Over the last week or so it has been amazing to watch how quickly nature has re-addressed the water shortage pronlem on the reserve, several bouts of good rain has made a quite rapid impression on the ditches and fleets. It helps I suppose that the reserve is the lowest piece of ground on that part of Harty and the farm fields alongside, being higher, all slope and drain towards the reserve. The melting snow made little impression except wet the surface of the flat marsh, but the rain has worked wonders. Ditches that a fortnight ago were still only a foot deep are now three or four foot deep and while we are nowhere near the flooded acreages of the last two winters, we are approaching normal winter water levels again.
While this hasn't, surprisingly, seen a big rise in wildfowl numbers, it has seen the return of large numbers of Lapwing and Golden Plovers, all attracted to the much softer grassland. This morning whilst walking round I had over a thousand of both species flying around above me after a superb male Hen Harrier decided to fly through their feeding flocks at ground level.
This seems to be a characteristic of Hen Harriers, they tend to hug the ground when hunting, far more than Marsh Harriers do. The other difference that you will see between the two types of harriers, is their ability to scare birds. A Marsh Harrier or two moving over a flock of ducks or waders will hardly cause a stir but a Hen Harrier doing the same will cause an immediate commotion amongst all the birds - I wonder how they know the difference.
One effect of the wetter conditions now is the gradual appearance of shallow "splashes" on the flat grazing fields. These "splashes" are only a few inches deep but as they gradually expand their width they become a favourite area for Wigeon as they graze the flooded, grassy areas. The photo below shows one of the these "splashes", which just before I took the photo was occupied by 34 White-fronted Geese, that flew some yards further away out of view, just leaving a few Greylags behind in front of the cattle.
This photo shows The Flood, just before Christmas and with a Spring drought looking very likely.
The same view this morning, helped a trifle in this field by a bit of pumped water over the last few days. The Flood is the field in front of the Seawall Hide but unfortunately this part is at the opposite end of the field to the hide.
Once again, The "S Bend Ditch" as it looked along its whole length just before Christmas and how it looked this morning. Such a relief and so important to the reserve's habitat.
The tosser wildfowlers season ends soon doesn't it Derek, cant be long now. Hope the wildfowl stay away till them :-)
ReplyDeleteWarren, its a yes and no answer. Yes, all shooting above the high water mark ends at the end of the month but the wildfowlers get an extra three weeks below the high water mark taking them up to the 20th February.
ReplyDeleteThe wetter conditions throughout Harty has had the effect of spreading wildfowl out more, rather than concentrating them in one place, so this has reduced shooting opportunities to a degree.
Please have a look at & sign my petition
ReplyDeleteOnly the government can see details of signers.
Render safe, or remove wreck of liberty ship SS Richard Montgomery of the coast sheerness Kent England. The ship sunk 67 years ago 20 august 1944 containing 1400 tons of high explosive some still in primed condition and libel to explode without warning. The wreck also may contain mustard gas or other chemical agents the existence of which cannot be confirmed or denied under a freedom of information enquiry.
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/13021
Have a look at www.ssrichardmontgomery.com for more info