Moving into autumn

 

September is very much a month of departures and arrivals as we note the very last dates of our summer migrants and the earliest dates of the arriving winter wildfowl. Sunshine and warmer weather extends the flight season for dragonflies, damselflies and butterflies. Ruddy darter dragonflies are still being seen now at the very end of the month particularly around reception pond and the approach ramp up to reception hide, as well as migrant and southern hawker dragonflies. Small tortoiseshell and speckled wood are also still in good numbers feeding on some long lasting brambles and the remnants of the buddleia flowers along the nature trail. Small white butterflies are also still in flight at the end of September.

                                 Ruddy darter soaking up the sun on the reception ramp handrail

                                                                     Speckled wood 

One of our volunteers, John has been recording a number of different types of invertebrate, taking his time to study the vegetation along the paths and often the wooden rails which warm up in the sun. The photographs that John takes give you an idea of the variety seen, especially the many different types of ladybird. Often visitors will miss seeing the small wildlife on the reserve but once you can slow down and take time to look carefully you will be amazed at the amount and variety of our mini fauna. In our education sessions one of the skills taught is to look for things in the natural environment by perhaps finding different colours or textures, focusing on details, giving a wider picture of the natural environment, and feeding relationships within it.

22 Spot ladybird (photo by John Barnard)

14 Spot ladybird (photo by John Barnard)

Summer warblers had moved on by the beginning of September with only a garden warbler and a common whitethroat noted on the 3^rd September. Hirundines were feeding over D reservoir on several occasions throughout September,  two swallows over harassing a marsh harrier on 24^th and a late party of about 50 house martins on the 28^th. A female garganey was spotted on south marsh up until the 11^th and perhaps the last sighting of yellow wagtail for the summer was on the 12^th.  Hobbys have been reported across the reserve all summer so presumed they have bred nearby. With the warmer September days there have been a number of sightings right up to the 24^th, feeding on dragonflies over D reservoir and south marsh.

Passage waders visiting south marsh continued from August with dunlin on 1^st to 6^th September and again on 11^th -13^th, with 4 birds on 23^rd. Common and green sandpiper have been recorded throughout the entire month on south marsh, a common sandpiper often seen feeding on D reservoir wall. Snipe have been recorded throughout the month with a top count of 5 on several occasions, all on south marsh. Curlew arrived on 6^th and again have been recorded throughout the month. There was a ruff on 3^rd and 7^th , a curlew sandpiper on 4^th and a little stint on 6^th and 11^th . An injured black tailed godwit has been around for a while but was joined by a flock of 20 birds on 21^st. Juvenile little ringed plover was on south marsh on 6^th and there were several sightings of ringed plovers on 10^th till 13^th. On 17^th September a juvenile pectoral sandpiper arrived, probably one from the east Siberian population, blown off course, and is still on south marsh on 28^th September. Lapwing have been recorded on south marsh and on Watton nature reserve and a flock of 50 golden plovers flew over O reservoir on 26^th.

Pectoral sandpiper on south marsh (photo by Pat Hogarth)

Lapwing on south marsh

Green sandpiper on south marsh

A great white egret was sighted on north lagoon on 21^st September, then flying over the riverbank later that day. North lagoon also attracted a visiting bittern on 14^th. On D reservoir the gull roost is building up with a Caspian gull in amongst the flock on 5^th.  Pochard, tufted duck and coot have increased in numbers from the beginning of September, with maximum numbers of 40, 150 and 250 respectively. Great crested grebes have been giving great views of their fishing prowess, coming up to the surface with rather large young pike. A black necked grebe was seen on D reservoir on 5^th and then again from 16^th to the end of the month, often very distant at the far end of the reservoir. A red necked grebe on 23^rd and then again on 26^th is thought to possibly be the same bird that has been seen on Hornsea mere. A male scaup was recorded on 24^th and again on 26^th September on D reservoir. Two female goldeneye and two pintail have also been noted from mid September, the weather and viewing conditions possibly determining the sightings.

A pair of yellow wagtails on 12^th were the only ones noted during the month but two grey wagtails were feeding on O reservoir wall on 7^th and at Hempholme on 24^th. The tawny owl is often spotted during the day in reception woods, jays across the sight now, whereas they used to be only spotted in the northern areas of the reserve. A covey of eight grey partridge seen on the approach road was a nice addition to the site’s records for September.

Woodland birds are making good use of the feeders outside reception hide with small flocks of goldfinches and greenfinches regular visitors. Great spotted woodpeckers can also be seen on a daily basis alongside blue, coal, great and long tailed tits. Treecreepers have been seen along the nature trail through reception woods.

