If, like me, coronavirus restrictions have stopped you from visiting RSPB Lochwinnoch over the last year, you may be wondering how the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted on the reserve and what – if anything – has been happening since your last visit.
Eagle-eyed readers of the Winter/Spring 2021 RSPB Scotland magazine, will have noticed a mention of a new pool that’s been created alongside the Aird Meadow trail, and we thought we’d give you a behind the scenes look at this latest development and why (and how) it’s been carried out.
Lochwinnoch featured in the Winter/Spring 2021 issue of the RSPB Scotland magazine.
Why create a new pool?
As you can see from the photo, the pool created in the Aird Meadow was created by an excavating machine, in order to disrupt the ‘succession’ process, whereby wetland would slowly disappear and be replaced with woodland.
Over time, as plants die, they rot down and form layer upon layer of organic matter, pools fill up, soil forms, and trees start to move in. Without disturbance – which would be caused naturally by animals, floods and fires – tree and scrub species take over and woodland is formed. With these species dominating, wetland species lose out. Obviously this is good for woodland species, but in a relatively small-scale environment such as a nature reserve it’s important to maintain a range of habitats and species, especially as wetlands are one of the most endangered habitats, declining by 90% in the UK in the last 100 years.
By disrupting this succession process, we provide opportunities for a greater variety of plants to flourish, as well as a variety of animal species exploiting the greater range of food sources and micro-habitats – and invertebrates attracted by these will in turn provide a food source for other wildlife.
How was it done?
In August 2020, Warden Dan Snowdon supervised local contractor Artscape Gardens Ltd, to create the pool, using an excavator machine. This work is part of Garnock Connections, supported by the National Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).
The pool size was partly determined by the width of the excavator bucket and the reach of the machine’s arm, which in turn partly determine the weight of the machine itself. ‘Bog mats’ – essentially large railway sleepers bolted together – were used to create a platform over which the excavator could move safely over the boggy area. A heavier machine could have more easily created a wider channel without too much moving around, but at the risk of sinking and being lost into the depths! A smaller, lighter machine was better suited to the wet ground conditions but was still able to use its reach for most of the excavation and deposition of material without too much tracking back and forth over the sensitive fen.
Scraping away the surface layers removed the built up organic matter to create a shallow pool with the ‘edges’ providing an important function – the more edge you can create the better, as these shallow margins where two habitats merge often have really high wildlife value. Dabbling ducks and wading birds will feed here, where invertebrates and small fish shelter among the stems and where seeds are collected by water movement.
What has been the impact?
During excavations, it was clear there was a layer of clay below the surface, which was a good sign for its potential to hold water, and sure enough, the pool began filling up almost straight away. Within a few days, signs of fish were seen after flooding across the reserve allowed them to find the new habitat – ripples on the surface water and then the arrival of a heron being the most obvious signs! Wigeon, whooper swan and mallard have also seen investigating the new pool.
While we clearly have a lot of open water on the reserve for wildlife to exploit, adding channels increases the range of habitat and provides more sheltered spots for wildlife to take refuge in.
We hope to add more pools and channels in this part of the reserve as time and Covid restrictions allow, to create a complex of fen habitat which will not only be great for the wildlife, but will also allow our visitors to get enhanced wildlife views from the trail and the new viewing screen we will be building.
In addition to this work, a few gaps have been opened up in the woodland curtain along the trail, so we hope visitors will now be able to enjoy a number of different views of the Aird Meadow Loch as a result of the work that’s undertaken since last August.
We’d love to know what you’ve spotted, so – Covid restrictions allowing of course – please do let us know what you’ve seen, when you’re next able to view the reserve.
Many thanks to Dan Snowdon for his help in the preparation of this blog.