Once the common terns have left for warmer climates we set to and clear weed growth from the islands. Today, having repaired the boat we headed out for Paddy's Pool Island. Each year there is a subtle difference in the weed growth with more Knotgrass and less Hemlock this year. All has to be removed so that we can have bare cockle shell for the terns to nest on come spring.

Nathan and Dean show how much we have done…

The small tortoise shell caterpillar is found in the summer months in the nettles around Saltholme, recently we have been blogging about the butterflies on site this is one of the species you can still see until early autumn so they could be still around.

The caterpillar creates a cocoon, which the stage is included in my video below. This species is one of the more common garden butterflies in the UK, and the butterflies…

I haven’t blogged for while, but after a fantastic Little Explorers Under 5’s group this morning I had to write something.

For those of you who don’t know our Little Explorers group runs every two weeks on a Monday morning 10.15-11.30, it’s been up and running since March and is growing and growing in popularity.

Here are the dates for the sessions before Christmas; 16^th & 30^th September…

On a wetland reserve such as Saltholme so much depends on having the correct water levels in the various lakes, pools and tanks. As autumn comes the migrants will be passing through and winter visitors arriving. Waders need soft, moist soil to probe for their food. On the North side of the reserve there are, visible from Wildlife Watchpoint and Phil Stead hides, three interconnected tanks separted by bunds with sluices…

Recent visitors will have seen the work on the Mike Corner Memorial Screen at the bottom of the Dragonfly path near Saltholme Pools Hide.

The wet grassland beyond the screen is SSSI so permission had to be obtained from Natural England before work could begin. Next the old screen was dismantled and a cattle resistant fence erected, then a trench excavated before the new structure installed.

John and Mike have - both…

We are in the record books with the most northerly occurence of a moth which is classed as 'Nationally Scarce B'.

One of our assistant wardens, Ed, has been using a moth trap and on 21st July 2013 caught a Waved Black (Parascotia fuliginaria) and this is the first time this species has been found in Co. Durham (for recording of amimals and plants the recording system is based on the old counties so we are in…

Over the weekend you might have noticed the RSPB campaign for ‘a big wild sleep out. The Big Wild Sleep out is linked to the RSPB’s new Giving Nature a Home campaign to educate and inspire everyone to make a home for wildlife.

By staying out over the evening and into the night you can get to see your garden/local patch/reserve at a different perspective. A glimpse of the night life the creatures lead.

On…

In his last two blogs Josh has talked about butterflies. At last the adults are emerging and Josh captured this Peacock butterfly this morning.

In good weather adult butterfies will be seen easily in the Wildlife Garden and the Butterfy area just outside the garden gates.

We were again removing the Ragwort from the wet grassland and there are still lots of caterpillars on the nettles, both Peacock and Small Tortois…

The wildlife on view for everyone around the reserve can be easily located on the ‘what’s here today?’ board found as soon as you come into the reserve visitor’s centre on the left as you enter through the main doors. Throughout the day it is updated with wildlife you have a chance to see during the day. The picture below is the view from the wildlife watchpoint hide, with a little egret in the…

The grassland and meadows are full of colour and as soon as the spring sun comes out it begins to grow vigorously in the warm conditions (with enough rain.) In spring the grassland is great for birdsong, the meadows and grassland are rich in wildflowers that can attract insects such as butterflies and spiders. Yesterday we found cinnabar caterpillars.

A Ragwort plant, a type of grassland weed at Saltholme - grows upright…

In late spring amongst a patch of nettles a hidden batch of eggs hatch out, a caterpillar that is very small and black, as time goes on the caterpillar grows in size and it becomes a large spikey black caterpillar, at this point it is very distinctive – the peacock butterfly in the early stages of its life as a caterpillar.

Sometimes hundreds of these caterpillars are munching on the nettles leaves at speed as…

We are pleased to announce our new willow maze is now open to the public!

Ward Jackson primary school came along last Friday for a a sneak preview. They all managed to find their way through the tunnels, into the willow wigwam and out again!

Children from Ward Jackson Primary with our field teachers, listening to the sounds of nature inside the willow wig-wam.

