17/04/17 - Heat wave

With the recent spell of warm weather there has been a distinctive Mediterranean feel around the valley during the temperatures of 20 degrees last weekend. The much needed spell of warm weather brought out a range of butterflies and reptiles, whilst the bird life has been a little on the exotic side - recent sightings include three Common Cranes and two Great White Egrets, as well as up to sixteen Little Egrets, two Avocets, an adult Little Gull, a singing Cetti’s Warbler, the first returning Whimbrel and 34 Black-tailed Godwits. Our resident breeding Mute Swans have also starting laying clutches around the valley and we’ve just seen the first brood of eight Mallard ducklings at North Duffield Carrs.

 

Barn Owls are one of the favourite visitors to the Lower Derwent Valley, with the local birders fortunate to enjoy regular sightings, particularly during the summer months. We haven’t seen that many so far this year which is probably a good sign – hopefully meaning they have been finding enough food to survive the winter, which will help get them into good breeding condition for the forthcoming season. With the days now drawing out, we are likely to see more birds appearing on the wing at dusk in order to start hunting – Bank Island and North Duffield Carrs are often the best sites to view them, whilst the Pocklington Canal area is another good location. Later in the year we’ll be checking the progress of our local population, hopefully it’ll be a good season for them – the last couple being rather poor and linked to a dip in the vole cycle on which they depend. However, we have recently heard about one of the few young birds we ringed in the summer of 2015, from a nest box on North Duffield Carrs. This individual had wandered all the way down into Norfolk where it was found in November 2016, unfortunately having been hit by a car – hopefully we’ll receive more controls from the birds ringed that year – and with a happier outcome.

15/04/17 - Snakes in the grass

Last week ahead of the busy Easter weekend our fantastic team of volunteers, working alongside the staff team, have been undertaking a range of tasks around the reserve to get it into tip top condition. Last week the team were busy cutting our network of footpaths around the reserve with the allen scythe, before trimming up the paths with strimmers. The hides were also cleaned and tidied, the notice boards updated and the car parks litter picked. This week our volunteers have been busy once again, helping us in the reserve bee and butterfly garden, by weeding, pruning and planting up with additional nectar rich species. In the morning we also managed to spend a few hours helping out our YWT partners, by tidying up some of the post and wire fencing through the reed bed near Swantail Hide – making it better for visitors to access but also to help protect the reed bed itself. At the end of another productive day a quick look was then had in the meadow to admire the newly emerged Snake’s-head Fritillaries. Many thanks to everyone involved in helping making the valley such a great place to visit.

As well as spotting the Common Frogs, spawn and Smooth Newts present in the base pond, we also came across this Common Toad, tucked away under one of our logs piles. At this time of year, some of our toads may still be travelling to ponds in order to spawn, as they often mate a couple of weeks later than frogs. Their spawn can be easily identified as toad spawn, as it appears laid down in long double strings rather than a mass like that of the Common Frog. After spawning the toads will then disperse away from the ponds and seek out dark, damp and sheltered spots to spend the summer, whilst feeding on a range of insects and slugs. Toads and frogs can do a great job of helping gardeners keep on top of troublesome slug populations – providing a small pond, compost heap and log pile is a great way to encourage them.

 

Not only have our team being doing a great job at Bank Island, they've also been hard at work carrying out a spring clean at our visitor facilities at North Duffield Carrs, ahead of what will hopefully be another active spring season and a popular visitor time. As well as litter picking the car parks, painting the hides, strimming and spraying the paths, the team also helped repair the boardwalk, replacing a small section which had collapsed due to the constant wetting and drying out over the last few years. Hopefully all this hard work will add to our visitor’s enjoyment when visiting the reserve over the next few months, many thanks as always to our team for another productive day.

10/04/17 - Recent work on the NNR

Since the end of last year our team of staff and volunteers have been hard at work on Skipwith Common NNR, helping to improve this internationally important wet and dry lowland heath. Young Silver Birch and Scots Pine have been removed across the site to help maintain the open landscapes of the Common, whilst helping the grazing livestock keep the ever present regenerating scrub in check. The cut brash has been left in small piles to benefit invertebrates, reptiles and ground nesting birds which are found on the site, whilst the larger scrub has been coppiced from small scattered areas to help maintain a diversity of size and structure. We’ve also been busy spraying the invasive and non-native Pirri-pirri Bur which can swamp out the native vegetation, and cause welfare issues for the Hebridean Sheep and dogs. If walking your dog on the Common please try and limit exposure to this species, and help by not further spreading the burs by keeping your dog on a lead and on the way marked paths and roads, thank you.

The team have also been busy elsewhere on the Common, helping to construct new fencing along one side of the newly cleaned out Pillwort pond, which will hopefully help reduce the number of dogs entering the water. With such a sterling effort the team had finished the task by early afternoon, meaning that they could then join up with Reserve Manager Fallon Mahon, who was working nearby with a team of staff from Defra on one of their volunteering days. Whilst we’d been busy fencing, they’d been busy making habitat piles and dead hedging from recently cut birch scrub - so a productive day all round! Many thanks to everyone involved, and for braving the barmy spring weather, working in a mixture of warm sunshine, cold winds, driving rain and snow flurries! 

As well as lending a helping hand in the valley, our band our volunteers are also happy to hit the road. Following on from travelling to Drewton Pits earlier in the year, last month our team joined us for a few days work at Pilmoor near Easingwold in the Vale of York. Pilmoor is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), designated for its extent and quality of fen vegetation. The site also clearly demonstrates the sequence of habitats in relation to wetness, with succession from open water to fen, and wet heath to woodland. Our team have been helping out over the last three years to clear areas of invasive Rhododendron, by chopping down and strimming some of the larger growth, hand pulling some of the seedlings and treating stumps with chemical. Hopefully this will help to maintain and restore some of the wet heath communities. As well as getting stuck in with the practical work we were also able to enjoy the fruits of our earlier labours – a lot less Rhododendron and some nice developing patches of heather and other plant communities on what used to be bare ground. Many thanks to everyone for their hard work and helping restore some of these valuable habitats.