Ringing out the Changes - Spring's in Full Swing!

RSPB Mersehead Blog 7th  -13th May 2022

Well it’s certainly been a busy week at Mersehead! What a change from the classroom life of a full time primary teacher, I’m exhausted in a different way every day  but I'm enjoying every minute of the volunteer role! The jobs change with the seasons and we are carrying out plenty of survey work (if it moves or grows-survey it!) and vegetation control. The reserve itself is getting busier and I'm always pleased to have a chat with visitors and point them in the right direction. There hasn't been one day that I didn't want to get up and out, and Lapwings have become a bit of an obsession. One of the activities that has started again is bird ringing, and I was delighted to go along to the first session even though it was at 5 a.m.

North Solway Ringing Group at Mersehead     Photo credit: C.J.E. Farrell

The regular surveys have started in earnest on the reserve now that May is here and the migrants have arrived. Is bird ringing a bit like bell ringing? I hear you ask.  Well no, bird ringing is a valuable form of scientific research that helps the B.T.O. (British Trust for Ornithology) record how many birds of different species are on the reserve, comparisons can then be made between the same date (closest date) from year to year to see if the picture is changing. The numbers of the key species have remained stable over the last few years, which is really good news. Sedge Warblers are always the main players but Willow Warblers and Reed Buntings are always caught in relatively high numbers at this reed-bed site. 2017 was a bumper year with 479 birds caught over the season, all the information adding to the knowledge needed to conserve and protect these amazing birds.

Bird ringing equipment and a bird being weighed.  Photo credit : C.J.E. Farrell

It’s a highly skilled business, and one that needs a great deal of training and practise as the birds are carefully weighed, measured and sexed. The task here on the reserve is carried out by the North Solway Ringing Group, who arrive at dawn on several Saturdays each month to set up their mist nets and carefully catch and record our feathery reedbed friends. I joined them last weekend to get a close look at birds I’ve seen a thousand times from afar through my binoculars. What a privilege it was to focus on the reed warbler’s perfectly pointed beak and the male reed bunting’s bold shades, there were so many details that I’d not appreciated. Another perfect morning for me at Mersehead.

Good news on the Orange Tip butterfly front : I have started to see eggs on the Cuckoo Flower that is all over the reserve. I used to think that you wouldn’t have a chance of seeing a butterfly’s egg on a plant, but this one is relatively easy to spot as it quickly turns bright orange. Females like to lay just the one egg on each plant because the caterpillars are cannibalistic!! Once you’ve got your eye in you’ll start to see them on lots of cuckoo flowers, they also like to lay on Garlic Mustard, a plant which is in flower all over the verges at the moment. Once you start spotting the flowers with the eggs just below where the seed pods develop, you just can’t stop! 

Newly laid Orange Tip egg on cuckoo flower . Photo credit : CJE Farrell

Swallows have always shouted “SPRING!!!” in my head. Obviously, what I used to think was a straightforward arrangement – all the spring hirundines (swallows/martins ) arriving in my piece of sky simultaneously – is infinitely more nuanced. Sand Martins are traditionally first to arrive, followed by House Martins and swallows and then the Swifts (which are in a different family - Apodidae). But of course It depends where they’re coming from, what the wind’s doing and how the population’s coping with a changing climate, amongst many other parameters. We know that the swifts are wintering in Central and Southern Africa and the sand martins in the Sahara but there is still research to be done on the winter destination for house martins. It's nice to think that there are still some mysteries that nature is hiding for now. 

The swallows are very much back at Mersehead after their winter hols in South Africa and Namibia, they are now darting about the farm buildings and handily perching outside the accommodation kitchen window!! They love the Sulwath Garden, it must be packed full of little flying goodies. A single swallow eats around 850 insects a day, so by my very wobbly calculations, the 8 swallows zooming around The Sulwath Centre here on the reserve will eat around 6800 insects every day! That’s 47600 a week! A trip down to the Bruaich hide often brings a fantastic aerial display. This rain is helping too, providing the mud they need to build their nests.

Swallow perched on overhead cable with blue sky in the background, Hertfordshire.

Photo credit : Chris Gomersall (rspb-images.com)

The rain, of course, is helping in many other areas too : the Natterjack Toads are happy because their pools always welcome a bit of topping up (47 spawn strings have now been recorded)  and – I’m delighted about this – the Lapwings won’t have to move fields to find water so I’ve half a chance of knowing how many lapwings have had chicks in certain fields. I say half a chance, the problem of course is that the chicks are born able to walk, so a bird you saw sitting sedately on a nest one day can be up and across the other side of a field the next, mingling with other families that are not where they should be. I’m pushing the wardens to implement some form of ‘bobble hat’ system in future (different colours/designs, jockey silks style)….but they’re just not taking me seriously, I think it’s the way forward. 

Carefully helping the tadpoles to deeper water. Photo credit : C.J.E.Farrell

The main theme of the week appears to be pulling plants up! It was Dock on Monday and Ragwort (again) on Tuesday., I am discovering muscles (or where muscles should be) that I never knew I had. It becomes a bit of an obsession to be honest, you become determined to completely clear an area of one of the rascally species and I have been known to shout, “Yes!” in a slightly mad manner when the whole root system comes out!

My sight of the week has been a Roe Deer fawn laying snuggled in the long grass waiting for 'Mum' to return. I never realised how stripy a fawn is,  but of course camouflage is of the essence when there are Foxes about!  In other news,  a fabulous Lesser Whitethroat has also been heard singing on the reserve this week, a real treat as this is a scarce summer visitor and breeder in this area, in 2019 only 16 birds were recorded in Dumfries and Galloway including 2 at Mersehead of course!

Fawn snuggled in a quiet corner of the reserve. Photo credit : C.J.E. Farrell

Bertie's Blog

Bertie has been out and about, working hard on the reserve over the last week, he had to look closely and have lots of patience, but can you see what he found on this cuckoo flower? You can find them too if you go exploring, and if you go back a few days later you might see the caterpillar feeding on the seed pods. Never go out without your magnifying lens- golden rule!

 Bertie finds an egg. Photo credit : C.J.E. Farrell

Mission : Look out for swifts returning to your skies. You can’t miss their spectacular screaming parties when they’re feeding. 

Common swift Apus apus, group in flight, Cambridgeshire, July. Photo credit: Ben Andrew (rspb-images.com)

UP FOR A CHALLENGE? : If a barn swallow is resident in the U.K for 22 weeks, how many insects will they have eaten? Read back through the blog for clues!

Claire Farrell (and Bertie), Residential Volunteers

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Upcoming events:

*Holiday Cottages - Planning your 2022 holidays? Discover the breath-taking scenery, wildlife, cultural and history of Dumfries & Galloway whilst staying in one of the Mersehead cosy semi-detached holiday cottages – Barnacle and Shelduck – located in the heart of reserve.

 *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.