“My favourite thing is me coming to visit you, and then you ask, 'How about a small smackerel of honey?'”
- A.A. Milne
At a time when we are seeking applicants who would like to spend six months living on site as residential volunteers, focusing on practical conservation work, this week has been ideal to showcase the variety of tasks the warden team get involved in at Mersehead. If what you read either here, or in other blogs, makes spending the Autumn and Winter living and working on an RSPB nature reserve in South West Scotland sound appealing (to you or someone you know), follow this link to find out more about how to apply (after you finished reading the blog of course!)
The early part of the week was spent dealing with invasions. Before your mind leads you towards Normans and extra-terrestrials, I should clarify that these invasions relate to Japanese Rose (Rosa rugosa) ,Badgers and Honey Bees. The first is a non-natvie, invasive plant species that spreads quickly via suckers and will outcompete native species. It is an offence to plant or otherwise cause Rosa rugosa to grow in the wild, and although we don’t fall under this classification on the reserve, we are determined to control, and hopefully reduce, the spread of this species along the path to the Bruaich Hide, where it became established a number of years ago. One way to hopefully reduce the infestation is to cut it back to the ground several times a year, and with the help of our residential volunteers, who strim large areas of the plant, and our Tuesday volunteer work party, who get into the areas the strimmers can’t go and remove remaining stems, we hope to gradually get on top of the problem.
Tuesday volunteers going where strimmers fear to tread. Photo credit: P. Radford
The badger invasion represents a different type of challenge, and desired outcome. Mersehead is a fantastic haven for multiple sets of these fantastic mustelids, and whilst we are very happy for them to roam across the majority of the reserve, the one place we ask them to avoid is the 33 hectares of prime ground nesting bird habitat which lies within the boundary of the anti-predator fence. Despite regular checks to ensure the boundary was secure, in the words of the character Ian Malcom from the 1993 film, Jurassic Park, “Life finds a way.” The way we think these adventurous badgers found was by squeezing through a small hole they managed to create in a grate which blocks a culvert running under one of the field boundaries. Evidence of digging at the fence line, on the inside, raised our suspicions, before images of badgers skipping past our trail cameras confirmed they were either getting in and out, or were in and happy to stay. Unlike the Japanese rose, we have no desire to eradicate these intruders, and instead hope to encourage them to leave the area under their own steam. One-way badger gates allow them to pass through the fence to the outside, but unfortunately they don’t learn about these at badger academy. However, the encouragement of peanuts and lard, combined with a short section of pipe to ‘funnel’ them to the gate, has proven successful in the past. With the pipe and bait now in place at two gates, I’m sure our progress will be shared in a future blog.
The escape route is in place. Photo credit: P. Radford
On Wednesday night, Raeburn Thomson – a keen beekeeper who offers advice and colony removal and rehoming services as the Glenkens Honey Company – visited Mersehead to remove a colony of feral honey bees who had taken up residence in the loft space at the entrance to the Sulwath Centre. Bees had been witnessed flying in and out of the roof in large numbers for a couple of weeks, leading to speculation that, if a queen was present, we may have quite a number of bees to contend with. Fortunately for us, on a visit to Mersehead with his family, Raeburn noticed this activity and offered to rehome the colony.
It wasn’t until a torch was shone up through the loft hatch that we discovered the magnitude of what we were dealing with; a colony of over 60,000 honey bees! A time and date were agreed, and the rest was left to Raeburn, with a little help from Claire, who had a fascinating evening, and who I have to thank for providing the following account of events.
Over 60,000 honey bees! Photo credit: Raeburn Thomson
Honey bee close up. Photo credit: C J E Farrell
Covered from head to toe in a 3mm suit and gloves (so supposedly just thicker than the length of a bee sting), Raeburn ‘smoked’ the bees to calm them down prior to approaching the colony via a hole cut in the roof. With the bees now nicely relaxed, a vacuum cleaner was used to gentle remove bees from the comb. This isn’t as bad as it sounds, as the bees pass from the vacuum to a large, ventilated box, in which they will then be transported to their new home. Whilst it would be impossible to capture every single bee, it was vital that the queen be extracted to ensure the colony’s survival.
Raeburn 'hoovering up' bees. Photo credit: C J E Farrell
It wasn’t just the bees that needed removing, as the brood and food stores (i.e. pollen and nectar) must also go, so that the lifecycle of the colony can continue, albeit in a new location. This mean carefully cutting away sections of honeycomb and placing these in frames within a wooden box. We have to confess that not all the comb made it into the box, as it would have been rude not to sample some of the truly delicious honey that these amazing Hymenoptera produce. We were also lucky enough to keep a sample of the comb, from which we can extract a wee amount of the amber nectar.
