Here we are already well into March! January and February whizzed by at Ham Wall, we were busy trying to get as much work completed as possible before the end of the habitat management season. Here's a brief summary of what we’ve all been up to.
The Truxors (amphibious reed cutting machines) were back in to finish off the work started before Christmas. This included reed cutting in areas away from public view but also a bit more in Phase 1, the compartment visible from the second viewing platform and the viewing screens along the canal bank. A few extra channels and scallops have opened up the views a bit more. They were also down in Emerys, the reedbed furthest east on the north side of the canal. The channels have become quite overgrown in there and it’s great to to see down a few more of them now.
On 21 January we had a day of quite extreme rainfall, which led to a very full canal as well as very full reedbeds! When the Somerset Levels system overall is trying to cope with extreme water levels, we turn our pump off so we’re not adding extra for it to cope with. Once the canal had dropped enough we then started letting our excess water out too. During that time the track to the Avalon hide was slightly underwater and the canal bank itself also became rather wet and slippery.
Photo by Ali Blaney - a very full canal
It took a while for the water to move through site, with our pump near the rail bridge working hard. That pump runs off Ham Wall rhyne, which passes through the northern half of the reserve and collects water coming out of the reedbed compartments. Once the water level in the rhyne reaches a certain height, a switch is triggered and the pump automatically turns on in the evening (when electricity rates are cheaper) It switches off when the water level in the rhyne has dropped below a certain point.
We've since carried out some repair work to the Avalon Hide path - getting the rubber matting up, removing the wet sloppy mud from underneath, adding some gravel and replacing the cleaned matting. This is a hard and messy job so thank you to the volunteers who were involved in that particular task.
The team have also been busy carrying out numerous other jobs. A lot of scrub work has been done in various locations, including the compartment known as Tinneys which is not connected to the main Ham Wall reserve but lies just to the south east. We have also carried out a lot of tree pollarding work, around Waltons reedbeds in particular. If you've been round there looking for the ring-necked and ferruginous ducks recently then you will definitely have noticed this.
Also around Waltons we’ve had a small team of volunteers making vital repairs to the viewing screens. Some of the joists supporting the flooring needed replacing, as did a few supporting uprights. The photos below show what was found when the floor came up at one of the screens and the lovely new timber going in. Many thanks to volunteers Pete W, Reg and Garry for working hard on these screens and getting them repaired and reopened in a very short space of time - much appreciated by everyone, particularly in busy starling season!
Photos by Reg Redmore - before and during
Reed cutting and bundlingThe last reed cutting job for us involved the use of a different attachment on our Softrak machine to the one you'll have seen earlier in the year. The cutter bundler does exactly what it says - cuts the reed and bundles it up! This is our 'commercial' reed cutting process. This task involves two people - one driving the Softrak and one riding on the back, taking the bundles as they come up the chute and putting them into the bin on the back. Once that bin is full, the Softrak is driven out of the reedbed and the small bundles are secured up into a bigger bundle, tipped out and stacked up for us to collect at a later date. I'm trying to get a video up of this process for everyone to see so keep a look out for that, in the meantime here are some photos.
Photo by Ali Blaney - view down the bundle chute from the back of the Softrak
Photo by Ali Blaney - reed bundles ready for use (classic Ham Wall photo with the Tor in the background!)
We cut as many bundles as we could in the time available - perhaps not as many as we'd have liked but we've opened up some nice areas in Looks Rank (the compartment out to the north east from Avalon Hide) and got some reed of improving quality ready for use. Some will be going to RSPB Aylesbeare in Devon for thatching, some we'll be using at Ham Wall.
Reducing erosionWe’ve been busy in one area of the reserve trying to reduce bank erosion. One of the compartments known as Long Drove has a large expanse of deep water and wave action can build up in windy weather. This has been wearing away the peaty top soil of the bank. It’s not an area open to the public but we need to be able to get round it as does our volunteer surveyor who does Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) and Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) round there. We’ve been knocking in plastic sheet piles which link together to form a wall. The photo shows the very first one being driven in but we’ve done plenty more since that one. The aforementioned reed bundles will then backfill behind the sheet piles to start the process of creating a new bank.
