Taking the roller out for a spin

Last Thursday our trusty volunteers gathered for one of their least favourite jobs - path repairs.  The plan was to finish off the ramp up to the New Fen viewpoint and to start repairing the potholes in the tracks.

But first we had a bittern survey to do.  We started at 7:30 with Phil covering New Fen North, I was at the Joist Fen Viewpoint and Darren, Nigel, Emma and Katherine further west covering Joist Fen North and Norfolk Fen.  Previously we had heard 6 different male bitterns around the reserve.  On the previious survey I was given a spot where I heard none of this booming.  What a difference this time!  As soon as I got to the viewpoint a bird started calling.  The sound was coming from back towards the visitor centre so rather than sit on one of the benches I walked back along the track to try to zero in on where the bird was.  As it turned out there were two birds.  Both were in New Fen Triangle, the section of reed between the West Wood and the Joist Fen viewpoint.  One had a proper full on boom, the other is what we call a grunter.  A male bittern who is probably not in tip top condition who tries to boom but doesn't produce the full sound.

Clearly the boomer was not happy that the grunter was in his patch as between 7:45 and 8:25 I heard 16 separate calls from the pair, with one bird calling and the other answering with 2 or 3 minutes.  At around 8:10 the boomer flew towards where I thought the grunter was calling and after that I only heard the boomer calling so presumably he had intimidated the grunter into shutting up!  After 8:25 there was no further booming so the louder bird seemed to have won.  At this point I made my way back to the viewpoint and saw a female marsh harrier bring nest material in to a nest in front of the viewpoint and later a male harrier bring prey back to a different nest nearby and the female fly up to catch it in mid air.

After a nice cup of tea and a biscuit we got down to the physical work of the day - covering the new stone chippings with a layer of limestone dust and rolling it in to provide a nice smooth surface for wheelchair and mobility scooter access to the New Fen viewpoint.  Katherine was transporting the limestone from the pile to the path and Nigel, Roger, Darren and Emma were loading, unloading and levelling the material.  I was on the roller.  Phil meanwhile was off with a brush-cutter strimming the now rapidly growing grass from the benches on the reserve.

The finished path to New Fen viewpoint by Dave Rogers

We also managed to fill some of the potholes around the visitor centre but still have plenty more to do between New Fen and Joist Fen.

Water levels are critical for us at this time of year and a combination of little rain and the river being kept lower at the moment because of a bank slip on the 10 Mile Bank, levels were starting to drop.  We managed to persuade the Environment Agency to grant us an extension to our abstraction licence into May.  So we now have a steady flow of water coming in from the river helping us keep the reedbeds wet into May and June for the breeding season.  You can see how little rain we have had as we have had to top up the raise bog garden bed in front of the visitor centre!

Do take a look in the raised beds as the plants are now really starting to grow.  The marsh marigold, lady's smock, water violet and water crowfoot are all in flower.

water crowfoot by  Dave Rogers

Marsh marigold by Dave Rogers