Last week we began a project to evaluate the value of our recently restored ditches to water voles. Running the project and analysing the data is Alex Hannam, a volunteer who commences a Environmental Science degree in Aberystwyth this autumn.

The methodology is thus: 50 metre transects are marked out along ditches restored last year, 2 years ago, along the river bank (which has not had any particular management for…

Among our more onerous tasks in the summer months is the removal of common ragwort, an injurious weed which poses a threat to livestock if ingested. It is deemed such a significant threat that it is covered by its own act of parliament (The Ragwort Control Act - 2003) and non-compliance can lead to prosecution.

A common ragwort looking sunny and wholly innocent.

It is a shame in many ways that ragwort is such a problem…

 As I type hoards of twitchers have either visited Lodmoor or are one their way. Reason being a very rare Stilt Sandpiper that arrived over the weekend. The birds from North America and is a very rare bird in the UK. I think I am right in saying that there's less than 30 records in Britain and its just the second to be seen in Dorset. The first was seen on Brownsea Island in August 2006. The bird is in fine breeding plumage…

The pond-dipping area has been up and running outside the Visitor Centre at Radipole for about a week now, with heaps of small critters being discovered. The most notable species found so far is Daphnia (the water flea) with hundreds coming out in an average trawl with the net.  Add to this a strong supporting cast of water boatmen, bloodworms, leeches, water mites, water slaters and the occasional stickleback. There…

I’ve been away for the last week so yesterday afternoon I headed straight to North hide where I was hoping to catch up with our brand new baby Marsh Harriers. Almost instantly one was flying around the nest area which is pretty much what they’ve been doing up until now. After several hours of watching their antics one decided to get brave and flew straight towards the hide! Whilst near the hide it discovered lots of new…

As alluded to previously it is all too easy to get carried away with the incredible recent successes of our big birds of prey and unfairly consign the successes of other species to a place in the shade. The Oystercatcher pair on the saltmarsh have done fantastically well to rear all four chicks to fledge. The speed that they transform from helpless fluffy blobs to full grown, virtual facsimiles of their parents is astounding…

Many apologies for the dearth of activity on the blog front this past week. This was not born of a lack of newsy material, or for that matter a lack of blogging commitment on Luke’s or my part. Rather boringly it has been a malicious, insidious computer gremlin that had robbed our good intentions but, with luck that is now consigned to the past.

With the blog jam now freed we have some rather splendid news to impart…

Lodmoor, for a brief time on Friday, was host to a very unusual visitor in the weird, almost cartoonish shape of a Stone-curlew . We have had sporadic spring records (ca. 5 in 30 years) but as far as we can ascertain this was the first 'autumn' bird seen on the moor.  Stone curlew are undergoing an upturn in fortunes thanks to designated management, not the least as part of the Wessex Stone Curlew Project , an all…

Christine Milner, our long-serving and hugely valued Visitor Centre volunteer is rapidly ascending to the position of stoat photographer laurite. Last year we featured a sequence of thrillingly grizzly pictures that Chris captured of a 'buck' rabbit falling victim to the tenacious, gladiatorial stoat on Lodmoor. The venue is the same as before but the prey this time a brown rat - another non-native pest cut down…

Dates with Natures are set up all over the UK to show people wildlife spectacles, from Peregrines nesting on Cathedral to rutting Red Deer. In Weymouth we are treated to our own amazing wildlife spectacular...

Every weekend in July we will be turning (or should that be terning) our attentions to our superb colony of Common Terns. This year we have nearly 80 pairs of this distinctive seabird breeding on our specially…

The attached YouTube clip represents just one of the vast and varied ways that Tom Clarke, (our Wild about Weymouth and Portland (WAWAP) Project Officer) is using his brief to engage the local community in wildlife and the outdoors. Many talks, walks, events have been staged (and much watercress soup consumed along the way…), all in the name of community inclusion - and much more is to follow.

We are fortunate to…

We are undoubtedly guilty on this blog of marsh harriercentricness to the detriment of, say dunnock or their LBJ compatriots. However when a set of photographs as dramatic and narrative as the following arise we are duty bound to publish - and further marginalise the poor dunnock.