Photo by Ali Blaney - Site Manager Steve H knocks in the first of many sheet pilings
Lending a handIn early January Steve C and I took both the mid-week volunteer teams over to West Sedgemoor. The team there have a lot of hedge work that needs carrying out so we went to lend a hand. Both days turned out to be rather wet but everyone worked on regardless in increasingly muddy conditions. Plenty of thinning, clearing, dragging and burning took place and it was nice to work with our colleagues and volunteers over on the other side of the Levels.
Snow!I can't not mention the snow we had right at the beginning of the month. Not only did this mean the Welcome Building was closed for a few days, but we had to cancel a volunteer social event and a work party too. We also then had a burst water pipe underneath the toilet block in the car park. It had been insulated but clearly not enough to cope with those extreme temperatures. Luckily this was repaired quickly and everything was back to normal by Monday 05 March.
Before the heavy snow arrived, Site Manager Steve H and I were out doing the final day of cutter bundling with the Softrak, in Looks Rank. Steve spotted some amazing otter tracks on the ice and snow on Heath rhyne. You can clearly see the five toes and also the tail drag marks in places. It was a beautiful day out on the reserve, although a little chilly it has to be said!
Photo by Ali Blaney - otter tracks on Heath rhyne
Photo by Ali Blaney - icy view across Phase 2 High, the recently flooded rejuvenation area
Booming bittern and other bird newsFrom snow to Spring. We carried out our first Avalon Marshes booming bittern survey of the year yesterday. Staff and volunteers from across the partnership (RSPB, Natural England and Somerset Wildlife Trust) set their alarms for the middle of the night, spread out across the reserves and started recording those booms from 5-6am. As usual this was followed by a hearty cooked breakfast, albeit a bit damp, but the survey itself was dry. It's always an amazing time to be out in the middle of the reedbed, tuning your ears into the various sounds and thinking about the wildlife out there that you can hear but not see. As well as bittern I could hear tawny owl and water rail, amongst other things.
The total count across the Avalon Marshes was a fabulous 46 individual booming males, with 18 on Ham Wall alone which is a conservative estimate so could potentially be higher. The total of 46 is one more than last year which is great, particularly taking into account the weather we’ve had recently. The April total could be even higher, watch this space.
In other bird news, marsh harrier activity is increasing all the time with display flights and nest material being carried, particularly visible from the Avalon Hide. John Crispin spent some time in this area earlier in the week and recorded five birds in the air. The photo below shows one of the males and one of the females in this area so keep your eyes peeled for those two individuals. Thanks John for the records and the photos.
Photos by John Crispin - male and female marsh harriers
The cattle egret had been worryingly absent since the temperatures plummeted, with no sightings since the end of February. The good news is that it looks as though some at least have survived the awful conditions, which they're probably not at all used to. Earlier this week we had one reported in nearby fields, this crept up to four by mid week and we now have six in the area. Hopefully more will re-join them - we're still missing approximately twenty plus our long-staying glossy ibis worryingly.....do let us know if you spot any cattle egret or the glossy ibis.
And finally, for all the gardeners out there….Ham Wall soil conditioner for sale!From this weekend (17-18 March) you will be able to purchase RSPB Ham Wall soil conditioner from the car park. Produced on site by staff and volunteers, the conditioner is made from reed and vegetation that we cut and collect as part of our reedbed management. This breaks down over a number of months and becomes a locally produced, peat free alternative to compost that you can use in your garden.
There is a limited supply based on how much reed we cut during any year as part of our reedbed management, but we aim to have bags on sale in spring and autumn. We’re stocked up and ready for sales from tomorrow.
Not only does the production process mean we avoid burning our arisings, but the money raised from sales goes towards our conservation work and helps us save even more nature – a win-win situation!
Available for £4 per 40 litre bag, please head to the Welcome Building where the team can help you purchase the soil conditioner.
I’d better finish here or this could turn into a very long blog indeed! I’ll return in April with the next update from the reserve team as we move fully into the spring and survey season. Hopefully Steve C will return next week with the usual recent sightings blog, however we are just about to move offices (no address change) which might cause some disruption to the usual service. Keep your fingers crossed for a smooth move and also for no snow this coming weekend!