I feel very fortunate to be able to write the blog this week. The Residential Volunteer house has been a biohazard risk with the lurgy doing the rounds and after being struck down by a serious bout of man-flu, certainly something that would have seen off anyone of less stout heart, I am grateful to be fighting fit once again.
Illness aside, this week has introduced us volunteers to a new lifestyle and survival skill: digger fishing!
Okay, so fishing isn’t the primary objective, but if you have visited Exminster or Powderham Marshes this week you may have seen a digger out and about excavating, or slubbing to use the technical parlance, the ditches. Clearing ditches that have become clogged with vegetation and silt is a key management activity and like many things in conservation and habitat management, the purpose is to create variety and diversity in the ditch ecology. In other words, to cater for as much wildlife as possible, we need ditches and waterways to be at different stages and degrees of vegetation.
Of course, using a digger to excavate the ditches does mean that a few fish and eels have had an opportunity to see the reserve from a different perspective. Fortunately for them, we have been on hand to quickly return them to their natural environment, although in the case of the eels, it has been simpler said than done... they are slippery little blighters. It has been interesting to see what lurks beneath and the fish variety is quite impressive with Perch, Roach, Pike and Tench being common, and much more surprisingly, a Flounder making an appearance!
Aptly for the approaching Halloween, it has also been an exciting week for bats. Over the last month we have been using a bat detector, generously lent to us by Sarah from the Devon Bat Group, to investigate the presence or absence of bats across the reserve. It is early days, with Sarah kindly performing the analysis on all the recordings, but it seems we have recorded over 7,000 bat calls and have picked up nine species so far, including Greater and Lesser Horseshoes. This is hugely exciting and great news for the wildlife on the reserve. Plus, knowing that the bats are there means that we can ensure we consider the impact of our management actions on them and think about how we can make the reserve even better for them in the future.
There have also been some exciting bird spots reported from Bowling Green Marsh, including a Great Northern Diver flying over, Turnstone on the marsh and significant numbers of passage Pintail passing through. My birding highlight of the week though has been a small Chiffchaff that seems to be unusually tame and frequently joins the team for lunch breaks over on Exminster Marsh. Seeing it up close has made us appreciate the colour and subtleties in this Little Brown Job (LBJ), so perhaps when you are next visiting the reserve you can take time to stop and admire the ‘commonplace’ wildlife with fresh eyes.
Chiffchaff photos - Phill Catton
Have a good weekend and as always, be sure to check out the RSPB website for events in the local area:
http://www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/seenature/events/