Site Manager, Andrew Gouldstone, is here to tell you about the water onsite!
The reserve gets wetter…At last, recent rain (and some nearly festive snow) has started to make the reserve look like a marsh again.I’m sure you’ll recall how dry the Purfleet scrape was back in October, and also how dry the previous two winters have been.The effect of this has been reduced wintering bird numbers, and a struggle to keep the reserve wet for our breeding birds – managing a wetland reserve is so much easier when it rains!Some ‘emergency’ pumping into the Purfleet scrape last November quickly improved water levels on this attractive part of the reserve, and then the recent rain and snow has done the rest.And it’s amazing how quickly birds respond to the improving conditions. Numbers of wintering birds have quickly gone up, and it’s great to now see the flocks of wigeon and lapwing wheeling over the marsh, either as they move between feeding areas, or they get panicked by one of the passing marsh harriers or a hunting peregrine.On Saturday, I enjoyed watching a single lapwing that was taking advantage of all the water and was bathing in front of the Ken Barret hide. Was this a wintering bird from further afield, or will it be one of our breeding birds already returned from having been further south for the winter?
The caption on this RSPB mug, aimed at helping farmers manage their land for lapwing, is to some extent, so true !