It has taken 2 ½ years of hard work by Saltholme's team…

July has arrived with a much needed heat wave to restore everyone’s faith in the British summertime. Above average temperatures have persisted causing booms in invertebrate and floral species activity as well as successful breeding and offspring rearing for many birds and other species across the reserve. The extensive blooms of Birds-foot trefoil and Common Vetch on Haverton are supporting many of our butterfly species…

There's a Tiger in my garden, though I hardly ever seen him. He moves silently by night, feeding amongst the flowers. He doesn't have any stripes, just blotchy spots of black and blue to break up his outline. Sometimes when I leave the window open and the light on in my kitchen he comes inside, drawn by the light. He moves wildly round the room catching the light before retreating to a corner. But I'm not afraid, in fact…

Today the estate team have been working in the walled garden which is close to the visitors centre. The day was planned for us to go and de weed the paths around the garden which then made it possible to create a new surface for the paths that have started to wear down. We have been working throughout the day to get a new layer on the paths but there is still work to be done on the paths.

With all the work going on…

As volunteers we get the opportunity to learn about many aspects of wildlife. Over the last two weeks we have had the benefit of Ian Reynolds who has kindly introduced us to Dragonflies.

Last weekend a few of us listened to him talking about them then went onto the reserve to see what we could find. Lockhart was with us and these are his photos.

A pair of Azure Damselflies with the female laying eggs.

A Common…

I can imagine this past week has been a very nice change; we have had sun and warm weather giving everyone a chance to see the wildlife in their gardens and at Saltholme, one species of bird is very distinguished when sitting in the trees – the goldfinch, it is bright and colourful with a great call, you can hear the gold finches calling by clicking this link here.

A few weeks ago I came to the reserve and everywhere…

To give the Sand Martins a good quality home we have put a lot of time and effort into refurbishing the Sand Martin Bank over the last two years. This is one of the star attractions for the summer at Saltholme but had not been as successful as we would have liked.

First we removed the reed mace, reeds and sedges from in front of the bank then refilled the holes.

This is Keith and Adam a couple of winters ago.

The…

This summer we are encouraging everyone to get outside and help us discover more about bumblebees living in the Tees valley. We will be carrying out surveys from 22 - 28 July on the reserve, and will have a week of bee themed activities to kick off the school summer holidays. For anyone interested in learing more about bumblebees and beekeeping we have scheduled a series of talks on Wednesday 24th July to find out more…

Warm summer weather - just right for moths. Last night Ed, our estate worker, set the moth trap and I was able to get a couple of photos although he had lots of different species.

I've shown the caterpillar of the Drinker Moth before but this morning I got the chance to see the adult.

More unusual was the Buff Tip.

One of the other volunteers thought it should be renamed the 'filter tip'.

Peter

It has been very frustrating with the computer not letting us blog!

We in the RSPB are encouraging you to Give Nature a Home, and every home should provide meals. Our Wildlife Garden is a rather grand dining room for bees and other insects that feed on pollen and nectar. A visit to our garden can show just which plants the bees like.

.

Lots of visitors have asked me what this plant is - it is liked by the bees,

Hi guys, you may have noticed our community pages were down for maintenance most of last week. John wrote this blog last week so we thought you would still like to know what we saw on the reserve last month. So here it is:

 ...........

The return of unsettled weather and regular showers has brought with it a renewed burst of vegetation growth and wildflower bloom. Haverton wildflower walk and scrub trial are really coming…

We have lots of nettles at Saltholme and this is what we found on them today.

The caterpillars of the Peacock Butterfly.

There were lots in a small area, unfortunately not near a path, but there are certain to be more in other sites, which is heartening after such bad weather last year. It is not practical to provide a home for the caterpillars in a small garden as they need a large nettle patch, but how about a…

On Saturday Lockhart took this picture of a fox cub perfectly at home on the reserve by Paddy's Pool Hide.

We provide a home for lots of wildlife, and our foxes are no exception. This shot captures the true nature of a young fox learning life skills. At the same time I was watching a vixen carrying off a moorhen, perhaps to feed the cub?

A healthy natural environment will support a few top predators - fox, kestrel…

Saltholme is one of the youngest of the RSPB reserves; the bird reserve is a place for new homes for all wildlife.

 To make sure that conservation is working for birds across the country then the reserves must be rich in all wildlife for type of habitat, as said on the previous blog post the reserve is part of the new national slogan – giving nature a home. By enhancing the reserve as much as possible in all aspects of…