RSPB Mersehead Blog 15th June – 21st June
Saturday 15th June marked the beginning of “Maintenance Week” at RSPB Mersehead. During this week, our holiday homes (Barnacle and Shelduck) don’t have any bookings, enabling us to give these cottages a little TLC! Thanks to the hard work of both our staff and volunteers, the insides and outsides of these holiday cottages are looking spick and span. Our volunteers whitewashed Barnacle cottage on Tuesday (you may now need sunglasses when walking past on a sunny day), strimmed areas of long grass, tidied the weeds and flowerbeds, and cut the grass. I was really impressed with the results, and I was very grateful to everyone who helped out. Many hands really do make light work so a massive thank you and shout-out to our lovely volunteers!
Barnacle holiday cottage looking smart, ready for the arrival of the next holidaymakers! Photo credit: F. Sanders.
During Maintenance Week, we enjoyed an adventurous day out to Kirkconnell Reserve to repair the livestock fence. We enlisted the help of one of our graziers which made the job much quicker, and now all the repairs are complete, the cattle can return to the saltmarsh fields to graze. Things that caught my eye at Kirkconnell that day included Sea Milkwort on mass on the saltmarsh, and thousands of Corophium (Mud Shrimp) crawling around in the mud as the tide went out.
Warden and Trainee Warden carrying out fence repairs at Kirkconnell. Photo credit: F. Sanders.
Left: Sea Milkwort in flower at Kirkconnell. Right: Corophium (Mud Shrimp). Photo credit: F. Sanders.
Maintenance of stretches of livestock fence was also necessary this week at Mersehead. I spent a morning this week brushcutting the area either side of an electric fence, in one of our fields, because vegetation touching the wires reduces the overall voltage by diverting the output to earth. If you were in Bruaich Hide on Wednesday morning and noticed a member of staff jumping for joy…that was me! Two hours and 6 Horsefly bites later (I exaggerate, it was only 4 bites), I finally finished the stretch of fence I was brushcutting and I was delighted!
On Thursday I was tasked with strimming a line of livestock fence that currently houses our superb, striped Belted Galloways. I was amused by the curiosity of the Belties when using the electric strimmer, as they kept coming over to the fenceline to have a nosey. It didn’t take long for me to discover that it is virtually impossible to keep Belties at the recommended safe distance of 15m when strimming. This was despite me politely telling them to “mooooo-ve” on multiple occasions!!
Belted Galloways approaching the fenceline to have a closer look at the electric strimmer. Photo credit: F. Sanders.
Magical Moths
Our moth trap did not disappoint this week as we uncovered more magical moth species on Friday morning. My favourite this week had to be the Spectacle moth. Spectacle moths are absolutely brilliant as they look like they’re wearing a pair of spectacles (hence the name!). Even the ID book refers to this I which I found highly amusing!
Spectacle moth wearing ‘spectacles’!! Photo credit: F. Sanders.
Other stunning moths seen this week included the Gold Spot which glitters beautifully when its wings catch the light, Barred Straw moths which are a gorgeous yellow colour, and the Small Magpie which I would describe as the Dalmatian of the moth world.
Left: Golden Spot. Right: Barred Straw. Photo credit: F. Sanders
Small Magpie. Photo credit: F. Sanders
Moths are often out and about during the day at Mersehead and I spotted these two beauties a few days ago (please see images below).
China-Mark moth. Photo credit: F. Sanders.
White-Plume moth. Photo credit: F. Sanders.
Other Sightings
As always, I love to share with you some of the fascinating flora and fauna I have had the pleasure of uncovering around Mersehead over the past week. It never fails to amaze me how many new species emerge all the time at this reserve, and I find it so exciting to ID things I stumble across whilst out in the field.
Left: Six-Spot Burnet moth. Right: Caterpillar of the Six-Spot Burnet moth. Photo credit: F. Sanders.
Hare’s-foot Clover on the sand dunes at RSPB Mersehead. Photo credit: F. Sanders.
Hawkbit in full bloom at RSPB Mersehead. Photo credit: F. Sanders.
Mallard with ducklings. Photo credit: F. Sanders.
Large Skipper butterfly with another insect “photobombing” on the right hand side of the image. Photo credit: F. Sanders.
Common Blue butterfly. Photo credit: F. Sanders.
Flora on the sand dunes areas of RSPB Mersehad. Photo credit: F. Sanders.
Freya Sanders, Assistant Warden.
Upcoming events: For more information on individual events and to book a place, please go to our website: https://events.rspb.org.uk/mersehead.
At Mersehead you will find the RSPB’s only self-catering holiday cottages - Barnacle and Shelduck. Available summer dates are currently going quickly, so please follow the links to book your next holiday.
*Flooding - Please note that Mersehead nature reserve is prone to flooding during periods of high rainfall and/or strong winds and tidal surges. To avoid disappointment at these times, please contact the reserve in advance of your visit by email in the first instance at mersehead@rspb.org.uk or check the RSPB Dumfries and Galloway Facebook Page for daily updates.