Summer & autumn all at once

Summer & autumn all at once

South marsh

Our volunteers do a range of tasks throughout the year, when it comes to July everyone knows that there's one job that needs to be done and that's hay cutting, And we have a lot of it to do in order to keep our wild flower meadows in the best condition, which means as well as cutting the grass we also have to rake it all up and move it off the meadow, quite a task in the heat. Grass snakes should benefit from the hay piles that you find around the reserve and it keeps the meadows poor in nutrients which encourages more wild flowers.

Hay raking in south scrub

Hay raking

With summer holidays and accompanying good weather our family events programme has been busy. Families have joined the education team to find out about butterflies and the Big Butterfly Count, investigate the invertebrates in the pond and rummage around the woodland on a nature ramble. Children and adults have been able to have fun and learn together at the same time, taking time to wander slowly and really look around at the tiny treasures of wildlife that inhabit our nature reserve here at Tophill. Bookings for the next academic year are now being taken so anyone involved in the primary sector can head to our website at https://www.yorkshirewater.com/education/teachers/availability-booking/ to book their FREE school visit. A great chance to look at the water cycle, local flora and fauna, adaptations and classification; all part of the science national curriculum and all covered in our sessions.

dragonfly craft on family event

Colour matching activity on family event

RSPB Bempton cliffs is a popular destination for holiday makers visiting the area and wanting to view the seabirds. In order to keep the interest of the general public who visit, once the seabirds have left then each year they have a "Wild Event" to showcase other wildlife. As one of our partners in the area we were pleased to head there and promote the reserve and its wildlife and encourage more visitors who may want to explore the brilliant wildlife sites that East Yorkshire has to offer.

Volunteers helping out at Bempton Wild weekend

Even though we consider the months of July and August to be summer in the natural world, autumn has already started and birds are beginning to move south from their breeding grounds and head to their winter feeding areas. The screaming parties of swifts, a regular sight on lovely summer evenings as they fly through the streets hunting insects, have all but disappeared, their stay here in the UK being very short lived. Swallows, house martins and sand martins are gathering on the roof tops and wires, ready for their journeys south, often feeding over the reservoirs where freshwater invertebrates continue to emerge as adult flies, juicy meals for hungry migratory birds.

Exposed mud attracting passage waders on south marsh east

Elsewhere on the reserve, on the southern marshes, passing waders are dropping in to feed on the exposed mud, fuelling up for their own migratory journeys. The marsh has never looked so good to these passage waders and its all down to how they have been managed in recent years so that conditions are optimal to attract wading birds to visit and feed before moving on. 

A big thanks to our volunteer team who have helped keep the marsh an area of open water. The team has done this by strimming the margins to keep down brambles and sprayed the reed mace and phragmites to also keep the margins clear. This allows birds flying overhead better sightlines to see the marsh. The pollarding of the nearby willow, ash and hazel has removed many predator perches, enabling a safer feeding area for waders. Pollarding also encouraging more song birds, which prefer nesting in the lower canopies that pollarding creates. The gravel islands have been washed in previous years to rid them of organic material that encourages vegetation, keeping them clear for nesting common terns and black headed gulls. 

The herd of goats manages the grassland areas for us, grazing the banks down, again improving the sightlines for the wader. The water in the marsh is continually being replenished from the water treatment process, as no one wants invertebrates in their drinking water, so after being filtered out they end up in south marsh and become wader food as it is full of daphnia and other invertebrates. It is important to keep the water flowing in and out of the marsh by clearing the ditches, another task carried out by the volunteer team and we can slowly alter the water level by management of sluices. Overall, the management makes a perfect stopover for these passage waders.

Dunlin by Margaret Boyd

Common sandpiper by Margaret Boyd

Green sandpiper by Margaret Boyd

Snipe by Margaret Boyd

The species that we have had in the last few weeks are dunlin, black tailed godwit, green and common sandpiper, snipe, lapwing, curlew, ruff, avocet, little and great white egret, redshank, golden plover and ringed plover. Quite a variety and coming close to the hides for good views for visitors, so please come down and have a look for yourself.

