A Bit of the Big One comes to Blashford

Very little time spent at Blashford today, I opened up and then left for a meeting in Fareham, then back via The Biggest Birdseed Cake in the World and back just in time for it to get dark.

Despite this there is a bit to report. First thing there were 2 dunlin on Ibsley Water, although not a lot else. The greenfinch roost in the laurel bushes at the car park entrance was still dispersing, there must be 200 or so coming in there now. At the Ivy North hide a water rail was calling and a group of 20 or so shoveler were feeding along the reed edge, I looked for bittern in the ice free areas in the reeds, but with no luck.

Then off to Fareham to talk waders, disturbance and how to fit lots of people into the same space as lots of birds without either losing out. These issues actually go to the heart of how successful we might be with the Living Landscapes approach which aims to maximise the opportunities for wildlife everywhere, not just on special sites. Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust does a lot of work on planning, responding to proposals and seeking a better outcome for wildlife. Although it may not seem obviously the case, influencing planning and development proposals may well achieve more for nature conservation than running nature reserves.

Then onto the birdseed cake, or at least what is left of it, a lot has already been handed out. The cake was made last Friday and pending the agreement the appropriate adjudicators should be accepted as the largest ever made at over 1.3 tonnes. Some will be featuring at the Woodland hide from tomorrow morning, so we will see it the birds are impressed.

I got back too late to see much but there were a couple of reports from the day, 2 Bewick's swan on Ibsley Water were presumably newly arrived and a green sandpiper on Rockford Lake was probably the one on Ivy Lake yesterday.

Lastly there was yet another wood mouse in the trap in the loft this morning, making five so far, I liberated it on the reserve, hopefully far enough away that it will not return.

The Freeze Starts to Bite

It does not get any warmer and there are signs that the cold is beginning to result in some significant movement of birds. I noted last week that there were remarkable numbers of goosander coming into roost on Ibsley Water and this was before it had really got cold. Things have moved on apace, with 114 being seen on Saturday evening and an extraordinary 160 on Sunday evening. I will try to get a count this week if I can, who knows how many there might be by the time this cold spell comes to and end.

Other signs of cold weather movement were 255 teal on Ivy Lake today and this evening at least 300 common gull coming into roost on Iblsey Water. At the same time the reduction in numbers of lesser black-backed gull coming to roost probably indicates that some have moved on.

Activity at the feeders has picked up with siskin and goldfinch regular on the nyger feeders and good numbers of chaffinch and a few brambling at the ground food.

Other birds today included a dunlin on Ibsley Water and a green sandpiper on Ivy Lake. The greylag were grazing the western shore of Ibsley Water and were joined by about 200 wigeon. This was especially pleasing to see as we spent a couple of days cutting this area to make it more suitable for grazing wildfowl back in the autumn.

Hard Water

Another cold one, although thankfully without any wind. Not much of note as I opened up this morning, a calling Cetti's warbler at Ivy North and brambling by the Centre and 4 fieldfare flying over were all I wrote down. The silt pond on the way to Ivy South hide was frozen over, or almost so, one of the cygnets was sitting in a small ice free patch on the western side.
There was a bit of late news from yesterday, a report of a great grey shrike on the path between Rockford and Ivy Lakes, it sounds as though it might have been on the reserve proper, but I cannot be sure. If it had been on the reserve it would have been another species for the BTO Challenge. Still towards the end of the day I popped into the Tern hide and there was a water pipit on the shore right in front of the hide, I should have got a reasonable picture of it, but just as I was about to take it a pied wagtail chased it off. Water pipit is an extra species for the challenge. Most water pipits winter along the coast where it is a bit milder, this one obviously likes things a bit cooler. As things continue to get colder over the next few days perhaps we will pick up one or two more extra species.

The Fire Starters

Another fine, if cold, Volunteer Thursday, today's tasks included clearing rhododendron. There is only one thicket of this plant on the reserve and we started to clear it last year and left it stacked. This was not laziness, the idea was to see if any of the original ground flora had survived before we burnt up the cuttings. Sadly it turns out the answer was no, which is a shame as this is one of the few areas of the reserve where the original ground surface remains. The massive size of the hazel stools testifies to a long standing woodland, but now without any ground cover plants, or it would seem surviving seed. We will still keep the fire sites small, just in case. I try to avoid having fires on reserves, the cut branches are habitat and a fire both sterilises the ground and produces a nutrient "hotspot". In this case the rhododendron is in huge quantity and is home to very little so the best way to restore the old woodland character is to get rid of it and after the fires to remove the ash. This was actually the first fire I have had on the reserve in four and a half years, the picture shows the fire in the early stage.
This was not the only task we did though, one of the signs at the entrance that had been bent by over exuberant driving on someone's part was replaced and two trailer loads of willow were added to the dead hedge around the main car park.

The cold wind following the overnight frost made looking out from the Tern hide less than pleasant first thing, in the quick look that I had I saw a green sandpiper and 3 black-tailed godwit. At the Ivy North hide the sheltered shallow water at the edge of the lake was frozen for the first time this winter, a calling Cetti's warbler was the only bird of note. Around the Centre feeders a brambling and a few lesser redpoll in the trees were about it.

