Image Credit: Lydia Cave
Hasn’t it been a good week?! The temperatures appear to finally be catching up with how alarmingly far through May we are, the sun has showed its face more than sporadically and the wildlife has been stunning. Luckily for you, we have pulled together the highlights in this blog so, if your week has passed slightly too quickly, revisit everything that has happened in the last seven days.
News from the Estate:
One of the collective nouns for a group of ducks is a ‘raft’, but what is the collective noun for a group of rafts? If you know the answer, let us know because we now have a *insert noun here* of TERN RAFTS!
We have tern rafts on both our Main Lake and on Cowpen Marsh. The rafts on the Main Lake are visible from our Visitor Centre. Image Credit: Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust
The Common Terns are now very much here for the summer. Now that their numbers have increased and they are on the lookout for nesting sites, we are starting to manoeuvre the tern rafts into position. These shingle-covered islands provide terns with the perfect nesting spot. They also provide Black-headed gulls with the perfect nesting spot, which is why we do not put the rafts out until the terns are ready to move in immediately- the gulls get the islands, the terns get the rafts, and both sets of chicks get the ideal start in life.
Speaking of chicks, we protect the nests of other ground-nesting birds such as Lapwing and Avocet with an anti-predator fence. Predators such as the Red Fox are important components of the ecosystem, keeping prey populations at sustainable levels which in turn boosts plant growth. However, certain ground-nesting birds are experiencing such dramatic population declines that it has become necessary to encourage the foxes to eat other things instead. This is what our anti-predator fence does: foxes are free to roam and munch on one side of the fence, the Lapwings and Avocets tend to nest on the other side. With the lack of ground-based predators, these birds do not need to bunch as tightly together for protection and so this in turn reduces the risk of birds trampling nests and eggs. It’s a win-win situation- we’re helping the bird species without affecting the foxes. The team have been doing some essential maintenance work on the fence this week. With the warm, wet weather we have experienced recently, the vegetation on either side of the fence has been having a field day (no pun intended). It’s important to keep the fence clear of greenery to ensure foxes can’t climb over (thus causing offence to a fence) so the work party have trimmed back anything that could be a problem.
What’s On:
Dragonflies and Damselflies are starting to emerge. Image Credit: Lydia Cave
We’re really looking forward to 24 May. Why? That’s when our Dragonfly Boardwalk is officially opened! Our brilliant boardwalk overlooks the Dragonfly Pools that line the path to our Saltholme Pools hide. They’re brimming with life and you can now safely stand over the ponds and look in to see what amazing underwater creatures you can spot.
Speaking of dragonflies, May half-term is rapidly approaching and we will have loads of dragonfly-themed activities available to celebrate these 300 million year-old insects and the much younger boardwalk. So visit us between 27 May and 4 June for sculpture trails, activity trails, brass rubbings and the opportunity to see the emerging dragonflies and damselflies. More on that in the next section…
Recent Sightings:
Yes, we have dragonflies! And plenty of them. Four-spotted Chasers have been emerging in the Walled Garden. Many of these have been in easy view of visitors.
The dragonfly lifecycle is incredible. Adult dragonflies lay eggs in places like our series of ponds and pools. When these hatch, the young dragonflies are called nymphs. They spend most of their lives in this stage, going through a series of moults through which they grow larger. The final moult is when it gets particularly interesting as this is when the nymph begins to breathe air. It climbs up vegetation emerging from the pond and redistributes its body fluids. This is the posh way of saying it basically turns to mush inside the nymph skin, reforming into an adult body. The adult body then emerges from the shell of the nymph form (now called an exuvia) and remains on the vegetation until its exoskeleton and wings harden up enough for its maiden flight. The dragonfly spends a few short weeks in its adult form (this is true for most species, although exact time frames vary), feeding and breeding over the summer months.
You can see this spectacular spectacle at Saltholme! So look out for emerging nymphs and newly-formed adults on your next visit.
Image Credit: Adam Jones
A Temminck’s Stint caused a stir during the Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) on Sunday and has been causing occasional stirs in the following week. The Stint spent a stint on Cowpen Marsh, another stint at Saltholme Pools and yet another on the Wet Grassland. Temminck’s Stints are passage migrants, with around 100 birds using the UK as a stopover point each year on their way up to the Arctic.
Image Credit: Mike Langman, RSPB Images
And now for yet more exciting news…the Mediterranean Gulls have chicks! Another successful hatching means this gull is now very much established as a breeding bird at Saltholme, after successful nesting attempts in previous years.
And it’s not just the Mediterranean Gulls that are now looking after young. The Avocets and Little Ringed Plovers both have chicks that can be seen from the Saltholme Pools hide. Spring has definitely sprung!
That’s all we have time for this week, but this of course is just a small snapshot of the amazing things that have been happening at Saltholme this week. Oh well, we guess you’ll just have to come and visit us won’t you? We hope to see you soon!
References and Additional Reading
British Dragonfly Society (2023). Four-spotted Chaser [webpage]. Accessed through https://british-dragonflies.org.uk/species/four-spotted-chaser/ [last accessed 19/05/2023].
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (2023). Avocet [webpage]. Accessed through https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/avocet/ [last accessed 18/05/2023].
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (2023). Black-headed Gull [webpage]. Accessed through https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/black-headed-gull/ [last accessed 18/05/2023].
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 18/05/2023].
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (2023). Lapwing [webpage]. Accessed through https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/lapwing/ [last accessed 18/05/2023].
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (2023). Little Ringed Plover [webpage]. Accessed through https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/little-ringed-plover/ [last accessed 19/05/2023].
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (2023). Mediterranean Gull [webpage]. Accessed through https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/mediterranean-gull/ [last accessed 19/05/2023].
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (2023). Temminck’s Stint [webpage]. Accessed through https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/temmincks-stint/ [last accessed 18/05/2023].
The Wildlife Trusts (2023). Red Fox [webpage]. Accessed through https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/mammals/red-fox [last accessed 18/05/2023].