Greetings from north Dorset and welcome to our first Moth Monday! This is a new weekly blog about the moths and hopefully butterflies that I can find here at home, and I’ll be looking for your input too so please do get involved.

Although I’ve been working to improve it, my newish back garden isn’t a haven for wildlife (yet). Let's just say it's lacking in plant life and there isn't even much grass at the moment…

Hi everybody - I hope this, slightly different blog today finds you all safe and well. Things have changed very quickly in the last week or so and as I hinted in my blog on Monday much of the information I gave is already obsolete - in fact it lasted just a few hours with the new Government announcements on Monday night.

I have copied and pasted Abbie's message (our last blog post) which followed this announcement as…

Following the latest clear instructions from the Government for us all to remain at home apart from a limited number of allowed activities, we are closing our reserve to visitors until further notice.

This means we will close our car park, toilets, hides and the Mini Marshes to the public at Ham Wall and the car parks and hides at Swell Wood and Greylake. These measures are on top of the existing closure of our Welcome…

Obviously its a very difficult time for everyone at the moment with what's going on in the world. I'm not going to talk too much about it - only to tell you that currently Ham Wall remains open to the public and the parking is free. The visitor building and toilets however remained closed now until further notice. 

It's still okay to visit our wonderful reserve but it doing so follow government advice on social…

I was lucky enough to be out and about for a couple of hours on the reserve this morning. So nice to feel the sun on my face - been quite an unusual occurrence in recent weeks. Definite spring vibes everywhere I went.

It took me just seconds to hear a booming bittern of which there are now several across the reserve.Staff and volunteers from all the organisations across the Avalon Marshes were up before dawn yesterday…

It certainly hasn't felt like spring this week at times but meteorological spring started on March 1st (astronomical spring officially starts on March 20th this year). Wildlife on the reserve has been responding to the extra daylight and slightly warmer temperatures at times with several species nesting already. 

The traditional early nesters, Grey Herons, are well underway in the eastern side of Waltons and have been…

Amazingly this week, we actually had some sunshine!  Ok it was hidden in amongst the snow, hail, sleet, heavy rain and very strong winds but definitely sunshine and blue sky at some point, which was a pleasure to be out in with the volunteer work parties. Work progressed on the viewing screens along Tor View Hide path and we finished off various scrub work across the reserve, checking carefully for any early nests before…

Another week, another storm! This time, although Storm Dennis made things rather wet again, we didn’t have any more trees down thankfully. On Monday morning Steve was anxious to check the new viewing screen down the Tor View hide path for any damage but shouldn’t have worried, our volunteers have clearly done a brilliant job of making it nice and sturdy! The first replacement screen is almost ready for use but not quite…

We've had another busy week on the reserve this week including inspecting and clearing up some of the damage from Storm Ciara. A fallen tree along the main track and a unstable tree over the Avalon Hide path have been dealt with and are open but a larger tree has fallen across the Loxtons trail closing this loop - the other end of the trail leading to the screen is pretty flooded too, so we thought this was the best decision…

The weather may be a bit changeable at the moment but as I said last week there is a definite feeling of spring in the air at times - just waiting for the cold snap to drag us back into reality. In the meantime look out for the reaction of wildlife to the mild weather. 

Bitterns are booming - one or two just weakly while others are still producing more of a grunt. Reports this week from: the Avalon Hide, distant of VP2…

Once again I find myself pushed for time on a Friday so this could well be another shorter blog this week. It's a busy time of year for us as we push to finish all the habitat management work before breeding season begins. We have a few more sessions in the Softrak machine clearing some reeds but these are being collected in bundles and will hopefully be used to thatch the round house which is being built at the Avalon…

There have been some very cold and misty mornings this week but thankfully very little rain. Often the sun has broken through and burnt off the mist to give us a lovely sunny afternoon -Tuesday a good example of this and Monday similarly. A tawny owl decided to sit in the trees of the wood near the Avalon Hide on Monday and sun itself for a few hours. Lots of visitors got the chance to see it which was lovely. A green…

Back with a more 'normal' blog this week, although the weather has been pretty atrocious for much of it with Tuesday and Thursday (yesterday) in particular a bit of a wash out. It's made sightings a little harder to come by this week but as always at Ham Wall there's something interesting to report. 

