Sandpiper Via Gary Stones.
And that's it for today. Have a lovely Saturday evening... :)