At last some rain ! We really need this as the water levels in the northern reedbeds are at least 30cm lower than they should be, which has consequences for reedbed wildlife, as mammalian predators are able to move around more freely in drier conditions. As soon as the water vole feeding table is once again surrounded by water, we'll start feeding them again. Currently on the reserve we have 4 Goldeneye, 700 Wigeon…

This Sunday our Phoenix group - our active teenage members - have been helping us to cut the willow which surounds the playground. It forms the fence but grows over 2 metres each year so has to be cut every one or two years to keep the fence looking smart. In previous years we have used the cut withies to plant and repair the maze but this year we also need some to replace willow hurdles which have come to the end of…

The Barnacle Geese are back on the reserve having gradually built up their numbers over the recent days. Assistant warden Ed counted 73 flying over today and they were then seen on the wet grassland near Paddy's Pool which has traditionally been a good place to see them - try looking back to Paddy's Pool hide from the Mike Corner screen. The numbers are increasing each year, probably almost double what we had in…

This week the volunteer work party has been hard at work (as usual), pulling vegetation in front of the reserve's successful artificial sand martin bank.

Sand martins (Riparia riparia) more usually nest in colonies on riverbanks, as their scientific name suggests, burrowing in up to a metre and creating a nesting chamber at the end of the tunnel. 

At Saltholme an artificial bank was created before the site opened.  It…

The wind was strong last weekend when Dean was trying to count birds - see his blog, and it was strong again today. But at least it let me watch a masterful display of flying by a Marsh harrier. Early this morning one flew over our workshop but this afternoon I witnessed one in flight in strong wind over Haverton Hill when I was working on the Wildflower Walk. The long tail and the shallow V of the wings in a bird of…

Last Sunday was a WeBS count day, that is a national water bird count, where all over the UK, we count the birds at high tide to get a picture of how a water birds are fairing. Or at least we would have, if it had not been during the tail end of a hurricane. You know you shouldn't be counting birds when your telescope blows over ! As many of the birds were sheltering from the wind, we've had to rely on mid-week counts…

The highlight for me this week was the jack snipe present and bobbing in the cut at Watchpoint on Tuesday and Wednesday, giving close and excellent views. The Pectoral Sandpiper hasn't been seen since Tuesday but we've had bittern, whooper swans and a kingfisher delighting visitors on the Main Lake and at Watchpoint. We had max counts of 950 golden plover on Wednesday and 900 wigeon on Monday. This weekend we'll…

With the warm Autumn weather there are still many bees and butterflies on the wing and they all need food. In the Summer there are many flowers rich in nectar but not so many now. This is where a garden can be very helpful. In our Wildlife Garden there are still colourful flowers which also give lots of nectar, and these need not be native plants. In fact the best at the moment is Verbena bonariensis, from Buenos Aires…

The Pectoral sandpiper is still on the reserve as Lockhart found today.

The markings on the breast (pectoral is from the Latin for breast) are easily seen in the photos. And on the Firestation field there was a Jack Snipe but it did not perform when Lockhart raised his camera!

Thanks for the photos, Lockhart.

Peter

There is definitely a winter nip in the air now, but some autumn passage waders are still around, most noticeably the Pectoral Sandpiper which can still be seen from the Saltholme Hide. Little Stints can be seen from both Saltholme Hide and Phil Stead Hide and there are 6o Black Tailed Godwits and 500 Golden Plover on the Causeway across Saltholme West Pool. Dorman's Pool also remains good for waders with 300 Dunlin…

Thursday saw the estate team volunteers, and assistant warden Dean, work on the Wildflower Walk at the Haverton Hill end of the reserve. Which is where the rakes come in (with apologies to Hogarth).

This area is composed of a layer of clay soil over a mound of cinders and other waste with some parts being quite fertile and it has to be managed. Despite winter grazing by sheep a lot of coarse vegetation has grown and could…

As Dean said in his last blog we have been busy clearing the vegetation from the islands and today we were on Paddy's Pool Island.

Over the summer the seeds from last year's weeds have germinated and grown to a dense stand of hemlock, redshank and common knotgrass, with smaller amounts of other plants. This has to be removed to give good open cockle shell for the Common Terns to nest on.