Another highlight recently, on 2nd August, was the arrival of a Caspian tern, believed to be the second record for the reserve. It was initially observed by a couple of visitors feeding over D reservoir. It was later picked up resting on south marsh and was seen by a number of people before it left later that evening. The largest tern in the world and only a few records each autumn in the UK, it was a very good record for Tophill, only a shame that it didn't linger so that others could come to see it.

Birders watching the Caspian tern on south marsh

Caspian tern by Margaret Boyd

It's GOLD for Tophill

We won GOLD! A fantastic result for the Tophill Low team for their first ever foray into horticultural exhibiting at the Driffield Show this year. Our fabulous display was focused around the wetland and meadow plants that the team of volunteers has been propagating over the last couple of years, showcasing the area’s native species that can be found in the Hull valley, of which Tophill Low is a part. We have a whole range of plants growing in the polytunnel at the reserve and in the new wetbeds but collecting everything together, displaying and labelling all the plants was a real team effort. So, a huge thank you to all our volunteers who helped out in the preparation of the exhibit, whether in the horticultural tent or behind the scenes and those that helped out on the day. Talks given by John Barnard, one of our volunteers and Amy Watsham, the assistant warden on wetland plant propagation and how to establish a wild flower meadow were very well received by an interested audience, hopefully inspired to do more themselves. Visitors to the reserve can always come and chat about what we do and also get involved if they are interested.

Last month we started surveying the butterflies around the reserve and have begun to see the areas where they seem to be doing well, O reservoir grassland and north scrub are favourite sites with good numbers of meadow brown and ringlet butterflies being seen on several occasions. The marbled white butterfly, which is a rarer species on the reserve has also been spotted in several areas, preferring to feed on certain grasses, such as Yorkshire fog and also flowers such as knapweed and red clovers, seemingly preferring purple flowers. Meadow brown butterflies lay their eggs around a variety of course grass species such as Cock’s foot, common couch and meadow grasses. It’s this kind of detailed knowledge of food preferences that helps our management of the different areas of the reserve to encourage greater biodiversity. Carrying out such surveys can confirm whether the practical management is a success or not. As well as keeping our own records for the reserve we will be submitting records as part of the annual Big Butterfly Count which takes place between 12^th July and 4^th August. This is a great citizen science project that can get all the family involved, whether in your garden or on a walk to the park, taking only 15 minutes of your time. Head to Butterfly Conservation’s Big Butterfly Count website to take part. Families joined our education guide this week to help count butterflies along the butterfly border and around the nature trail whilst other volunteers continue to regularly carry out butterfly surveys throughout the summer.. Butterfly declines can be an early warning of other wildlife loses, so monitoring has never been so important.

Marbled white butterfly by Margaret Boyd

As well as the Big Butterfly Count taking place at the moment, last week was National Moth week so we held a moth night to coincide with the event and to introduce some of our visitors to the delights of the amazing moths that use our nature reserve. We have a small team of volunteers who set out the two moth traps whenever they can throughout the year, these are behind our offices and at the south end of the reserve. At this time of year it can take quite a while to empty the traps in the morning, counting and identifying the overnight haul. Last Friday visitors were shown what had been caught and were delighted to see the range of colours and patterns that these fantastic creatures have that are usually overlooked. Thanks to Martin for your time and passing on your knowledge to our visitors.

Pine moth by Margaret Boyd

Chocolate tip moth by Margaret Boyd

Chocolate tip moth by Margaret Boyd

Some of the bird sightings in recent weeks have been of waders passing through on their migration south to their winter feeding areas. These are known as passage waders or migrants: they stop off at good feeding sites, to refuel before their continued journey. South marsh is a magnet for hungry waders as the mud and shallow water is rich in invertebrates. Recently visitors have noted common, green and wood sandpipers, dunlin, black tailed godwit, snipe, lapwing, ruff, greenshank and spotted redshank dropping in to feed. Also, on south marsh there has been a great white egret and several little egrets and feeding over the D reservoir several little gulls, again a species passing through on migration from their breeding areas in the countries that border the Baltic sea in northern Europe, wintering south in the Mediterranean. Two quail were heard calling from the fields along the approach road as dusk fell last weekend.

