Scrub, sunshine and starlings

Yesterday was our final volunteer Sunday of 2013 and what an excellent day we had in glorious sunshine – it was even quite warm! 12 people arrived bright and early for a day of scrub management up on Phase 1.

Management of this scrub block began last winter and was soon suspended due to the site flooding, however the small area we worked on last winter has already started to show positive benefits, with increased light levels leading to increased floral diversity among the scrub and a nice diversity of age structure within the scrub itself. This should improve invertebrate diversity and numbers, with corresponding benefits to organisms higher up the food web such as birds and mammals.

The area we are working on at the moment is looking so much better already, but there is plenty left to do that should keep us busy for the rest of the winter! With flowering plants such as cowslips, knapweeds and clovers already encroaching into last winter’s managed area, we hope that our work this year will show benefits by as early as next summer.

And after a hard day’s work in the scrub block, what better way to end the day than with a starling murmuration? We stood on Phase 1 and enjoyed the swirling flocks of around 6000 birds over the balancing pond and Phase 2 – a spectacle that I could never tire of!

Also on site yesterday was a chiffchaff on the silt lagoons – thanks to volunteer John Ellis for this sighting, woodcock on the quarry entrance as I drove out at 5 o’clock, male goldeneye on Phase 2 and redshank calling on Phase 1. We even had a peacock butterfly on the wing by our office at lunchtime - not a bad record for 1st December and a sign of how nice the weather was!

And as always, many thanks to all who attended for another highly productive and enjoyable day.

Sunset over Phase 1 - thanks to James Cox for the photo.