At north lagoon, as well as water rails coming out onto the flatten reed beds in front of the hide, grass snakes have been using the area as a hunting ground for marsh frogs in the last couple of weeks, giving visitors very good views from the hide. Several common pipistrelle bats have been roosting under the louvres on the front of reception hide in the past few days.

Common pipistrelle bat under the wooden louvres on reception hide (photo by Mike Day)

Today a flock of 8 pink footed geese landed on Watton nature reserve, a true sign that autumn has well and truly arrived.

Busy, busy, busy for our volunteer team

 

Once the breeding season has finished and the risk of disturbing breeding birds across the reserve has subsided, then the role of the volunteer team here at Tophill comes into its own and will continue throughout the autumn and winter months.

One of the first jobs that is tackled is the cutting of the meadows, particularly in areas where large machinery is unable to access. We have contractors who manage the main cut, as visitors will have seen on Hempholme meadow. This has not been cut for several years as it has been too wet to allow machinery onto the ground. The grazing cattle and goats can now be seen, and their grazing will help keep the sward much lower.

Hempholme meadow viewed from Angus McBean hide after cutting 

On the other grassland areas our volunteer team has been helped this year by a local group of people from the Scythe Society who use traditional methods and scythes to cut the grass, making the task seem effortless. Once the grass has been cut visitors will notice that the grass is collected and made into mounds, scattered around the grassland. We have been using a relatively new piece of kit, a thermal image camera for some survey work and when you direct the camera on these grass mounds you can see how attractive they are for grass snakes, as they become very hot in the centre, very quickly. An ideal place for snakes to hibernate or to lay eggs.

Hay piles after cutting

Thermal image of hay piles showing the heat inside them after only a few days

The kingfishers were feeding regularly on north lagoon, delighting many visitors, often people who had never seen kingfishers before. But the reeds in front of the hide were obscuring the view so the volunteers donned waders and treacherously waded out into the deep mud to cut back the vegetation, as well as taking the opportunity to paint the front of the hide, keeping it protected from the elements. In addition to better views of the feeding kingfishers, water rails and grass snakes have been seen more clearly too.

North lagoon

Area in front of north lagoon hide

In D woods, the small pond has been engulfed by vegetation so again our volunteer team has been busy cutting back and clearing the pond. This will allow more light to reach the water and hopefully with a bit more rain there will be more water retained in the pond, encouraging water invertebrates to breed, in turn attracting moorhens and water rails.

D woods pond "before"

And "after"

Nearer to the reception hide the team have been cutting back brambles and “weeding” around the selection of fairly newly planted trees, making sure that they get more established in this part of the woodland.

Newly planted trees cleared of brambles at the bottom of the reception ramp

Bramble clearance in reception woods

In addition to these bigger jobs, our volunteer team also carry out the monthly WeBS wildfowl count, survey and record plant species around the reserve, maintain the cabling to enable video cameras on various nesting sites, monitor and maintain the hundreds of nest boxes and keep the paths clear of encroaching vegetation.

They are certainly kept busy. We can’t thank them enough for all their hard work and dedication and for all the working hours that they give to maintain the reserve for the wildlife and its visitors. Their efforts are hugely appreciated.

 

Summer at Tophill

A mixed bag of weather has defined the summer months of July and August at the reserve, with scorching hot days followed quickly by plunging temperatures and cool northerly winds interspersed with heavy rain showers. Some would say a typical British summer. On the reserve we have had the familiar resident species breed and migrants start to pass through on their way south to their wintering grounds.

Small tortoiseshell by Margaret Boyd

Resident blackbird by Margaret Boyd

Successes on the breeding front in the woodland have been great tit, blue and coal tits all feeding young. Robin youngsters, in their less obvious speckled plumage, have been seen from the main path up to reception, along with a very endearing family of wrens. A young tree creeper was confirmation of breeding, similarly a young great spotted woodpecker, both around reception woods and the feeders. Less obvious have been the warblers and their youngsters but earlier signs of nesting building and frantic activity back and forward with food to nesting areas would show that willow warbler, chiff chaff, blackcap and common whitethroat have all bred across the reserve. Our bird ringing team carrying out their regular sessions in south scrub have also caught juvenile birds, the most worthy of note was a family of 6 coal tit youngsters and a juvenile marsh tit. The marsh tit was good to see as there have been few sightings in the woodland this year. Blackbird, song thrush, chaffinch, greenfinch and goldfinch all seem to be in good numbers, hopefully reflecting a successful breeding season. It appears the tawny owls in reception wood had just the one chick this year, the barn owls at the north end were unsuccessful with their first brood, it’s hoped that they will have a second brood.

