The islands on the reserves’ lakes require constant work in order to meet the needs of the birds; we want the island to be suitable so that hopefully birds will nest on islands, they are a favoured place for the common terns at the reserve to nest on during the breeding season from mid spring – when they arrive from their African continental journey and will stay into the summer to raise their young. The island is a sanctuary because mammal predators (foxes) cannot get to the chicks and the tern families are safe from being disturbed from the visitors to the reserve.
The island we worked on today was the one you can see from paddy’s pool hide, it is a large island that is covered in cockle shells (like many other of the islands.) The island was building up with a mixture of goose poo and new growing vegetation. The nutrients create a layer of built up fertile soil and it allows even more vegetation to grow which includes the hemlock, grasses and the ragwort which left unmanaged it can overpower the island. It is not popular for the terns as a nesting sight with lots of vegetation.
You can see the before and after picture from the island with the estate team
working on the clean-up. You can get a more
clear picture by clicking on the image.
This kind of work is needed on a reserve and it will benefit what you can see in the
breeding season, the clean up work will continue this week.
- Josh McGowan