Fewer sightings of the yellow browed warbler this week. It was definitely seen last weekend and on Monday…

Apologies but this will just be a very brief update this week. The main reason being is that we felt we should take advantage of the good weather to erect a couple of barn owl boxes around the site. They have been sitting in our workshop for some time waiting for all 3 of us to be available and good weather. They are to replace old boxes which look to be on their last legs and we really didn't want to be disturbing barn…

Happy New Year to everyone and welcome to our first blog of the year. I hope you all had a great Christmas and perhaps had a chance to get out and see some wildlife in your local area or perhaps even visited the reserve.

If you have been in recently you will have seen that water levels in the local area have been high after yet more rain over the Christmas break. The rhyne which runs through the reserve backed up as we…

Hi all and welcome to the last blog of 2019. We've certainly put the wet back into wetlands in the last week or so with plenty of heavy rain. Water levels are high in the local area with the River Brue full right to the brim but all the roads have remained open and levels will hopefully now begin to drop off. The reserve is open and fully accessible but there are some closures over the Christmas period I need to tell…

It's been a bit of a miserable week with plenty of rain and some high winds in for good measure too. It often means that wildlife tends to be less mobile but it also often gathers birds together in a few isolated places where there's a bit more shelter.

Despite the conditions this morning there were plenty of birds on show from the new first viewing platform (VP1). Lots of Lapwing to be seen - perhaps 200 and…

Another week has flown by - it seems as if the whole year has gone by quickly this year. As staff we seem to be busier than ever, with a never ending jobs list. As soon as you tick one off another one appears.

There's been a lot going on in recent weeks in particular but now with the new viewing platforms finished (VP1 & VP2), the reforming works to the west of VP1 complete and the reed cutting work from the aquatic cutters…

Another week has flown by and December is nearly upon us already. It's still been quite mild but we've had a fair amount of rain which has brought some of the water levels up a bit. It's quite noticeable in front of the first viewing platform (VP1), although the cutting of some of the reeds with the Truxor machine has opened this up a bit too. If you've been onto the reserve this week you may have seen one or both of…

Thanks to Ali and Alison for filling in last week with a great blog. I'd spent much of the week at Greylake helping the team there by managing the reed beds with our Softrak machine. I had a kestrel for company for much of the time I was working, following the machine which was wonderful. Was also great to see large flocks of golden plover and lapwing passing over probably about 1000 of each. Once the water levels are…

It’s been rather chilly this week at Ham Wall and we even had some sleet here yesterday, while some dedicated volunteers actually drove through snow to get here for their work party.  Steve C has been busy working for our colleagues at RSPB Greylake with the Softrak machine this week so I’m taking over the blog again and in fact it’s a double takeover! 

If you’re a regular reader and/or if you’ve ever…

Autumn and winter are busy times for staff and volunteers on the reserve. It seems as the years go by and the reserve has grown and evolved so much that we get busier still with extra visitor facilities that have appeared in recent years including the car park and toilet block and the surrounding paths and pools, plus the Tor View Hide and Avalon Hide and the paths leading to them. On top of this of course we have all…

The colder/damper weather is becoming the norm at the moment as we move into November. Colder nights have brought a frost to some parts. Some hardy dragonflies are still holding on though with common darter (pictured - thanks to Giles Morris), ruddy darter and migrant hawker all seen this week. Worth looking out for red admiral butterflies too feeding on the late nectar sources on the reserve such as ivy. 

This time of…

Here are some of our top tips for getting the best out of your visit to watch the Avalon Marshes starling roost. Starling murmurations are a true wonder of the natural world and the Avalon Marshes are one of the best places in the UK to come and wit...

It seems that we have perhaps seen the last of the hirundines for this year. I haven't seen any over the reserve this week. It definitely seems to have turned colder too, although there have been some lovely sunny spells once the early morning mists have dissipated. The misty early mornings make the reserve a much more mysterious and ancient looking place. It's times like this when knowledge of bird songs and calls helps…