02/12/24 - World Science Day

World Science Day was celebrated recently and so we thought it might be worth sharing some of the new technology that we’ve been employing around the Lower Derwent Valley NNR. 

Earlier this year we posted about some of our work researching the feeding sites (outside of the protected reserve area) for the nationally important spring passage roost of Whimbrel by using radio tags and more recently GPS tags, and since then we’ve turned our attentions to Golden Plover. Three individuals have been fitted with GPS tags over the last few weeks, which can store fixes of the location of the bird every 15 minutes, with the data stored on the tag until the bird comes into the range of one of our base stations which will then download all of the data. From that download we can then produce maps that shows the movements and important feeding and roosting areas, both day and night. 

Such technology is helping us to understand how birds use the reserve and the surrounding landscape, and therefore how we can best help them by developing the right measures in the right places. We are also working with a number of partners to roll this project out into the wider area over to the Humber and its internationally important population of Golden Plover. The map below shows just a couple of days' worth of data, showing that some of the birds are feeding in fields around Wheldrake village and just outside Sutton on Derwent. 

Many thanks to our great team for their efforts recently helping to collect this valuable data.

06/10/24 - Bearded Tits

With autumn well and truly here, the next couple of months offers the best time of year to locate Bearded Tits in the Lower Derwent Valley, and following on from a group of four near Riccall on Friday, four were then present at Wheldrake Ings on Saturday followed by seventeen there yesterday, with another two at Melbourne. This makes this year one of the best years on record for the area already.

Resident in the UK throughout the year, Bearded Tits often disperse from their breeding sites in extensive reedbeds during the autumn, sometimes undertaking regular ‘eruptions’ (a term used when flocks of birds rise out of their breeding reedbeds and take high towering flights with lots of excited calling). Small groups then peel off and disperse and it is these birds that can turn up at this time of year away from their usual haunts, making it a good time to look out for them in suitable habitat within the area.

Any areas with reedbeds or reed fringes are worth checking for these fantastic little birds, often first noticed by their distinctive ‘pinging’ calls. The small reedbeds at Wheldrake Ings have been a local ‘hotspot’ in previous years - however, areas of reed along the Pocklington Canal are also worth checking. Hopefully recent work driven by the Friends of the LDV (thanks to grants from York Birding, the Local Nature Partnership, Betty’s and Yorkshire Water in creating new reedbed habitat), will help create areas for future erupting birds. Many thanks to local birder Duncan Bye for this fantastic image of a stunning male, taken at Wheldrake Ings over the weekend. Whilst visiting the site please do let us know if you hear or see any Bearded Tits, or anything else of note, thank you.

01/06/24 - Spotted Crakes

Spotted Crakes are arguably one of our rarest, most elusive, least well known and anti-social breeding birds in the Lower Derwent Valley, and the reserve is one of only a handful of regular UK breeding sites, with between one and five calling males recorded here in most years. More sporadically larger numbers have been recorded with up to 26 singing males in 1998, 12 in 1999 and 2000, and up to 31 males in 2021. This represents a significant proportion of the 30-80 singing males recorded annually.

With these birds only usually calling between 10pm and 4.30am our team, with the help and efforts of local birders, have been busy carrying out nocturnal surveys over recent weeks. So far this year the team have logged 23 singing males around the site – no doubt in part due to the long-protracted flooding that is still lingering in places – providing ideal ‘swamp’ habitat for the species. After calling well for a week or so these birds then tend to call less frequently thereafter, as they presumably pair up and establish territories, although it is also possible that some individuals may move on to other sites. During this time one individual has also been caught, ringed and radio-tagged, with details to follow on our social media accounts of its movements. Many thanks to everyone who has helped us to gather this valuable data.

10/03/24 - Festival of NNRs

We’re pleased to announce that another Festival of NNRs week will be running this year from the 20th-31st May, with a number of events planned in the #LDV throughout the week, including a series of walks around Wheldrake Ings and along the Pocklington Canal, guided by local experts Duncan Bye, Neil Cooper and Jono Leadley. 

As per last year, all the walks will be free of charge, with donations welcome to the Friends of the Lower Derwent Valley Conservation Group. Places are limited (10 per walk), with the following dates currently available: 

Wednesday 22nd Evening walk at Wheldrake Ings with Duncan Bye. 6pm.

Saturday 25th Morning walk at Wheldrake Ings with Duncan Bye. 8am.

Sunday 26th Morning walk at Wheldrake Ings with Jono Leadley. 8am.

Sunday 26th Morning walk along the Pocklington Canal with Neil Cooper. 9.30am.

Wednesday 29th Evening walk at Wheldrake Ings with Jono Leadley. 7pm.

Thursday 30th Morning walk along the Pocklington Canal with Neil Cooper. 9.30am.

If you would like to book yourself a place, please send an e-mail to Lucy.Murgatroyd@naturalengland.org.uk

10/01/24 - LDV greetings cards

We are pleased to announce that the Friends of the Lower Derwent Valley Conservation Group have a new range of greeting cards for sale, with a total of 25 designs produced by the LDV team, including artwork from @niqvassie and photographs from @LucyMurg showcasing some of the iconic Ings species and scenes. These cards are blank either for your own personalised message or to send as a gift to others, and are priced at just £1.50 each or four for £5, with all proceeds going to the Friends of the Lower Derwent Valley charitable trust. 

The money received from these cards will help to further conservation efforts in the area and includes land purchases, bird research programmes and habitat improvement schemes, which have all been delivered as a result of a huge amount of hard work by the trustees and wider LDV volunteers as well as your kind support. The cards can either be purchased from our NNR Base at Bank Island or hand-delivered if you’re in the local area, or posted out for a P&P charge – if you’d like to make a purchase, please send us a message via our social media accounts, or send an e-mail to Lucy.Murgatroyd@naturalengland.org.uk – thank you.