We are open throughout the school holidays, with several family events taking place which can be booked via Eventbrite, search Tophill Low. As well as the events there is always plenty to spot along the nature trail which is a short walk for smaller legs! Please note the only facilities we have are toilets, so a picnic is a must. Adults pay £3.50, children £1.50, under 5’s are free.

Summer has arrived

 June 2024

Following a very successful Open day, with visitors engaging with lots of our partners the reserve has quietened down to let the wildlife get on with breeding. Our breeding bird surveys, conducted by our volunteer team and local birders are coming to an end, having surveyed plots across the reserve four times, each an early start. Results look promising with a whole range of resident and migrant birds breeding on site. One of the more interesting birds is the cuckoo, a rare summer visitor now to the UK, suffering the hardships of habitat loss and persecution on its migration journey. On one day there were four singing males, and there have been lots of sightings by visitors, including a pair mating. We believe their key target species is probably reed warblers and perhaps reed buntings, both of which have good populations. 

One pair of marsh harriers has recently fledged three youngsters, we await the sightings of the other pairs on the reserve. No such luck for the little ringed plover pair, but oystercatchers are now on their second nest and there’s a possibility that a pair of avocets may try to breed too. Other sightings include grasshopper warbler, spoonbill and the first green sandpiper of the year, on 15^th June, an indication that the year is turning!

Green sandpiper by Lee Johnson

With all the breeding going on, habitat management turns to plant propagation in the polytunnel and the new outside wet beds. Over the past two years this venture, run mostly by volunteers has gone from strength to strength, supplying neighbouring landowners with a range of wetland plants. 

The new wetbeds installed at Tophill

This week volunteers have visited areas of Leven Carrs and land adjacent to Wansford Beck to collect important plants and seeds, bringing them back to site where they can be grown on in numbers to then be distributed to other landowners in the wider Hull valley. Whilst visiting Leven Carrs it was great to see that the greater water parsnip, a rare wetland plant, that was planted there a couple of years ago is now doing exceptionally well, thriving in the wetter areas of the site, a real success story for the team.

Other plants that were collected were marsh lousewort and bog bean. Of course once our collection was completed then it is really important to abide by biosecurity so that no invasive species are transferred between site.

If visitors are interested in the polytunnel and its plants then please pop in and find out more, the team are very knowledgeable and happy to chat about their stock. 

Anecdotally, butterflies seem to be in very low numbers across the area this year, so in the next few weeks we will be carrying out several butterfly surveys to monitor the numbers. We can then compare the data to previous years, similarly to our breeding bird data. If visitors spot any butterflies during their visit, we really would appreciate it if you could add your sightings to the sightings log before you leave, that way we can get a better picture of populations in the different areas of the reserve. Similarly if you spot any dragonflies or damselflies please add them to our sightings.

Four spot chaser by Margaret Boyd

Speckled wood by Margaret Boyd

We hope that visitors will enjoy a walk around the reserve with this warm weather, keep a look out also for grass snakes in the water bodies. Please remember that we do not allow dogs at the reserve and the only facility that we have are toilets.

 

Annual Open day - Sunday 9th June

Our annual Open Day is on Sunday 9^th June this year and we are busy making preparations for the day. Admission to the reserve is FREE for this event. The day will start at 10am and finish at 4pm with a whole range of conservation organisations taking part. There are twenty five organisations that will be setting out their stalls and be able to tell visitors all about the work that they do in the area and further afield. Organisations such as Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, East Riding countryside service, In Focus optics and Experience Community highlight the range of information available. See the list below for every stall.

