Just a quick heads up to any new readers or regular readers that have enjoyed the down time, it's about to get pretty wader heavy from here.... July is where we welcome back returning birds from their northern breeding grounds. Numbers will increase on a daily basis so each morning new birds are on the reserve to found and enjoyed. The map below will hopefully point you in the right direction to get the best out of your visit.
1. We've seen our first juvenile turtle doves of the year along the cross bank and also in the yard. A weekly reminder that if you are looking for them near the barns please pull in opposite the open area and stay in your cars. Birds get spooked easily and it is a working farm so patience will benefit, you, other visitors, the birds and our farmer friends. Everyone wins :)
2. The majority of the ruff we are now hosting are males, only one reeve seen so far, and all are looking fantastic, ok not all. Some do look splendidly grotty as they start to moult out there summer finery but a messy ruff is still a fine sight to see.
3. Our peak count of spotted redshank hit 6 this week, up from 4 at the end of last. Like the ruff they are looking as good as you could wish them to be but time is ticking as they start to turn from sooty black to grey.
4. The orange and leggier continental black-tailed godwits are starting to get outnumbered by their redder Icelandic cousins. Numbers have hit three figures now and will slowly increase with small parties to be seen dropping in throughout the day.
5. A handful of greenshank are around the reservoir and eastern end of Marsh Farm. The chew-chew-chew call will give them away in flight.
6. While not being reported daily, they are still around, we think. Garganey are good at three things. Looking awesome, sleeping and hiding. Unfortunately the last two don't help you appreciate the first, and as our ducks go into 'eclipse', they lose the first and become even better at the hiding and sleeping bits :( Good eyes and patience will be rewarded with a well earned find.
7. A subtle wader that takes a little more looking for than the others as it's dark plumage allows it to blend in nicely with the muddy ditches it frequents. Marsh Farm reservoir and the drying out channels on the grassland are the best places to find them.
8. Young redshank can often be confused with wood sandpiper but this spangly beauty is hopefully the first of many this Autumn that will give you chance to spot the difference.
9. The bee orchids are blooming and will be at their peak for the next couple of weeks so enjoy them while you can.
Trying out a few extra things this week with the addition of a photographers map. The best spots to get the best pics if you're packing lenses rather than optics. Please check out our Flickr page, linked below, and if you like any of the shots you see then I'm sure the photographers will let you know where they were taken. If you can't get through then please ask us and we'll point you in the right direction. The map is a start so all feedback appreciated.
1. Just down from the top car park is a very showy sedge warbler which sings from exposed branches on the south side of the path.
2. While we haven't had a specific count our bee orchid numbers are around the 30 mark. If you want to beat this and get a specific count then please feel free.
3. Several common tern fish the ditches and will often hover at eye height just meters away. The gate to marsh farm and along the track from the car park to sea bank are your best bets.
4. The drier and warmer days have seen a sudden eruption of butterflies. They prefer the exposed and sheltered areas so back of the reedbed and cross bank are ideal.
5. While most can be quite distant, the dried out middle scrape offers opportunities to get closer to avocet. Stand at the gate between the reedbed and 360 hide and the birds will settle in the pools in front.
6. Dragonflies, skimmers and damselflies are emerging now with photo opportunities best taken on paths adjacent to ditches. Could we do a Titchwell and welcome the reserves first red-veined darters this year?
8. While a little trickier to find and photograph, there are still opportunities to snap turtles if you have the patience. Young birds are now perching out along the cross bank so stake them out.
Sedge warbler - told you he was showy!
Usually I'd now pepper you all with a round up of birds that aren't on the sightings map but most of our best birds are included on the map above as they'll be around for a while. Additions to the above would be the occasional mediterranean gull on the scrapes and reedbed and there have been a few spoonbill reports in the last couple of days.
We've seen loads of chicks around this year with another brood of lapwing being seen at the start of the week and these awesome wee dudes hanging out on middle scrape.
Little ringed plover - Ian Ellis
The spotted redshank will often hang out together so when you find one, you'll hopefully see a few. At this time of year they are a doddle to tell apart from redshank but take in shape and structure now to help pick out juveniles next month.
Spotted redshank - Ian Ellis
A scarcer and subtler prize is the wood sandpiper. Smaller and daintier than redshank, they will pop in and out of cover on the grassland. They are much paler and cleaner than young redshank with yellow legs and a shorter bill.
Wood sandpiper - Ian Ellis
Birds to look out for over the next few weeks are more returning waders and the first juvenile black-tailed godwits towards the end of the month.
Following on from this weeks photography map, our second addition to this weeks sightings, which will probably be a monthly round up, is some reserve management background. This will mainly be based around water levels and why they are at the levels they are.
Our abstraction license restricts the pumping of water onto the reserve to ten months of the year and our non-pumping months are July and August so expect things to get drier generally. This is good news as young birds and returning waders will have lots of exposed feeding areas.
Reedbed – This will continue to drop slowly, revealing more of the islands and more edge for waders to feed on.
Scrapes – Middle Scrape will stay dry as the seed rich crop establishes. North and South will slowly dry exposing more mud. August is where we can think of tinkering.
Marsh Farm grassland - We’re pretty much dry, and will stay as is due to the reservoir being empty. A few heavy showers is what we need to help soften things up.
Roads Farm grassland – All looking good out there which is why all the good birds are here. We will try and keep this muddy by letting out water from the reedbed or scrapes if we get too close to drying out.
A combination of recycling water and keeping things diverse is key as we don’t want to dry out too soon or exhaust a food supply in one location before we have another one ready. This is all part of the dynamic management which we are working towards. Dry areas aren’t bad news as long as you can work it into your regime which we hopefully have done and will continue to do so.
So that's the water pretty much covered. We no longer have the sheep on the reedbed as they were munching through the reed and preventing it spreading. 5,000 reed plugs will also help increase the area and these have been planted with help from the Environment Agency and some of your good selves too. By removing the sheep the reed will grow but so does the vegetation on the banks which will need another snip at the start of the month so expect to see the tractor doing the rounds. We won't cut all the vegetation to the same height as a diverse sward will encourage a greater variety of invertebrates and wildflowers. What we're really trying to do is cut the thistles before they seed. While we appreciate they provide a valuable food source for loads of bugs and beasties, they are an absolute nightmare for a grassland and will dominate if allowed to. This reduces the quality of a grassland significantly so we need to get on top of them now. Freiston is also managed in the same way and we've just had a big cut of the lagoon island to remove thistles on there. We do have a newly sown pollen and nectar mix at Freiston so we have more than compensated for this loss.
Hope that was of use and interesting. If you have any more questions about what we do and when we do it, please ask in the forum or have a chat with me, Simon or John if you see us out and about.
That's all from me this week. Enjoy your weekend everyone, and if you can't wait 7 days to know what's going on here, keep your finger on the Lincolnshire Wash Reserves pulse by following us on Twitter and giving us a ‘like’ on Facebook. Alternatively if you enjoy taking pictures and have a Flickr account then please join our group and share your images with everyone. If you are thinking of paying a visit from near or far please do check out the tide times which can make a big difference to both numbers and variety of birds seen on the day.
The more you're out the more you see - https://twitter.com/BoyWonderBirder