The volunteers went out to count all that paddles, dives and dabbles on the wetlands for the month Webs count. Duck numbers are lower than average at the moment and spread out across the site. Probably due to the recent freezes and low water levels at present. Increasing numbers of Gadwall and Mallard. They have started to pair up; the mallards sneaking off looking for potential nest sites. The scores on the doors were:-
Little Grebe:- 7
GC Grebe:- 3
Cormorant:- 19
Little Egret:- 5
Grey Heron:- 5
Mute Swan:- 9
Canada Goose:- 2
Shelduck:- 10
Gadwall:- 20
Teal:- 204
Mallard:- 82
Shoveler:- 21
Pochard:- 2
Tufted duck:- 91
Goldeneye:- 8
Water rail:- 2
Moorhen:- 8
Coot:- 135
Snipe:- 1
BHGull:- 400
LBBGull:- 3
No lapwing were recorded on webs, but they did fly in later on in the day (much to the grumblings of the webs counters)! A flock of about 100-150 have been loitering on site, taking to the air when the a peregrine makes it’s appearance. Looking out onto the North Pit Tuesday morning, there wasn’t a bird to be seen at first until I scanned across to see a beefy young female peregrine on an island being heckled by some magpies.
Love has been in the air this week, with a notable increase in bird song and disputes over territory. Great spotted woodpeckers have been heard drumming pretty much every day, and chasing each other through the woodland. Mistle and song thrush are singing loudly with dunnocks and chaffinches starting to sing from exposed perches. Great tits and blue tits are checking out our nest boxes, which have all been cleaned and maintained ready for the coming breeding season. Next week is National Nest Box week http://www.bto.org/about-birds/nnbw so if you have a nest box sitting in the back of the shed, get it out and up! It has felt more spring the past few days, snowdrops are popping up in the villa wood and it won’t be long before Langley brook is flanked by sunny yellow celandines:- one of my favourite early flower.
Snowdrops by K.Thorpe
The water rails are regular visitors to the feeders, often using the mallards to hide behind. Lesser redpolls have appeared this week on the feeders. They have been non-existent on the feeders this winter, perhaps preferring natural food sources, which is a good thing. It’s nice to see them back, mixed in with the hustle and bustle of the feeders. The 4 tree sparrows continue their residency in the farm hedge and the highest little egret count has been 30 this week. They have also taken to sitting in the willows at the rear of the silt pond down the bridleway.
It may have been a relatively quite week for new sightings, but we have had 2 major pieces of infrastructure begin in the last 5 days.
A footbridge over the river Tame connecting the Dosthill side to the Middleton side was installed on Thursday. If you speak to any of the regular visitors and local people, the bridge has been a long time in the process. As well as joining the two parts of our wonderful reserves, it will allow us go across and manage Dosthill in a more pro-active way and provide a link to Middleton lakes for the village of Dosthill. Although the bridge is in place, it will be 2 weeks before it is fully opened after health and safety tests are passed and official sign offs are signed off!
Footbridge installation by G.Williams
When you walk through the woodlands, over the robin bridge (after being harassed by said robins), you were once faced with a squidgy muddy path. Not a very pleasant experience to walk through, but this will be a thing of the past! Hurrah! This week has seen the beginnings of our footpath project, with the canal meadow path the first part of the scheme. We will have contractors on site for 10 weeks creating a mile of path which will wind it’s way from Fisher’s mill up the western side of the reserve to the Lookout. The reserve paths have always suffered from the mud, and this is the start of improving our network of paths on site. There will still be muddy trails, but at least visitors can access a decent part of the site without constantly watching where they put their feet!
Canal meadow footpath by K.Thorpe
We will endeavor to keep this blog updated on a weekly basis, but to keep your finger on the Middleton Lakes pulse check out our RSPB Birmingham, Black Country and Warwickshire facebook page and follow us on Twitter @RSPBMiddleton. If you enjoy taking photos, we would love for you to add them to our Community page. For other wildlife and bird news in the Tame Valley check out http://tamevalleybirding.blogspot.co.uk/