	Organisation / Stalls
1	InFocus Optics
2	Yorkshire Coast Nature
3	Josh Harrison Photography
4	Tophill Low Membership Stand
5	Yorkshire Red Kites
6	TOAST
7	East Riding Hedgehogs
8	Netty’s cake stall
9	Fresh Water Habitats Trust
10	East Yorkshire Rivers Trust
11	Yorkshire Dragonflies
12	East Yorkshire Bat Group
13	Bishop Burton College
14	Natural England
15	Experienced Community
16	YW Education Team
17	YW Biosecurity Team
18	J & J farming
19	East Yorkshire Badger Protection Group
20	Yorkshire Wildlife Trust
21	East Riding of Yorkshire Council Rangers
22	East Riding Archaeology Society
23	RSPCA Wildlife Response
24	SCJ Training
25	British & Irish Scything Society & wood crafts
26	British Trust for Ornithology - ringing / Motus
27	Volunteers – Polytunnel
28	Volunteers – Pond dipping
29	Volunteers – Nature Trail
30	Volunteers – Nest boxes

Activities include guided walks, led by local Ecotourism company Yorkshire Coast Nature, at 10.30am and 2.30pm, as well as pond dipping sessions at the reception pond from 10.30am – 12pm and from 1.30 – 3pm. Throughout the day families can pick up a nature trail pack and follow the trail through a section of the reserve, finding clues along the way, with prizes at the end.

There will be refreshments available in the form of “Stuart’s of Driffield” fish & chip van, hot drinks and homemade cakes. Please bring cash to pay for our cake stall.

We also have our volunteer teams showcasing the work that they get involved in when they come to the reserve, whether it’s once or twice a week or on college placements. It’s a great chance to find out about the “behind the scenes” tasks that take place to maintain the range of habitats that we look after here at Tophill Low to create a reserve with a rich biodiversity. There is an opportunity to purchase nest boxes that have been made by our volunteers and also membership to the reserve can be arranged on the day.

Our polytunnel which is a hive of activity throughout the year, propagating wetland and meadow plants for restocking the reserve and donating plants to other wetland sites in the area, can not only be visited but there will be a selection of plants for sale. These will be in packs of 6 for £5 and we ask that visitors please pay in cash. Our team can tell you all about this exciting venture and how you can come and be a part of it as it enters the next stage with a new wetbed polytunnel soon to be installed, increasing the amount of plants that can be propagated. We are already planning days where volunteers can visit local areas to collect further seeds to increase the variety of plants that we grow.

We really hope that the local community take the opportunity of visiting the reserve on our open day as we showcase the success of this nature reserve and the partnerships that we have developed with other conservation organisations in the wider Hull valley.

Voulnteers at Tophill Low - Our nest box team

 

Nest box team activity update 9/5/2024

With the warming, drier weather the wildlife on site has been showing a lot of activity and the nest box monitoring team have been working to keep up with that pace. The team has continued to work together and welcomed new members to monitor the activity of the small bird nest boxes around the site. By 7^th May, most of the small bird nest boxes have had at least 3 regular visits this season with evidence that breeding activity is well established                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              We have been trying out new methods of less intrusive monitoring by using endoscopic camera surveillance. This has proven very successful as a way of checking for any nesting activity and is much less disruptive if we find a bird sitting on the nest rather than opening the nest boxes, of which 17 adult birds were seen in nest boxes on the last check.

 

     

 

We have taken advantage of the opportunity to form closer links with the team who ring birds on site, meeting up with them on 5^th May, when they were undertaking one of their surveys. This was a great opportunity for sharing information about the nest boxes and ringing procedures. We checked a few boxes together with the endoscope and having found an adult bird on the nest, were all impressed at the outcome when the ring number was checked.  This blue tit had laid 3 eggs at the time of nest box checking 2 weeks earlier and had been rung in the intervening period clearly without too much distress, as there were now 8 eggs visualised when the adult’s ring was being checked.

We have very good news that of the 130 boxes on site, 60% show some nesting activity, 25 have eggs visualised and there were 17 birds on nests as at their last visits, 7 of these had previous eggs visualised. There were also 6 naked chicks seen at the last check.

However, all these nests are providing a plentiful buffet for predators. In April a weasel was identified at nest box (and photographed), and other birds and their nests have been predated by squirrels, stoats and weasels. The stoat found was very quick indeed!

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Whilst some birds utilise the boxes, others have chosen to find their own accommodation. A pair of woodpeckers have been seen forming their own home and now sitting on the nest. A pair of resourceful coal tits utilised a nest box left outside a building and have raised a brood.

