RSPB nature reserve gets a facelift at 30

Progression of inner marsh farm -Alisdiar Grubb

This month marks five years since RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands opened its doors, but parts of the land managed by the wildlife conservation charity have now entered their fourth decade as a nature reserve and have just undergone some home improvements.

The origins of the reserve date back to 1986 when the RSPB bought the flooded crop fields of Inner Marsh Farm in Burton. Five years of planning and hard work saw three freshwater lagoons created and then a hide was built in 1992, to bring the public closer to the great variety of birds that call the Dee estuary home. However, after years of natural change, the wetland had silted up in places and now major improvement work has provided a much needed rejuvenation of the old pools.

Colin Wells, Site Manager at RSPB Dee Estuary nature reserve said: “I’d not long moved to this reserve when the RSPB bought Inner Marsh Farm. I was responsible for creating the wetland which is now home to internationally important numbers of ducks, geese and wading birds, along with a whole host of other wonderful wildlife.”

In recent years however, despite regular ongoing management through mowing and sheep grazing, time had taken its toll and the pools were silting up, with rushes and reeds starting to dominate the water. This meant they were less suitable for the birds which were becoming further away from the hide, making it more difficult for visitors to view them. The RSPB decided more drastic work was needed, so set about a project to dredge the pools and remove the layers of silt and vegetation that had established over the years.

Colin added: “Before the diggers had even finished the work, there were various wading birds taking advantage of the newly exposed mud to find food. This bodes well for the weeks ahead as the reserve is a vital rest stop for wading birds on autumn migration from other parts of Europe.”

This desilting work is the first part of a series of improvements to the Inner Marsh Farm area of the RSPB reserve; the site team are hoping to change from sheep grazing to cattle later this year, with a view to tackling the tough rushes and restoring the area to a rich wet grassland. This along with the installation of an electric predator exclusion fence will make it ideal for nesting wading birds.

In addition, the RSPB are currently embarking on a project to fund the replacement of the aging hide, and upgrade the accessibility of the path, bringing the whole site up to the high standard of Burton Mere Wetlands.

For more information on the important work carried out at the reserve as well as upcoming events, visit www.rspb.org.uk/deeestuary

The Sentinel of the Marshes

Here's a little id  insight for you, look for the white wedges,  excellent photo for you to remember when looking thru you binos. Greenshank no white markings on wings & green legs!  

 Look for the W shape on back in flight.   Redshanks - N prendergast

Redshank -  N Prendergast

The so called  'Sentinel of the marshes'  as it's the first species to take to the air when flushed whilst making an awful lot of noise.

Very good identification video on Shank differences here:

http://www.bto.org/about-birds/bird-id/bto-bird-id-common-shanks

Laura

Wet Wanderings in Wales

On the Promenade

Group trip to Llanfairfechan, Sunday February 10^th

Despite the most unpromising of weather forecasts, a dozen group members met up on the promenade at Llanfairfechan, overlooking the tip of Anglesey and Puffin Island. And the day started extremely well, with a dipper seen bobbing in the fast-flowing stream beside the car park,  even before we’d all finished assembling !

Red Breasted Merganser 

From the promenade we could see several red-throated divers in the middle distance, with great crested grebes nearer in, as well a red-breasted merganser sitting on the lake right behind the visitor shelter. There were also considerable numbers of oyster catchers flying west in front of us, so in due course we headed into the wind and rain and followed them along the shoreline towards Morfa Madryn reserve. This combines freshwater pools and wet grassland, favoured by lapwings in particular, with saltmarsh and shallow estuarial waters. Having arrived at high tide, we were rewarded by the sight of a great mass of oystercatchers huddled along the shingle spit curving across the bay in front of the (very welcome) hide, together with smaller numbers of bar-tailed godwits, dunlin and redshank. As the waters began to recede the dunlins in particular became very busy, dashing around to find the best feeding, and were joined by a few ringed plovers, as well as the larger waders.

Plovers & Dunlin   (N Prendergast)

Oystercatchers away

It was time to move on, so we headed back to the promenade, via a short detour to the sewage works, situated in a small wood nearby. Several pied wagtails and one grey were seen, as well as a meadow pipit, making the most of the insect life around the settling tanks.  Then we drove a short distance further west to visit The Spinnies at Aberogwen, described as a coastal lagoon, with reedbeds and woodland surrounds, and another view on to the great bay of Traeth Lafan. 

Little Egrets (N Prendergast)

The  lagoon hosted mallard, wigeon, teal and a little grebe, as well as two little egrets, hunched up on the shoreline, though we were not fortunate enough to catch sight of the local kingfishers.

The second hide on the reserve gives views on to the shore as well as inland, and from there we spotted a greenshank, showing well in contrast to the smaller darker redshank, as well as one egret busy hunting in a muddy creek.

Greenfinch  (N Prendergast) 

Incoming Robin  ( N Prendergast)

Then it was back along the beach, passing a rock pipit along the way, and on to Conwy for a quick check on the RSPB reserve and a welcome cup of tea.  A small flock of pochard looked very striking in the fading light, and we almost spotted the firecrest, known to flit among the trees ..... But there were siskin and redpoll, and we certainly did find our final target for the day, which was the scoter, a seaduck which winters in the area. Chris confidently led us to the shore at Llanddulas, and sure enough there in front of us was a huge flock of scoters, looking almost like a floating mass of seaweed until they briefly lifted off the water.

Along the Beach

All in all, everyone agreed it had been an excellent winter outing, with a final total of 57 species seen.

Anne Pope