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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Upton Warren (12 Viewers)

Nipped down for a session between 1 and 4. The Flashes was desperate with only redpoll noteworthy
At the Moors
Little grebe 2, GCG 5, Shoveler 22, Teal 46, Pochard 3 - new in.
Snipe 2, Common Gull 2 1st Winters, Kingfisher, Great sp Woodp 2, Green Woodp
still lots of dragonflies
B :)John

Plus while I was there: Curlew x 1. Greylag 12+.

Rob
 
Today a female Brambling at the Moors.

non bird news: yesterday comma, red admiral, migrant hawker - still a good few about and this darter sp (any idea Des or anyone else)


Depth marker, We put a depth marker in the North moors last week it shows at 0.4. This equates to 0.4 metres, of this .1 (4 inches or 10cm) is mud and the rest 0.3 ( 1 foot or 30cm is water) Strangely this level is shallower than the reeds in front of the hide.

Feeding station at Moors
The tall feeding table has been moved to the concrete hide. This will enable any disabled birders and photographers get pics of garden birds

B :)John

I've been in Bath for a couple of days so only just seen your post. Looks like Common Darter John.
Drove back from Bath in heavy rain which should fall on the Flashes.

Des.
 
Are there any contingency plans to pump water in to the Flashes?

I would have thought it's going to take days and more like weeks of continuous heavy rain to get them topped up to anywhere near what they should be at this time of the year.......

Brian
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Birding Today
 
Are there any contingency plans to pump water in to the Flashes?

I would have thought it's going to take days and more like weeks of continuous heavy rain to get them topped up to anywhere near what they should be at this time of the year.......

Brian
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Birding Today

I noticed there was some news about Slimbridge pumping water into an area yesterday and this same question crossed my mind
 
I think it may be a contentious subject; what with the Flashes salinity and rare ecosystem.

Yes, there is a lot to consider, way beyond my pay scale too. I guess the question is has it been considered, if so what are the relative risk/ benefit's in the short and long term, and given the possibility that this could become a near annual problem, is there a long term plan in place or in development ?
 
Mark/Brian

Personally, I'm sure we all have ideas in the backs of our minds based on our own concerns for the reserve etc but I don't think any such consideration has been formally carried out.
I'm sure far more scientific arguments (than I can muster) for and against may be offered, but whether all interested parties, by which I mean, The Trust (as owners), Natural England (as SSSI accreditors) and the Management Committee, could agree a way-ahead is another matter.
This all said, if the present situation continues and/or becomes the norm who knows what might have to be agreed/done...
Again, on a personal note, I'm fascinated by John's report of the hole that was dug last Sunday (16th Oct) now being full of water; suggesting (to this layman, at least) that the water table isn't too far below the crust.
Hopefully, come the Spring, we'll all have forgotten what things were like and what all the concern was about...

P.S. Brian, I'm sure Gail will be dead chuffed with her Woodcock report (despite the fact that she would know what one was if it landed on her)! :t:
 
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Spent 3 hours at the Flashes this morning. Despite some overnight rain there is no change in water levels. It's right that the water table is only 6 to 8 inches below the surface, from holes dug at the last work party.
Birds were scarce but 2 Redpoll, Redwing and a Peregrine livened things up a little but it's hard work at present!
Photos per Flickr link below - I even took some of the hide for future sentimental reasons!
 
Are there any contingency plans to pump water in to the Flashes?

I would have thought it's going to take days and more like weeks of continuous heavy rain to get them topped up to anywhere near what they should be at this time of the year.......

Brian
___________
Birding Today

Hi Brian,

I think the question would be where can you get several thousand cubic metres of (unpolluted) water from without anyone noticing? ;) If anyone has any suggestions I'm all for it.
 
Hi Brian,

I think the question would be where can you get several thousand cubic metres of (unpolluted) water from without anyone noticing? ;) If anyone has any suggestions I'm all for it.

