Image Credit: BirdGuides
Never mind a week of warblers…the last seven days have been more of a term of terns! Speaking of terms, it’s nearly the end of a school one. That means there are plenty of events coming up that we intend to tell you about. This, plus the vital work of our Estates Team, means we once again have a lot to tell you about in this blog. Read on for more!
News from the Estate:
Image Credit: Sarah Porter, RSPB Images
Well, you can certainly say that the vegetation on our reserve is tenacious- as soon as we have trimmed back on bit another section is going through the equivalent of a teenage growth spurt. And like all teenagers, it needs reeling in occasionally. Fortunately, our wonderful Estates Team have risen to the challenge (no pun intended…ok, pun slightly intended). Not only have they trimmed the area of the Central Meadow that will be used for our Big Wild Sleepout event, they have also trimmed the vegetation around the Sand Martin burrows and Wildlife Watchpoint hide. So, next time you visit Saltholme and see some beautiful birds posing majestically in clearings outside the hides, remember to thank the Estates Team for said clearings.
The conservation work did not stop there! The team have also been bruising bracken stems at Haverton Scrub. This may sound unnecessarily violent, but it’s actually a very important part of conservation. Bruising the bracken stems helps to stop/slow the spread of the bracken. But why would we want to remove a plant species? Good question! Bracken is very good at spreading and out-competing other plants such as wildflowers. Plants need light, nutrients and water to grow; bracken is very good at taking all of these and preventing others from using them. By reducing the growth of the bracken, we make sure more plant species can grow in an area, which means in turn that we get a greater variety of species feeding on these!
What’s On:
Terrifyingly, it’s less than a month until the start of the summer holidays. That means that the Visitor Experience team are being kept very busy making sure all the amazing summer events are ready for you. ‘What Summer Events?’ we hear you ask. Well, here is a quick overview…
Have you ever wondered what flavour ice cream an owl would prefer? Or what frog-flavoured ice cream would be like? Well, look no further! Don’t worry, we’re not actually making anyone eat any of these. We are simply using ice cream as a vessel for allowing children and their associated adults to discover the diets of some of Saltholme’s species. At just £1.50 per trail sheet, this imaginative activity will keep everyone amused for a very reasonable price!
If that wasn’t enough excitement, Harry Otter has returned! He and Sally Otter (remember their star-crossed otter routine during February half-term?) have come back…and now have some cubs with them! No, we are not going to explain it to you. Just know that the cubs have decided to play hide-and-seek in our Discovery Zone, meaning Harry and Sally need your help finding them all. You have all summer (well, 22 July to 3 September), so how many will you find?
At RSPB Saltholme, we want to make sure everyone has the opportunity to enjoy the outdoors. This means providing as many different ways as possible to connect to nature. So, we’re starting Mindfulness Art Sessions! Be inspired by the beauty of our reserve and re-connect with your creative side in these relaxed, guided sessions. No artistic experience is required- if you like art or would simply like to try out something new, these sessions are for you! More information will follow shortly, so keep an eye on our website, social media pages and Visitor Centre posters.
Recent Sightings:
What seabird perches in ancient trees?
Yew Terns.
Joking aside, terns have been the birds to look out for this week. Here are some of the highlights of recent sightings…
The White-winged Black Tern is a type of ‘marsh tern’. These differ from ‘sea terns’ in, to quote the Collins Bird Guide, ‘their lazier flight with more banking from side to side’. Marsh terns also tend to feed on insects on the water surface, rather than diving for fish. Image Credit: Alan Tate, Oiseax-Birds.
A wonderful White-winged Black Tern flew into our reserve on Monday. There are only a handful of records of this bird in Britain each year, with this bird is more commonly seen in eastern Europe. As this beautiful bird eats insects, it was probably using Saltholme as a rest-and-refuel point on a longer journey.
Coquet Island- an RSPB reserve- is home to the UK’s only breeding colony of Roseate Terns. Image Credit: Brian Burke, RSPB Images.
As the saying goes, one good tern deserves another. That’s probably why a Roseate Tern has visited our Main Lake every day since Tuesday. The Common Terns haven’t been too impressed at the diversion in visitors’ attentions, chasing off the Roseate Tern whenever they have had the chance. But the Roseate has had five stars and a gold tick for persistence, repeatedly landing on the tern rafts to the delight of staff and visitors alike. Keep your eyes peeled on your next visit!
There are around 14,000 breeding pairs of Sandwich Terns in the UK each summer. Once they have finished breeding, they migrate to Africa. Image Credit: Chantal Macleod-Nolan, RSPB Images.
The last tern in this tale is the Sandwich Tern. If you go to our Saltholme Pools hide, look out for terns sporting a long, black bill with a yellow tip. Unlike the Common Terns, who have red legs, the Sandwich Terns have short black legs.
The Osprey is one of the largest Birds of Prey in the UK, with a wingspan of 1.5 metres! It also migrates to sub-Saharan Africa each winter- a journey of nearly 3000 miles! Image Credit: Ben Andrew, RSPB Images.
Ok, the last sighting isn’t a tern. It’s an Osprey! One of these fish-eating Birds of Prey was seen flying over the reserve on Wednesday. It may not have landed in the reserve this time, but it’s always worth a mention; the Osprey was extinct in England for 150 years due to a combination of persecution and low breeding numbers. After a series of reintroductions this magnificent bird is faring better and is becoming- thankfully- a much more common sight.
Well, that’s all we have time for this week. As usual, there has not been enough time to tell you about all the incredible things that have been seen at Saltholme this week. This video - filmed by Ian Robinson- will help to give you a more complete picture of life on a nature reserve but even that is no substitute for visiting us and experiencing our reserve first-hand. So we hope to see you soon!
References and Additional Reading
British Trust for Ornithology (2023). White-winged Black Tern [webpage]. Accessed through https://www.bto.org/understanding-birds/birdfacts/white-winged-black-tern [last accessed 30/06/2023].
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (2023). Common Tern [webpage]. Accessed through https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/common-tern/ [last accessed 30/06/2023].
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (2023). Osprey [webpage]. Accessed through https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/osprey/ [last accessed 30/06/2023].
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (2023). Roseate Tern [webpage]. Accessed through https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/roseate-tern/ [last accessed 30/06/2023].
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (2023). Sandwich Tern [webpage]. Accessed through https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/sandwich-tern/ [last accessed 30/06/2023].
The Wildlife Trusts (2023). Bracken [webpage]. Accessed through https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/ferns-and-horsetails/bracken [last accessed 29/06/2023].
The Wildlife Trusts (2023). Where to see an Osprey [webpage]. Accessed through https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/visit/where-see-wildlife/where-see-spring-wildlife/ospreys [last accessed 30/06/2023].