Reserve and Conservation updates
Our reserves team and their volunteers have been busy as usual over the winter months carrying out various works around Summer Leys. This has included the removal of ash trees showing signs of ash dieback, to try and reduce the risk of the disease spreading and for safety purposes, particularly with trees near paths. The disease is caused by a fungus that reproduces in leaf litter on the leaf rachis (the central stalk connecting the individual leaflets), releasing airborne spores than can travel many miles. These spores go on to infect more ash trees and the disease spreads. Once infected, trees begin to die from the top down, with leaves and branches dying back first. Ash dieback is predicted to kill around 80% of ash trees in Europe, so it is important we manage our trees effectively. Where possible, with larger trees, we aim to tackle these sensitively by thinning back the upper sections of the tree, with the aim to leave lower sections to provide suitable habitats for wildlife, such as deadwood for insects. For more information on Ash Dieback and how we are tackling the problem please visit here.
The team have also been clearing scrub and trees in areas of the reserve, including the top stretch on the path that leads to the double decker hide. Whilst this may look drastic initially, with time this area will grow back with greater diversity, as more light is let into the area which will allow flora to flourish. On the other side of the path to this area, for example, there is currently a beautiful patch of red campion, which is something we’d hope would naturally spread. By removing the taller trees, we are also removing perches for avian predators to hide in next to the scrape, thus reducing the risk of predation on young chicks from our breeding waders. More information on this can be found here. The aim is to create a lovely thick, dense hedgerow that is a great habitat for our smaller birds, mammals and insects. Walking further towards the hide, you can see the area where the team cleared trees last year, and it is already starting to develop into this habitat. Plenty of deadwood has meant that we’ve seen some lovely beetles and insects in this area already. You may have noticed an extra fence that has recently been installed, this is to prevent our sheep from getting into this area and to give the developing hedgerow a better chance.
More recently, the team have been pulling thistles in butterfly meadow. This meadow is a flower rich area of grassland which over the last few years has seen a few thistles coming in. Thistle can dominate a grassland if left unchecked and eventually outcompete more delicate wildflowers, leading to a loss of biodiversity within the grassland. By pulling, we aim to control the spread of this species and maintain conditions for a biodiverse grassland. Butterfly meadow is a haven for not only butterflies but many of our pollinators, and contains many wildflower species such as a stunning sea of cowslips and oxeye daisies.
In February, with the help of our Youth Rangers, we cleared out the sand martin bank and replaced the tubes with fresh sand ready for their arrival this spring. We have noticed little sand martin activity in this bank so far this year, but it is not bad news! We have noticed the sand martins using our new bank directly next to the lake, which was installed last year. They didn’t use it the first year running, so it is great to see some activity in there.
Recent Sightings
The reserve has really been springing into action recently, with plenty of spring wildlife out and about. Our grass snakes are making a regular appearance, so if you’re walking around the car park meadow make sure to stop and have a look at the grassy piles to see if you can see any basking in the sunshine.
We have also had a couple of sightings of an osprey, which is very exciting. One of our regular visitors was able to identify it as a male that fledged from Rutland water in 2021. Ospreys are migratory birds and are present in the UK in summer.
A few weekends ago visitors were lucky enough to spot a pair of tawny owlets resting in of the trees right next to the visitor centre. They stayed in the tree all day, so were easily spotted. Tawny owls will go through a phase called ‘branching’ where they will walk, climb, jump and flutter around in trees. Adults will find them through contact calls and feed them anywhere. The adults territory is small, usually 25 acres, so the parents are likely nesting nearby. The owlets disappeared from the tree around 8.30pm that evening, and we haven’t seen them since, but we are definitely keeping our eyes peeled!
Visitor Centre and Education Updates
Our visitor centre reopened it’s doors for this season at the end of March, and it is great to be back open and seeing our regular visitors again! We kicked off with a busy Easter holidays, where we got stuck into lots of fun events with families. We ran a minibeasting activity where children could see what bugs are living on the reserve before making a mini bug hotel, a fabulous frog event which involved making some mini ponds and learning about frogs and their habitats, a family birdsong walk to learn how to identify birds calling on the reserve and lots of fun drop in crafts in the visitor centre. We regularly have crafts on in the centre whilst we are open on weekends, plus plenty of free colouring in- so do pop in and get involved if you are visiting the reserve. We have lots more events coming up in May half term and the school holidays, please visit here for all our upcoming activities!
As well as these, our volunteers Steph and Chris have continued to do a fabulous job running our popular monthly Wildlife Wanders. These are a great way to enjoy a guided walk around the reserve whilst chatting to like minded people. Our next couple of walks focus on wildflowers (18th May) and dragonflies (29th June), for more info and to book please visit here.
Last weekend we saw the return of our favourite Ice Creams, just in time for some lovely warm weather. These are sourced locally from Riverside Dairy, who are based in Carlton, and are wonderful treat on a sunny day. Once again we are also stocking baked goods from Sarita’s Bakes, who is based in Great Doddington, and new for this year we are serving some gorgeous fresh loaf cakes. Make sure to pop in to grab a snack and a refreshing drink from the refreshment hatch!
