Breeding birds want to be able to see any predators that might be about, so we aim for large open fields with short grass. Contractors are now cutting the fields to remove all the longer grass and rush; unfortunately the mower can’t get right to the edge of the fields and down the ditch banks, as you might imagine. So the hard part for us is to go round strimming and raking it into the fields. We had valuable help from a volunteer this week on our Thursday work party. Are you able to lend a hand? You can help make a good home for the thousands of birds that will come to the reserve in the coming months.
I’ve just finished my second whole month here at the Exe Estuary reserve. Lots of people (perhaps even me before starting here) think the RSPB is all about birds. But I like looking at wild flowers, and on the marshland here there are so many plants that I never saw before. I love the smells – the perfume of the lilac Water Mint when you’re working in ditches trying to pull a fence post out, the scent of Pineapple Weed when you open a gate. Have a look out for the globes of the mint in the reeds, or the tiny green-yellow domes low on the floor in field entrances.
Water Mint: "Mentha aquatica01". Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
There are many more plants here than you might be able to see just looking through gaps in hedges. So I feel quite lucky at the sights I get to see while out working. For example places where there were ponds in the winter are now dry and filled with leafy Amphibious Bistort or pools of the yellow Buttonweed.
I was delighted by this place before I even started my first day. I wanted to explore, cycled down the road, and found the hedges alongside riddled with pink-purple Tufted Vetch. But that is finishing now, the vetch is bearing its pea-like pods, and we have moved on to Mugwort (an unassuming plant with red stems, but have you tried crushing the flowers? It’s much more fragrant than you might think from the name). As the month goes on we are starting to see loads of berries, blackberries of course on the Brambles, the bright red clusters on the end of the Honeysuckle, plenty of blue sloes on the Blackthorn and just this morning I’ve seen some small green cones growing on the Alder.
Mugwort: "Artemisi aVulgaris". Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
Some of the things that seem really unique to this place grow in the wet ditches or along the banks. Right now we have the pale pink Flowering Rush – a bunch of flowers on the end of a round green stem; minutely white-flowered Water Plantain on the banks having delicate spindly branches; and the mini-lilly pads of Frogbit with their white and yellow flowers. Near these damp places I’ve also seen a few examples of Gipsywort, like a nettle but with narrower leaves and tiny white flowers, perhaps once used by Romany people as a dye.
Near the canal we have been enjoying the daisy-like Scentless Mayweed, and some splashes of yellow from the person-size Tansy with ferny leaves and more yellow buttons, once a flavour in omelettes. Similar to this, but much lower growing and with white flowers, is the herb Yarrow, hiding in the reeds down the single track road. While passing by Matford Marsh I have seen one or two long purple spikes like a fox glove, called Purple Loosestrife. And down one of our access paths is Tripartite Bur-Marigold (or, my favourite name for this, Beggar Ticks), the flower heads are brown-yellow domes with green leaves like rays coming out.
Tripartite Bur- Marigold:" Bidens tripartita1 eF". Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
I’ve had the opportunity to learn about other things as well here. Back in July I got to help with a butterfly survey, and get up close and personal with Peacock, Speckled Wood, Red Admiral, Comma, Small White, Green-veined white.