It’s time to fill you in on what’s been happening here on the Exe Estuary since our last update.
The weather has stayed pretty mild and we’ve not had a lot of rain, so that means we’ve been able to press on with our new predator fence. After we did some work clearing the ditches around the site we had to move a few of the predator fence straining posts (the ones that take most of the strain from the wire), because the fence boundary was now too close to the water’s edge. We completed that work earlier this week, so now we just need to keep on making sure the breaks in the fence – gates and ditch crossings and so on – are as secure as the rest of it. Largely this means wire mesh and good quality post and rail fencing! I’m sure I will be digging ditches for mesh in my dreams before the winter is out, but it’s all for a great cause. We’re seeing plenty of lapwings in flocks around the reserve, but also the odd individual or two which might be the first sign of territorial behaviour for next year. Fingers crossed...
Dan and I went on an All Terrain Vehicle course on Wednesday. This is a LANTRA Award for a sit-astride quad bike, LANTRA being the UK’s Sector Skills Council for land-based and environmental industries. This is an example of one of the great things about volunteering for the RSPB, getting the chance for training which will definitely help us in our conservation careers. The day itself was really good fun, included several tea breaks (and chocolate biscuits), and I think we both feel we’ve got another string to our bows.
We’re still seeing cirl buntings on the other side of the railway line at Powderham, which is really good news. These birds are notoriously cautious travellers, which means it’s great that they’ve found their way here in the first place and also, hopefully, that they’re less likely to leave! We have two feeding stations at Powderham, which we monitor every week and keep topped up with winter food.
Now, you may have noticed a lack of birds in your garden this winter, and it’s been the same on our feeders – fewer birds than we’d expect. What’s wrong? Well, it’s actually a result of the mild weather I mentioned earlier. The birds are finding plenty of natural food in the open countryside so aren’t needing to visit the feeders much yet. However, the cold weather will come, so we can all keep our feeders prepared so there’s plenty of food for the birds when they need it. As I write, there are two great tits and a goldfinch feeding enthusiastically from the feeders outside the office, but maybe these ones have just got lazy.
Yesterday was our volunteer work party. Please banish thoughts of canapés, line dancing and barrels of ale – our work party is a weekly opportunity to come and help us with our work for a day, and we have a great bunch of people who came along this week to do some more hedge laying on our Powderham site. There are various traditional methods of hedge laying, but the one we used yesterday involved knocking in stakes along the hedge line before chopping through about three quarters of each individual trunk, enabling us to bend them over to about 30 degrees from the ground and weave them between the stakes. This thickens the bottom of the hedge and encourages upward growth from the plants we’ve cut, resulting in time in a nice, thick hedge which the birds and wildlife will love.
Cirl buntings are especially fond of thick hedges for nesting and shelter, so we hope they were looking on approvingly. If you feel the hedge in your garden is getting away from you then don’t worry, now you can say you’re just giving nature a home! We managed to do about 30 metres of hedge yesterday, and were rewarded with some quality cake that Tom had brought along. The Great Exe Estuary Bake Off is getting serious. Maybe you would like to come and join us?
That’s about all for now, but here’s a quick reminder that The Big Garden Birdwatch is back on 25-26 January. You can take part on your own or as a family, and you can even take part in your local park if you don't have a garden. To get involved, just pick an hour over 25-26 January 2014 and tell us what you see. It couldn't be easier! See the following webpage for details:
http://www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch/
Until next time,
Dan Snowdon