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 12th July and 4th 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.
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.
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.
