Wildlife and Conservation

We have had a busy summer of wildlife at Summer Leys nature reserve. Back in June we had an exciting visitor- a purple heron! These are regularly recorded in Britain, usually in spring time, during periods of warm southerly winds between April and May and occasionally staying into the summer. Purple herons are considered occasional breeders in the UK, although proving breeding can be hard. They can be distinguished from the grey heron by being slimmer, smaller and darker. They tend to favour dense vegetation, such as our reedbeds.

Over recent months we have also spotted of a couple of redstarts. An elegant, robin-sized chat, the redstart is a summer visitor, arriving here in April and leaving in September. It feeds on insects, especially butterfly and beetle larvae, and can be seen foraging in woodlands, hedgerows, parks and beside streams. Redstarts have an upright stance and can be seen 'bobbing': moving in a similar fashion to robins. They spend most of their time in the trees. Male redstarts are grey above, with a red breast, black throat, long, black legs, and a long, red tail.

More recently, in the past couple of weeks we have seen a cattle egret visiting the reserve. Cattle egrets are only slightly smaller than a little egret, but with a shorter neck, shorter legs and much more compact body giving them a stockier impression. They also have a shorter, stubbier bill, which is dark in juveniles but quickly turns yellow.

Finally, in terms of wildlife sightings, one that has really made an impression is the wasp spider. These spiders aim to mimic the colouration of a wasp, tricking predators into thinking they are dangerous, when they are actually completely harmless! They have an intriguing web design, incorporating a zig zag pattern which traps UV light to attract more insects.

As well as all these magnificent sightings, our breeding waders are continuing to thrive, and this year saw four different species of wader successfully fledge young. Pairs of birds attempting to raise young included 10 Lapwing, 2 Oystercatcher, 4 Redshank and 1 Little Ringed Plover. To put this into context, a look back through the archives to 2003 shows pairs of 7 Lapwing, 1 Oystercatcher, 1 Little Ringed Plover and 6 Redshank. We would expect to see some fluctuation in pair numbers year to year but the fact that these numbers are comparable and fairly stable should be seen as positive, as Summer Leys is bucking the trend of national declines.

Works to continue to improve conditions for our breeding waders. The scrape, a key area for breeding waders which can be viewed from the Pioneer and Paul Britten hides at Summer Leys is going to be re-profiled. Over time, the vegetation starts to be taken over by Crassula. Crassula is an invasive non-native species that carpets the ground. This makes probing the ground for invertebrates, which is the main way waders feed, very difficult. Removing the top layer of soil re-sets the area to bare earth which increases feeding opportunities. Previously, the years after this work has been undertaken have been the best for breeding wader productivity – so we’re hopeful that next year will be a bumper year for waders at Summer Leys. More information on the scrape reprofiling and habitat restoration at other reserves can be found here.

Other recent conservation works from our reserves team and volunteers have included tackling the challenge of thistles earlier in the summer. If unchecked creeping thistle can dominate a grassland and outcompete all other species. The team pull this thistle up with the aim of allowing other species (specifically grass and herbs) to thrive. By promoting these species we make the grassland areas more suitable for breeding wading birds in spring and for grazing ducks, such as wigeon, in the winter. They have also spread green hay that was cut from the Butterfly meadow on to the grassy mounds in the car park. By doing this we are trying to increase the floral biodiversity in these grassy areas by introducing the seeds of different plants from the green hay and doing 'hay cuts' in these areas to reduce nutrient levels. 

Education and Events

We are coming to the end of Summer holidays and we have held a variety of events and activities at Summer Leys. We have counted butterflies for the Big Butterfly count, dissected owl pellets, looked at minibeasts and been out at night to look for bats.

We recently also held our first event in collaboration with Planet Patrol. These are free guided walk litter picks around the reserve, where visitors can come along to spot wildlife on the reserve whilst also cleaning it up for everyone to enjoy. We then spend time recording the litter in the Planet Patrol app, which aids in their research into brands causing the most litter pollution so they can tackle them head on! More information about Planet Patrol can be found here. Our next Planet Patrol walk will be on the 23^rd October in the Nene Wetlands.

Very excitingly a local wood artist, Tony Langston, has refurbished our pond dipping platform by Marigold pond, and we are very much looking forward to holding some pond dipping events here. Tony will also be starting work on an shelter in our Education Area, which we can use for events and school visits. If you are a teacher and would like your class to visit us at Summer Leys for some fun wildlife activities, please do get in touch by emailing summerleys@wildlifebcn.org.

We have plenty of events and activities to get involved with. We are pleased to announce we are starting a Forest School group for teens in September, and we also have a couple of Youth Ranger events lined up, join us to get stuck into some coppicing and willow clearance on the reserve. As well as our teen groups we have a bat walk for our Wildlife Watch group at the end of the month. For the adults we have owl pellet dissection and pond dipping for adults, as well as our popular Optics day with Opticron. For more information on all these events please visit here or scroll down below.