Surely no one want's be messing about in boats much for the next few months ? I've code named it operation sailing pool ;)
 
Surely no one want's be messing about in boats much for the next few months ? I've code named it operation sailing pool ;)

I like your plan, Mark....

By my reckoning, if we syphoned off 5000 cubic metres, the water in the SP would only drop by ~9 centimetres. Still plenty of depth left for their boats. 8-P
 
...
Again, on a personal note, I'm fascinated by John's report of the hole that was dug last Sunday (16th Oct) now being full of water; suggesting (to this layman, at least) that the water table isn't too far below the crust...

What I found very odd while we were digging that hole was that one side was dry and we had quite deep but when we widened it slightly it suddenly got wetter and small amounts of free water began to puddle in the hole. Be interesting to know the salinity of this water.

The hole is in an area where two weeks before it was too muddy to walk.

The bad news is that, to me, this means the "water table" is getting smaller so even though it is not far below the surface it is only just below the surface in a smaller and smaller area.

Personally I don't think its strictly the water table. Under the silt appears to be a pretty consistent layer of clay which means water isn't coming up from below. I'm guessing it is coming up from specific gaps in the clay as "springs" and a slight slope in the clay bowl towards the old hedge and also towards the first flash is causing it to drift in that direction through the more-permeable silt layer.

I understand there used to be a channel from the third flash and this ran roughly down that direction as well. So there might still be some water getting through the silted up channel and be "running" along this slope and helping fill the hole on the way. The third flash seems to be keeping its level pretty well so suggests that it has a good spring in it and/or gets a lot of any runoff from the surrounding land.

And therein lies part of the solution IMO. Reinstate that channel and the third flash can keep topping the levels in the other flashes and reduce the impact of drought. Go further and extend and/or deepen the third flash and it can act as a reservoir.

Of course a clandestine syphoning of the sailing res would be much more fun ;)

Paul
 
What I found very odd while we were digging that hole was that one side was dry and we had quite deep but when we widened it slightly it suddenly got wetter and small amounts of free water began to puddle in the hole. Be interesting to know the salinity of this water.

The hole is in an area where two weeks before it was too muddy to walk.

The bad news is that, to me, this means the "water table" is getting smaller so even though it is not far below the surface it is only just below the surface in a smaller and smaller area.

Personally I don't think its strictly the water table. Under the silt appears to be a pretty consistent layer of clay which means water isn't coming up from below. I'm guessing it is coming up from specific gaps in the clay as "springs" and a slight slope in the clay bowl towards the old hedge and also towards the first flash is causing it to drift in that direction through the more-permeable silt layer.

I understand there used to be a channel from the third flash and this ran roughly down that direction as well. So there might still be some water getting through the silted up channel and be "running" along this slope and helping fill the hole on the way. The third flash seems to be keeping its level pretty well so suggests that it has a good spring in it and/or gets a lot of any runoff from the surrounding land.

And therein lies part of the solution IMO. Reinstate that channel and the third flash can keep topping the levels in the other flashes and reduce the impact of drought. Go further and extend and/or deepen the third flash and it can act as a reservoir.

Of course a clandestine syphoning of the sailing res would be much more fun ;)

Paul

Convinced me Paul all sounds feasible. Just a pity the thousands of £'s spent on the hydrological survey couldn't come up with a solution to the current problem. Like the snow last year it soon went, actually it didn't 8-P but I'm sure by February it will be wet on the Flashes ;)
will do work party and birding for today a bit later.B :)John
 