Although it was hoped that the Barn Owls which had been seen around site were going to use the boxes provided, there is no evidence of this. Two have been taken over by Jackdaws, one currently with 5 eggs and monitored by the box camera.

Tawny owls have been seen around the site, but at least one of the tawny boxes is being used by stock doves.

A big thank you for all the hard work that the nest box team is putting in to monitor a range of our woodland breeding birds.

April 2024

Our polytunnel which was installed nearly 18 months ago is now in full production, helping to grow on a multitude of wetland plants for our own reserve here at Tophill Low and further afield. The polytunnel is a hive of activity at the moment, with volunteers pricking out new seedlings, establishing them in larger pots before they are ready to plant our on the reserve. Volunteers are really the key to the success of this project as their hard work and enthusiasm to try and germinate a whole range of plant species has been a real success. They started planting seeds in March, seeds that were collected from the site the previous summer and autumn. These are a mixture of wetland plants like greater water parsnip, bog bean and purple loosestrife. As well as plants such as wild carrot, knapweed, tansy and yarrow. Last year by the summer we had 6,000 plants of 33 varieties. Plants have been spread around on the new mounds overlooking D and O reservoir and in the meadow areas at the entrance to Tophill, providing more biodiversity. Other landowners around the Hull valley area are also benefitting from their knowledge too, as plants are being taken for planting at Dumble Farm and on Leven Carrs, an area owned by Albanwise. Last week staff from RSPB Bempton came to pick up an array of plants to help them establish a new habitat on their reserve. During the week students and staff from Kingsmill school have been planting foxgloves around the nature trail. These have been grown from seed collected on the reserve. A big thanks from the reserve staff for everyone’s hard work. Plants will be on sale at our Open Day which takes place on Sunday 9^th June, from 10am – 4pm. People will also be able to look around the polytunnel and may even be tempted to volunteer and help out! Also, on the Open day we will have a range of local conservation organisations stalls and displays, guided walks, pond dipping and craft activities.

Spring is slow to arrive, and the recent summer arrivals must be feeling the cold. Although we’ve sighted a range of summer migrants, there hasn’t been the number that we would expect for the end of April. The first cuckoo was heard just this morning so we are hoping that it will stay to breed. Last year we probably had three pairs that were successful breeders. Just the one sighting of swift has been noted, and small numbers of swallow and house martins. Sand martins have been on the reserve for a number of weeks and have been making their new nesting tunnels in the sand martin bank which overlooks south marsh west. Our new tern rafts, which were funded by a biodiversity enhancement fund, secured by Natural England, are in place on Watton, in anticipation of the return of common terns to the site. These will hopefully help the growing common tern colony which had five successful breeding pairs last summer. Both Albanwise and Dumble farm have also benefitted from this fund and welcomed the arrival of their own tern rafts, in addition to sand martin banks, let’s hope they too are successful. 

Volunteers have been helping out with our annual breeding bird survey which was reinstated last year following the few years of disruption. Two visits have already been carried out and highlights are the signs of snipe breeding on Hempholme, plenty of activity in nestboxes in the woodland areas and a probable successful breeding pair of marsh tits in the south end of the reserve. By the end of the breeding season we should have a much better idea of which species have had a successful season. When people visit the reserve, please make sure that you note any sightings in the log books on their way out and if you see any signs of birds breeding please note that in the log book too.

Winners of the 2023 Tophill Low photography competition

 Winners announced

The judges have spent the morning deliberating over the many fantastic entries in our annual photography competition, so we are able to announce our winners for each category. Well done to all the winners and to those that have received highly commended. A big thank you to everyone who has taken part this year.

Botanical

Winner - John Lanthorp. 

The judges loved the colours in this entry, not only of the bee orchids but in the diversity of the meadow that they are in. The way the photograph has been framed is very clear and yet shows an idea of movement within the meadow.

Highly Commended - Pat Hogarth for her photograph of some antler fungus, a quirky subject matter showing the patterns in the individual specimens and the pattern of them as a whole.

Highly Commended - Kingsmill student for her photograph of some newly emerged catkins and the detail of a single raindrop that she had noticed and capture.

Kingfisher

Winner - Pat Hoggarth.

