Willow, Wildlife and LOTS of Water

Image Credit: RSPB

Apart from Wednesday, on which the rain was fairly biblical in its proportions, the weather has not been too bad this week! Granted it has been colder and slightly damper than previously, but we need rain as well as sunshine to ensure all nature is catered for. Speaking of all nature, we’ve probably had about 90% of it on the reserve this week. Ok, this may be a slight exaggeration, but the point still stands that there have been many fascinating species sighted this week. Read on for more!

News from the Estate:

In the British Isles, the first evidence of willow weaving dates to the Mesolithic Period- 8000 to 10000 years ago! Image Credit: David Broadbent, RSPB Images. 

The wonderful Estates Team have been making the best of both the good and bad weather this week. Here’s what they have been up to:

During the nicer weather, the team have been busy weaving our forming Willow Maze together. The Willow Maze sits just outside our playground and has been re-growing over the past few years. As the willow grows, it is woven into walls to create a fun-filled family activity! We would say ‘who knows where you will go?’ but actually we hope that, once it’s ready, you’ll go into the maze and out again. So keep your ears open for updates!

On Wednesday, it was too wet even for the ducks. As the ponds and the paths merged into one and the Visitor Centre sprung several leaks, the Estates Team very wisely decided that it was not the day for outdoor work. Instead, they used the woeful weather as motivation to clean the Saltholme Pools hide. This meant that when the sun made a welcome return on Thursday, visitors could see even more out of the windows than they could previously.

Speaking of Thursday and the lack of falling water, the Work Party returned to the Bee Bank in our car park on this day to continue work on creating the perfect substrate mix for Solitary Bees. Why would the bees care so much about the substrate? Well, they’re building homes for their offspring! So, by creating a bee bank filled with a substrate that is both dig-able and stable, we are helping to boost the size of the next generation of these important pollinators.

What’s On:

The rain came a week sooner than expected, seen as it’s May half-term next week! But we’re glad that the weather is looking decent between 25 May and 2 June because there will be plenty of activities going on!

Image Credit: Tom Simone, RSPB Images. 

Firstly, we are hoping to run Pond Dipping sessions between 10am and 3pm every day during the half-term holiday. Pond Dipping is one of our most popular activities, with children and accompanying adults unearthing (or un-watering?) the wonders of Saltholme’s pondlife. What will you find? Maybe a damselfly nymph lurking in the shallows? Or young Sticklebacks exploring this new watery world they have just entered? Maybe even a Water Scorpion munching on a Water Boatman! You don’t know until you try! There’s no need to book in advance- just ask at the Welcome Desk when you arrive.

Secondly, we have a Buzzing Bees Activity Trail to complete! Completing this trail will earn you a lovely shiny stamp in your Saltholme Passport, which we know you all have/are going to pick up on your next visit (hint, hint). It’s also just a really fun trail that tells you loads of cool facts about bees. What’s not to like? You could even say we’re all buzzing to show it to you!

Recent Sightings:

The Temminck’s Stint is a passage migrant, meaning it does not breed in the UK. Birds often rest or feed here before moving on. Image Credit: Lockhart Horsburgh

The star(s) of the week have undoubtedly been the two Temminck’s Stints that have been seen at Saltholme Pools. Once of the defining features of this species appears to be its ability to hide from telescopes and binoculars, usually behind (in)convenient tussocks of grass. But when they have been showing, the views have been spectacular!

The Little Ringed Plover can be distinguished from the Ringed Plover by the lack of a white wing stripe (in flight) and the presence of a distinctive yellow eye ring. The Ringed Plover also has orange legs, whereas the legs of the Little Ringed Plover are paler. Image Credit: Lockhart Horsburgh

Secondly, it has been wonderful to see a Little Ringed Plover nesting on the central Main Lake island! We also have pair of these waders at the Saltholme Pools hide, and we are very hopeful this pair currently have chicks. Both the nest and the chicks display the amazing camouflage that ground-nesting birds use to hide from hungry eyes. So you’ll need to look very closely on your next visit to see this species!

Black-headed Gull chicks are ‘precocial’ meaning they are born with their eyes open and with downy feathers. The chicks defend a small territory around their nest site- from both other chicks and adult birds! Image Credit: Paul Sawer, RSPB Images. 

As well as the Little Ringed Plover, we also have plenty of Black-headed Gull chicks on the Main Lake islands. In terms of camouflage, these chicks are some of the masters- you won’t see them unless they move! Fortunately for us, the chicks are busy exploring around the nests and are therefore moving around quite a lot. If you want a closer look, why not use the live camera on the Visitor Centre TVs?

Garganeys feed by ‘dabbling’. This means they catch insects by dipping their bills into bodies of water. Image Credit: Ben Andrew, RSPB Images. 

The incredibly marked drake Garganey is still visible on the Flash Top (you at the back…stop sniggering) between Paddy’s Pool and Haverton Viewpoint. How do we know it’s a drake (a male)? Well, the incredibly bold white eye stripe can be a bit of a giveaway. It also helps birdwatchers find this otherwise mottled duck when it’s hidden amongst a myriad of small pools and grass tussocks!

Well, that’s all we have time for this week. We always seem to run out of time before we run out of things to tell you about. That’s proof of how awesome Saltholme is and how much you can see when you visit us! So, if you visit us you can discover all the incredible species that we never get round to mentioning in this blog- you’re sure to have a fantastic day!

References and Additional Reading

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (2024). Black-headed Gull [webpage]. Accessed through https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/black-headed-gull [last accessed 23/05/2024].

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (2024). Garganey [webpage]. Accessed through https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/garganey [last accessed 23/05/2024].

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (2024). Little Ringed Plover [webpage]. Accessed through https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/little-ringed-plover [last accessed 23/05/2024].

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (2024). Temminck’s Stint [webpage]. Accessed through https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/temmincks-stint [last accessed 23/05/2024].