Common tern by Maurice Dowson

The two pairs of marsh harriers that were nesting, one either end of the reserve have both raised young that have fledged. The pair that bred at north marsh had three chicks that were filmed on the nearby tree soon after being airborne, the pair at the south end have possibly raised two young, although sightings of both together have not been noted. Similarly, two pairs of buzzards look like they have bred, one at each end of the reserve: O woods and D woods. The latter pair and their youngster can be seen regularly feeding at Hempholme, especially now that the grass has been cut and the meadow is more visible. There has been a young juvenile sparrowhawk flying around the car park and reception woods in the last couple of weeks, making a lot of screeching noises to attract visitor’s attention. Hobbies have been seen throughout the summer, so we hope that they have been breeding birds too.

The two broods of kingfishers that have successfully fledged have certainly been wowing the visitors, many of which come specifically to see these iconic water birds. They have not left disappointed as across the reserve birds can be seen, often more than one at a time. One visitor saw the family of five in north lagoon which must have been within hours of the birds fledging. So, whether it’s been a member who has been watching the birds feed at an early hour or an excitable family attending one of our family workshops, the kingfishers have drawn in visitors.

Kingfisher caught by Graham Scott

Our family workshops ran for two weeks, on five days, leading to 50 local families coming along to experience the wildlife we have at the reserve through the different activities that make up the workshops. Mostly families come from the local area and are new to the reserve so it has been great to welcome new visitors and engage with them, hopefully they will return.

Pond dipping is popular with families

There have been successes and failures with the populations of water birds. We know that both the pair of mute swans on north lagoon and the pair of little ringed plovers on south marsh were predated, probably by mink. Oystercatchers, greylag and Canada geese fared better, south marsh is now very noisy with geese, following on from the black headed gull colony; adults and chicks have now moved to feed on the surrounding farmland, coming back to roost on the reservoirs. Two pairs of common tern still have young on south marsh this week. Tufted duck, mallard and gadwall all have juveniles, making identification quite tricky alongside the adult birds which are now in eclipse plumage as they moult their flight feathers. A pair of water rail chicks have been out feeding on north marsh, giving good views and it appears another pair of water rail have bred on the south marshes. Moorhen and coot have bred, so too little grebe; currently two chicks can be seen from south marsh. Twenty nest holes in the sand martin bank appeared to have been used at south marsh west.

Common sandpiper by Maurice Dowson

As wading birds finish breeding further north, they start their migration, stopping off on passage. The first to be noted were 40 lapwings on 6^th July, followed by black tailed godwit and green sandpiper on the 8^th.  2 greenshank on the 10^th, 1 common sandpiper on 12^th, a single ruff on the 16^th along with a flock of around 300 lapwing, all on south marsh. Snipe and black tailed godwit were seen on 24^th July and on 26^th 2 spoonbill flew in to roost but only stayed overnight, to be replaced by a great white egret on 27^th which stayed till 31^st July. A juvenile little ringed plover was seen on 3^rd August on south marsh and 6 on Watton on 7^th. Throughout this time there were regular sightings of green and common sandpiper and greenshank on Watton. A cuckoo was another species seen passing through at Hempholme on 12^th August and a black necked grebe on D reservoir on 14^th -16th. 6 black tailed godwits and 2 ringed plovers were spotted on 16^th, along with 3 little ringed plovers. A juvenile garganey was on south marsh on 17^th and has been seen subsequently on a number of occasions. A ruff and 7 curlew were on south marsh on 27^th and a juvenile knot was walking around on the “O” reservoir road quite oblivious to visitors on 27^th. Dunlin have been seen, the top number of 14 at one time and 5 little stint on 29^th in addition to 2 little gulls on the 22^nd August on south marsh.

In the last few weeks coot numbers have been building on D reservoir and latterly tufted duck, pochard and goldeneye along with great crested grebe numbers have also increased. Hirundines have been feeding over D reservoir in the last week as temperatures have dropped.

There have been regular sightings of otter, mostly on north marsh in the early hours but also during the day and on north lagoon. Roe deer are constantly present, a pair regularly been seen in reception woods and along the path in front of reception hide. We have a study looking at stoats and these have been caught on camera around reception woods. Grass snakes have not been regularly seen but one of the volunteers uncovered a large individual (approximately 1.5m) when moving some wooden posts in the grassland around O reservoir.

Roe deer by Maurice Dowson

On the days which have been warmer and less windy there have been several species of butterfly across the reserve. Species that have been spotted over the summer, adding to those seen in the spring have been ringlet, gatekeeper, small copper, brown angus, marbled white and silver washed fritillary. Dragonfly species in flight during August have been southern and migrant hawker, ruddy darters, emperor dragonflies and emerald damselfly

Marbled white by Margaret Boyd

As we move into September and cooler weather then the changeover of birds continues as birds start to move between breeding and wintering sites. If you visit the reserve and do not get a chance to pass on your records then please leave a note in the sightings books at reception hide so that we can add your valuable sightings to our database. Your help with this matter is greatly appreciated.