Work at the Moors today 25th October 2011

Today the 11 of us (a great turn out considering its half term hols) continued tackling the western border hedgerow.
The blackthorn thicket on the other side of the path to the first hedgerow view point, was today’s targeted area. To anyone that doesn’t know the reserve that well, this area has long been an eyesore, that was last managed 20 years ago. Recent years have seen the demise of this area has it become leggy and lifeless, apart from being one of the very few sites that magpie nest. The interior has died and become impenetrable to light.
Rather than completely ‘blitzing’ the area we decided to a ‘structural diversity’ approach. This will allow hibernating invertebrates to have more chance of surviving the winter and at the same time increase the diversity of insects. This was achieved, by removing the dead canopy and then cutting the trunks to varying heights. The tall bushes against the border fence were left untouched apart from the overhanging branches that would shade out the sun. The area runs north to south so the large bramble at the northern end (at present dead inside) will receive the full benefit of the sun on its south side, and thus rejuvenate it. All the cut branches were used to ‘dead hedge’ the remaining un-touched border fence. The whole of the western border is now dead hedged, hopefully creepers and bramble will now have support to help them flourish.
After removing all the dead branches and brash from the ground, we could see first hand how the whole area was devoid of any flora. The hedge contained elder, blackthorn hawthorn and bramble and nothing else. It will be interesting how the area develops in the next couple of years.
Also today we cut back last years growth of coppiced willows along the bottom of the west track and around the reserve sign. On some willows this growth was up to 4 metres and we wonder why the reeds are drying out adjacent to it.
A thick overhanging blackthorn near the beginning of the track was also coppiced
The 4 photos don't really capture the true state of the area. But next time you walk on the west track I am sure you will see a big difference.
Pic1. before the work
pic 2. afeter work
pic 3. a slightly more distant shot. this shows the brown 'floor' of the dead area that was within the thicket.
pic 4. view from the other side after work completed. The bramble patch in the fore ground had large elder branches sprouting over 8 feet from the top, these were cut and placed in amongst the bramble to give it some structure. It will also allow the elder to regenerate.
B :)John
 

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Birding at the Moors today.
During the work party, there was a small movement of fieldfare 20+ redwing c5, the odd redpoll flew over. Although I didn't see it a large brown bird was seen to fly low over the reeds and was reported as landing within them ???? maybe the bittern has arrived. AFJ had a Dunlin on Amy's marsh.
Along the east to the hide 2 water rails called. Although not too exciting, I got the impression that things were on the up.
Today's sighting all from the east hide.
GCG 6, Little Grebe 5, Cormorant 12, greylag 18, Canadas 60+, Mute swan 6, Shoveler 21, Teal 40+, wigeon eclipse male, Pochard 2 (m + fem), Tufted 25+, Coot 220, water rail 2, Snipe 3, curlew, lapwing 50+, herring gull 3 all 1st winters, LBBG only 1, BHG 200+,
Grey Heron 5, Buzzard 2, sparrowhawk, Green woodpecker, great spotted woodpecker, kingfisher 2, Fieldfare 20, redwing 5, reed bunting 5 in scrape area.
B :)john
 
Brown Hairstreak
Does anyone know if we have any records of this species on the reserve.
I was talking to a geazer who works for the Butterfly trust on the reserve yesterday. He reckons that we should almost certainly have Brown hairstreaks on the reserve, judging by the amount of ideally sized and south facing blackthorns we have. He also informed me on how to look for their eggs that can be found in the autumn/winter.
B :)john
 
Brown Hairstreak
Does anyone know if we have any records of this species on the reserve.
I was talking to a geazer who works for the Butterfly trust on the reserve yesterday. He reckons that we should almost certainly have Brown hairstreaks on the reserve, judging by the amount of ideally sized and south facing blackthorns we have. He also informed me on how to look for their eggs that can be found in the autumn/winter.
B :)john

There are no records of Brown Hairstreak on the reserve, although they are being recorded closer every year. The Blackthorn at the N Moors looks suitable, but the females require young growth ,which is lacking, onto to which they lay their eggs.

Des.
 
There are no records of Brown Hairstreak on the reserve, although they are being recorded closer every year. The Blackthorn at the N Moors looks suitable, but the females require young growth ,which is lacking, onto to which they lay their eggs.

Des.
Yes he said that they need young saplings, lower than chin height. There were already plans afoot to remedy this (even before this insight on the Brown hairstreak), with pro-active blackthorn management at the North Moors.
:t:John
 

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