Hello
Welcome to another snapshot of what the reserve wardens have been up to.
Bird Surveys
We began the week with an early morning start to continue our weekly bittern surveys and it was encouraging to hear the bittern booming well and regularly. Whilst surveying for bitterns we also completed our final winter harrier roost count. As is expected for this time of year the numbers have dropped to 23 marsh harriers roosting on the reserve; this count also includes the breeding individuals. During the morning survey we were treated to woodcock emerging from the woodland, a great white egret flyby and lots of breeding activity by the marsh harriers.
Scrub burning
The last task of the winter work programme was to burn a small area of willow scrub on the eastern area of the reedbed, that had been cut earlier in the winter. Fortunately, it had dried well and it didn’t take us long to get it burnt. The larger trunks have been left as wood piles and some of the straighter sections had been bunched together to be used on the Volunteer marsh to reduce erosion.
Predator Fence workshop
The three of us (Jim, Hayley, and I) joined wardens and site managers from across RSPB reserves on Tuesday (virtually, of course) for a Predator Fence Workshop hosted by the Ecology Department.
Predator fences are used across 35+ RSPB reserves to reduce predation by mammalian predators to some of our most vulnerable breeding birds. The data shared with us was really encouraging to see the huge positive impact they have on species such as lapwings to ensure enough chicks are produced to maintain and grow populations. It was a great opportunity to learn more about how designs have evolved as more and more sites use them.
Odd jobs
As we prepare the reserve for the reopening of more facilities, a spring tidy up has begun. Jim and Hayley completed a small path repair around the welcome hub and they finished filling another skip of rubbish! I had a day with one of our volunteers and a recently returned team member from furlough to start sprucing up the car park.
The water table remains extremely high which means our car parks are still quite wet in places. However, in some areas the surface water had dried enough for us to clear some of the mulched vegetation from the disabled car park bays and around the cycle racks. We also had the monthly task of clearing the gutters around the buildings. Other tasks included reattaching kickboards to the boardwalks, making a start on cleaning the picnic tables, and collecting a load of beach rubbish
Beach Nesting Board Workshop
On Wednesday Wynona and I hosted a beach nesting bird workshop for our new and existing volunteers, bringing everyone up to speed with our beach nesting bird projects this season.
Talks
This week I also delivered two talks, one to Snettisham Sailing Club on the birds of Snettisham and the other to North East Norfolk Bird Club covering the management of both Snettisham and Titchwell. It was great to see so many people attend these virtual talks.
Spring arrivals
Finally, a short update on a few bird highlights. Last week some of us we were treated to a White-tailed Eagle flying around the reserve area. We were informed that the bird was G463, a male bird released on the Isle of Wight in 2020. It was an incredible sight to see.
This week we have started to see a few spring migrants arrive including little ringed plovers, sand martins and sandwich terns.
That’s it from this week. Take care.
Lizzie