The appetising contents of the Sulwath Centre fridge. Photo credit: P. Radford
After 6 hours, and a good number of tea and blether breaks, the painstaking task of removing over 95% of the colony was complete. However, there was still more work to be done as it was vital for the area to be thoroughly cleaned to prevent the sweet, sticky honey attracting wasps, rats and mice. Once he had diligently completed his work, Raeburn packed up his vacuum cleaner, popped the Mersehead bees in the boot of his car, and drove off under the light of the stunning waxing gibbous moon. All that was left was the overwhelming and glorious smell of honey, and a few bees who had been left behind but would soon be off in search of a new home.
The Sulwath Centre colony in its new home. Photo credit: Raeburn Thomson
Now for some fascinating facts about Bee-utiful Honey Bees (courtesy of Raeburn)
Fact 1
If the queen dies or disappears, the workers will know within a few hours. The queen exudes a ‘well being’ pheromone from her feet when she is alive and well in the colony.
Fact 2
Once the first bees have been hoovered up, the exposed comb – with brood, pollen and nectar – is placed in frames and covered up to keep warm. If you place your hand near the colony, you can feel the warmth.
Comb placed in frame for storage, and showing emerging baby honey bee (the brood). Photo credit: C J E Farrell
Fact 3
Bees lay a pheromone trail to the colony. If they land either side of the trail, they can find it and crawl up.
Fact 4
The bee-keeper ‘smokes’ their hands to remove human smell, then smokes outside and inside the colony. The bees think there’s danger (a fire!) so they feed and become sleepy.
Fact 5
Any bees that are not ‘hoovered’ will go and find local hives to join.
Fact 6
Their alarm pheromone smells like bananas!
Fact 7
The different coloured pollen shows clearly in the comb’s wax hexagons. Green/blue from Rosebay Willowherb, black from Poppy.
Cells showing different colour pollen depending on the plant foraged on. Photo credit: C J E Farrell
Visitors to the reserve from Wednesday onwards would have needed to follow the diversion through the field adjacent to the woodland from the far end of the trail. This is because work is now underway to create a gravel path down to the beach, which will improve accessibility for visitors with limited mobility. The work, which has received financial support from the Robin Rigg Windfarm Community Fund, will involve laying boards and gravel along 476m of a path that, in the winter months especially, can be very wet and muddy in places. We are gradually working out a system for placing and securing the boards, and thank all our visitors for their patience whilst volunteers and staff push on with the work over the coming weeks.
Day 1 and 2 path progress. Photo credit: P. Radford
With multiple herds of cattle on site, there are always going to be unexpected issues to resolve, and when Sam phoned to say that he was all that was standing between the Belted Galloways and the Bruaich Hide path, all other work had to be postponed. An old strainer post on the boundary of their wetland grazing area had collapsed, leaving a big gap in the fence. The priority was to secure the area, so a line of strip wire and plastic fence posts was installed, prior to a new post being knocked in and re-wired. Disaster averted!
Out with the old, and in with the new. Photo credit: P. Radford
If all this wasn’t enough, there was still time for members of the Warden team to complete bumblebee and butterfly surveys (with the highlight being some stunning Peacock butterflies), prepare another field for the Luing cattle and top some rush and thistle.
As is tradition, Friday morning involved sitting in the Sulwath Garden, with a cup of tea in hand, and checking what delights had found their way into the moth trap overnight. It’s impossible to choose a favourite, but one that caught our eye was the Fen Wainscot (Arenostola phragmitidis), which may come as a surprise given how plain it looks. However, it was its clean, creamy forewing (fading to a reddish brown at the tips) which made it stand out against the dusty, streaked patterning of Smokey and Small Wainscots that we see more regularly. The Fen Wainscot’s latin name – Areno (Sand) stola (cloak) phargmitidis (common reed) – perfectly describes both its appearance and favoured foodplant of the larvae. It is found locally in north-west England, and was first discovered in Scotland at Auchencairn in 2003.
Fen Wainscot (Arenostola phragmitidis). Photo credit: P. Radford
Paul Radford, Assistant Warden
With the Mersehead holiday cottages fully booked for summer don’t miss out on the opportunity to stay at Mersehead during the winter months of November and December when the reserve is home to thousands of Barnacle geese and internationally important numbers wintering wildfowl. Check out availability for Shelduck and Barnacle through the hyperlinks.