Volunteers James,…

That Pectoral Sandpiper is still here on Saltholme West Pool, and giving good views from Saltholme Hide. The Great White Egret is also still around, but tending to spend more time on Cowpen Marsh than the main site. There are also a pair of Scaup on Cowpen. Dorman's Pool continues to hold good numbers of waders with 239 Dunlin counted yesterday, 3 Ruff and a couple of Little Stint. On the main site, we had a Whimbrel…

At the weekend, I was walking by the Wildlife watchpoint hide when I noticed a number of moths resting on a dandelion head.

These are Nettle-taps (Anthophila fabriciana), fairly common and widespread micromoths that fly during the day.  They feed on common nettle as larvae and are at least double brooded, so have quite a long flight season (between April and November if conditions are right).  They can sometimes be seen…

Today we have a Pectoral Sandpiper showing from the Saltholme Hide. The Great White Egret is still around, but constantly moving between pools in the area. Dorman's Pool still has at least 4 Little Stints and Curlew Sandpiper, but you'll need a telescope for those. Wildfowl continue to arrive with 300 Wigeon, 300 Teal and 5 Pintail now on the main site. In addition, we have at least 300 lapwing, 200 golden plover…

This has been the best year yet for our Sand Martin bank.

One of our volunteers Brian D. keeps a close watch on their activity and his annual report shows how well they have done.

Arriving mid March there was lots of activity in the last week of that month, and this increased into May. Our Sand Martin bank has 100 nest holes and Brian records that 90 were occupied. If we assume that each nest rears on average 3 healthy…

Yesterday we were working on Cowpen Marsh. As grazing is needed to keep the vegetation in perfect condition for breeding waders we need to allow the graziers access to all parts of the marsh to look after their cattle. This means bridging the Fleet at several points to let them cross.

Ed took this photo of us putting the final touches to one of the bridges we had just built, with me on the left, Ayleen, Josh, Bethany…

Saltholme ‘giving nature a home’ links with conservation of nature and the environment and that is something that I’ve always wanted to work on and I got the chance two years ago when I started college and as part of my qualifications I had to gain experience in my related subject.

Over the two years I’ve volunteered with the estate team, whilst I was at college, each month there has been something…

I was opening the Phil Stead hide over the weekend and picked up this colourful caterpillar on my sleeve.  It has an interesting little 'hump' a little way behind its head, at the front of the abdomen and is covered with hairs, which are known as 'seta.'

This is the larva of the Grey Dagger moth (Acronicta psi) which is quite common.  As the name suggests the moth itself is quite grey, but has some relatively…

That isn’t true…

This must be the month of getting muddy because everybody today had a covering of mud on their arms, legs and face (mostly being me with mud on my face.) This was our annual vegetation removal that is done in the ponds on the dragonfly path towards the Saltholme pools hide. Peter, Brian and Ian are on this photo below demonstrating how it is done.

The dragonfly pools are an area where…

Do we just like the mud as Josh suggested in his last blog? I'll let you decide.

Today we have been working in the Discovery Zone - the area that is used for pond dipping and for educational activities. As with the main lake, as Josh said, the grass has grown and the reeds shot up.

So the grass has been cut to keep the paths open and to maintain the vegetation that gives good biodiversity. It was good to see

…

For most of the day anybody watching the main lake on Thursday, from the visitors centre might have been surprised to see us, in the water.

The reed beds and banks along the lake are establishing themselves and showing us all this year that things are flourishing across the reserve. The mixed species that make a reed bed are growing well this summer but allowing them to grow without any intervention could create a problem…

This last week we have seen many grasshoppers, most easily seen by the South door of the visitor centre on the paving and board walk.

This one was on the wall of the building. After looking on the National Biodiversity Network Gateway web-site which shows only a couple of species recorded in this hectad (a square of 10x10 kilometers) I think it is the Field Grasshopper, Chorthippus brunneus , but I stand to be corrected…

Last Decemeber we took up controlling the fresh water and the brackish water as the two waters reached each other from higher water levels and by mixing together it possibly would change the salt levels. By having a dam at Cowpen Marsh we could prevent this. You can have a look at this link for Peter’s blog and recap on what it looked like 9 months ago and how the volunteers created a dam.

Around the turn of the…

We put a lot of effort into creating mud to give ideal feeding places for the waders. Many different invertebrates live in mud and birds have evolved to probe for them, but the bill can get a little dirty...

... as this Lapwing shows. We can expect flocks of these to be on the reserve over winter, along with Golden Plovers - the first of which were seen this week end. On a crisp winter's day when the low sun catches…