The composition of capturing the two birds together that are interacting with each other was the thing that impressed the judges in this category. One of our iconic wildlife species on the reserve, it was great to see some behaviour shots, this being the best one.

Highly Commended - Rose Habberly has taken a nicely composed photograph and the judges liked the bokeh effect which has the subject cleared focused and the surrounding background less so yet still distinguishable.

Highly Commended - Colin Spruce. The judges liked the activity of the shot, the bird is doing something different in displaying its wings and does look quite comical which they liked.

Birdlife

Winner - Colin Spruce

This great photograph of a Tawny owl was chosen as it has been brilliantly framed by the surrounding vegetation, a difficult thing to achieve when most views of Tawny owl are very brief. The photographer has done well to capture this crips image and have the bird looking directly at the lens.

Highly Commended - Pat Hogarth for her photograph of a young blue tit. The judges liked the fact that this was a commoner species yet shows the detail of its plumage in a beautiful composition.

Highly Commended - Pat Hogarth's Cetti's warbler, a difficult species to view let alone photograph showed the beautiful plumage of this very secretive species.

Landscape

Winner - John Lanthorp

John's landscape photograph really caught the judges' eye as it caught the reflections of the fantastic autumn colours in a photograph that has great composition and great symmetry.

Highly Commended - Martin Stevens, this is one of the reserve's volunteers has taken a great view of Hempholme meadow whilst working in that area, capturing the atmosphere of the flooded meadow.

Invertebrate

Winner - Neil Carson

The judges really liked this photograph of a shield bug which appears to have alien like features and captures the imagination, giving the bug energy and a sense of fun whilst focusing in on the delicate features of this special invertebrate. 

Highly Commended - Pat Hogarth. All three photographs that have been awarded "Highly Commended" are of dragonflies. The first shows the different life cycle stages of a four spot chaser as it emerges up the stems of some horsetail. The judges liked this aspect of the photograph.

Highly Commended - Alan Gray's photograph is of a broad bodied chaser and shows great attention to detail of the wings which the judges liked.

Highly Commended - Neil Cason. The clarity of this photograph of a southern hawker impressed the judges, particularly how Neil had shown the detail of the insect's eyes.

Wildfowl 

Winner - Pat Hogarth. 

Pat's photograph of a group of tufted ducks reflects a brief moment in time that we often see as we observe wildlife but very rarely capture. The ducks all seem to be looking at the photographer as if questioning her presence in their world as they appear to be "coming out of the picture". A great composition.

Highly Commended - Dave Ruffles. This photograph of the rare winter visitor, the red necked grebe works very well against a what appears to be a cold, grey background, typical of a winter's day.

Highly Commended - Geraldine Gray's capturing of a pair of Teal in the activity of preening highlights the colourful and delicate plumage of our smallest breeding duck.

Young photographer

All the entries for this category were submitted by the group of students that regularly come to volunteer for their Duke of Edinburgh award to help out with habitat management. They spent the morning looking at different aspects of the vegetation and landscape and capturing the shapes and colours around the reception hide.

The winner and highly commended entries cannot be named as they are students under 18 but congratulations to all of them for their fantastic photos and efforts.

Wading bird

Winner - Colin Spruce.

The judges were really impressed with the composition of Colin's photograph, the colours, the reflections and the fact that it encapsulates the bird's natural behaviour without disturbance.

Highly Commended - Unfortunately these photographs that have been selected by the judges were not named so we are unable to congratulate them, hopefully they will see that they have been successful.

Animal

Winner - Rose Habberley. 

Rose's photograph of a marsh frog crawling up and maybe over the log asks the question "Where is it going? Will it get to the top?" The judges liked the split of the photo, the log, the frog and the vegetation are all given the same amount of space, neither taking over the photo. All these aspects together with the colours were what the judges were taken with.

Highly Commended - Pat Hogarth. Pat has captured a beautiful autumn day in this photograph of two hares in the surrounding field. 

A fantastic display of all this year's entries is open throughout the festive season till 7th January. We are asking for each visitor to vote for their favourite photograph of the whole competition. The winner of this public vote will see their photo on the membership card for the next season 2023/2024 which starts at the beginning of April.