Rather impressively, considering the overnight temperature, there were two moths in the trap, a December moth and a sprawler, unfortunately it was late in the day when I checked the trap so the picture of the sprawler below was taken in rather low light.

(Saw)bills Mount Up

No pictures today I'm afraid, I did try but they were all rubbish, so I will stick to words. The main event today was the monthly wildfowl count, I started with Ibsley Water (and finished there, but more of that later), the numbers of ducks there remains small. Highlights were 5 drake goldeneye, indicating an influx despite the fact that I could only find 6 redheads, but they are very hard to count when feeding.The only other large count was 487 greylag, as there were also thirty-three on Rockford Lake it confirms there are over five hundred around. In other goose news 3 Egyptian goose and the bar-headed goose were also about.

Rockford Lake is the main wildfowl venue at present, it just seems to grow in importance as it matures, it is a much younger lake than the other large ones in the valley. The Rockford count highlights were 826 wigeon, 667 coot and 215 gadwall, there was no sign of the long-tailed duck though. A total of 170 pochard, although not huge was quite good for Blashford Lakes these days and we may get a few more if the weather gets colder.

Away from the water three brambling were feeding beside the Centre car park, including one quite fine male.

At dusk I went over to the Goosander hide to count the goosander coming into roost. Before the main arrival I also checked through the gulls, I saw about 15 yellow-legged gull but no sign of either Iceland gull or Caspian gull. I actually started at the Lapwing hide, but the goosander were flying into the bay by the Goosander hide so I relocated there. The arrival was steady and it became obvious that I was going to get a good few more than the 41 reported the other day. As numbers built some drifted round towards the Lapwing hide, as usual it was not possible to keep track of just how many. Eventually I counted eighty birds, plus the unknown few, a good count by any standards for November. A group of fallow deer does came out onto the shore, nine in all including a black one, a white one, a blonde one and six typical coloured. I checked the goosander again, now 86, including 18 adult drakes. Then a fox appeared on the shore walking from the north and that did the trick, the birds that had gone round the corner were doing the "Follow the fox" thing and there were ten of them. So the total was 96 goosander, including 20 adult drakes, an amazing count for November.

In other news a single adult Bewick's swan was by Ibsley bridge on the water meadows and I heard a chiffchaff near the Lapwing hide.

Reports, Ponds and Opportunities

First the late news, last Thursday a male hen harrier was seen from the Tern hide, possibly the first record from the reserve this autumn/winter. Then on Sunday an Iceland gull came into the gull roost, it was probably a second winter bird or very pale first winter. The number of goosander has also increased, to forty-one at least. I missed all of the above through either being elsewhere or just not at Balshford at all.

Now for today; from the Tern hide as I opened up there was a green sandpiper, a black-tailed godwit, 13 goosander (including 7 adult drakes) and 10 Egyptian goose. At the Ivy North hide a fine male bullfinch was in the willows beside the hide and a Cetti's warbler was singing loudly. Perhaps surprisingly there were also dunnock and song thrush singing as well as the usual robin and wren.

At the Centre 2 fallow deer does were a relatively unusual sight just behind the dipping pond, they do not often come south of Ellingham Drove. In the moth trap the catch was small but varied with brick, chestnut, scarce umber and red-line quaker.

Briefly by Rockford Lake, I could not see the long-tailed duck which seems to have left as it was not apparently seen over the weekend either. There were good numbers of wigeon, probably 300 or so and clearly more than a few days ago, I will be counting tomorrow so should have some figures to report then.

I spent a time this morning looking at the potential for making new ponds as part of the Million Pond Project. Our ponds will be of the ephemeral or semi-permanent kind, but then many of the rare species in the Avon Valley and New Forest live in just such places. One of the joys of working on a site that is mostly recently abandoned industrial land are the opportunities it offers for creating habitat features and experimenting a bit. Luckily much of the area that has become the reserve was not "over restored", we did not get deep layers of rich topsoil that promote the growth of rank grassland. A poor soil produces a much more diverse flora and so offers opportunities for more other wildlife, it will have some areas that are richer and some very poor, just what you need, variety. On the negative side we did inherit a lot of planted trees, often of dubious origin, but these can be thinned or converted to standing dead wood, more opportunities for wildlife.

Three Blind Mice

A third mouse was caught in our loft today. I think it was yet another yellow necked mouse. The main distinguishing feature between a wood mouse and a yellow necked mouse is whether they have a yellowish streak between their front legs. Both species do, but the yellow necked mouse marking is an uninterrupted streak. This very poor photo almost shows it.

We have been using Longworth traps to catch our mice, they are humane traps which cause minimal discomfort to the animal. The trap consists of 2 parts; a nesting chamber filled with bedding and food (on the right of the photos) and a hinged door operated by a trip wire (on the left). These types of traps are used to survey for small mammals.

If you are interested in monitoring mammals then why not join the Trust's Mammal Group. There are also Species groups for amphibians, reptiles and plants. Find out more here. Membership is free to Wildlife Trust members. Join today!