Allan captured these images of the Radipole female terrorising a coot family cooped up in the rushy margins. On 5 occasions she dropped on them…

I joined our band of surveyors this morning for our monthly general reserve survey which provides us with data to analyse population trends and productivity of bird species using the reserve. As one would expect at this time there was quite a high proportion of fledglings amidst the count and on the top of Radipole I happened upon young reed warblers, sedge warblers, reed bunting, whitethroat, chaffinch and gadwall. Meanwhile…

 

Now is the prime time to see scarlet tiger moths, one of our more striking invertebrates, which are currently immerging in good numbers and lending the reserves a splendidly exotic sheen. Their glossy black forewings with blobs of white and yellow and their scarlet hind wings make them easily identifiable at rest.  Their strong presence on the reserves is due to the profusion of their caterpillar's food plants - comfrey, hemp agrimony…

Visitors to Radipole and Lodmoor recently might have noticed that bearded tits are starting to feature more frequently on the sightings board. It’s been mentioned before that the Weymouth Bearded tit population was almost wiped out by recent cold winters. Thankfully the Beardies have a way to rebuild their numbers. Breed, breed and breed some more! They are quite capable of successfully fledging three broods of chicks…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 All Radipole's orchid species are currently in flower at Radipole.  There are two Common Spotted Orchids and several Bee Orchids to be around the Buddleia Loop.  There are a dozen Southern Marsh Orchids and the Pyramidal Orchids are just coming into flower on the path down to the North Hide. 

One of the most cheering aspects of being on the reserves at this time of the year is looking out for new arrivals and now the season of chicks is approaching full swing. Of course as hard bitten conservationists the sight of ducklings and such like is viewed solely with the pragmatic reality of seeing another generation on the cusp – of a slight but significant conservation success. Certainly there is no place in conservation…

The management of verges which flank the footpaths on Radipole is the biggest single summer-long pursuit for reserve staff and volunteers. Quite understandably from certain perspectives it is a fairly contentious issue. The sight of ‘conservationists’ cutting what is in most cases indigenous herbage, during the peak growing season will quite rightly spark interest from anybody with an interest in conservation and/or our…

 

Being of a somewhat fishy disposition, (to say the least) it is often piscatorial happenings on the reserves that tickle my particular fancy - and if said fish is of considerable size with teeth to match then so much the better.

The mighty pike is the undisputed top piscine predator of in British fresh waters, (ignoring the claims of the potentially much larger but non-native wells catfish) and – when grown to maturity…

If you’ve visited Radipole or Lodmoor over the last few weeks you may have heard the sound of one of the UK’s most threatened bird species the Cuckoo. For the first time in years, Cuckoo’s have been heard at both the Weymouth reserves which has amazed all the staff and volunteers as well as giving many visitors their first glimpse of this incredible and iconic species.

This recent burst of Cuckoo activity…

The problem with a lot of invertebrate life at the Weymouth Wetlands is that it doesn’t have common names. Misumena vatia is a superb looking spider and belongs to the crab spider family. It’s often found on either white or yellow flowers where it sits and waits for hungry insect to stop for a feed. They then pounce on their victim sinking their fangs into it. Their venom quickly paralyzes their prey which allows them…

For one week now we have had a very large, (10 lbs+/- in the old scale) sea trout marauding the Wey just to the north of the concrete bridge. Usually a mere five minutes investing gazing into the murky shallows will result in at least a couple of slow, regal glide-bys or the occasional burst of power chasing prey or seeing off anything elbowing in on 'his' patch. Mullet are chased away and diving tufties given short shrift…

 

Sorry for the recent dearth of blogtivity, we have been experiencing some technical difficulties since the alterations were made to the community pages.

There is a good deal to report however, not least on and around the sand martin wall. Last Wednesday Luke and I watched a single sand martin reccy-ing the joint. For the 20 or so minutes it wove patterns in front of the wall, swooping in close then banking away or…

Just a quick post to alert readers to the presence of a little brown bird at Lodmoor. It's a rather special brown bird though as it’s pretty rare in the UK and makes a really (or should that be reely?) weird sound. It was singing and showing occasionally early this morning which is typical as they tend to sing and are most active at dawn and dusk.  It has been occasionally singing throughout the day but for a…