The RSPB

UK Headquarters

The Lodge, Sandy, Bedfordshire SG19 2DL

Tel: 01767 680551

Northern Ireland Headquarters

Belvoir Park Forest, Belfast BT8 7QT

Tel: 028 9049 1547

Scotland Headquarters

Dunedin House, 25 Ravelston Terrace, Edinburgh EH4 3TP

Tel: 0131 311 6500

Wales Headquarters

Sutherland House, Castlebridge, Cowbridge Road East, Cardiff CF11 9AB

Tel: 029 2035 3000

www.rspb.org.uk

The RSPB speaks out for birds and wildlife, tackling the

problems that threaten our environment. Nature is amazing

– help us keep it that way.

As a charity, the RSPB is dependent on the goodwill and financial support

of people like you. Please visit www.rspb.org.uk/supporting or call

01767 680551 to find out more.

Front cover: bearded tit by Danny Green (rspb-images.com)The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a registered charity: England & Walesno. 207076, Scotland no. SC037654 120-1396-07-08

a million voices for nature

RSPB RESERVES2008

I N T E R N A T I O N A LBirdLife

We belong to BirdLife International, the global

partnership of bird conservation organisations.

Abernethy

Vane Farm

Lochwinnoch

Rathlin

Belfast Lough Mersehead

Haweswater

Leighton Moss & Morecambe Bay Bempton Cliffs

Fairburn IngsBlacktoft Sands

Dearne Valley – Old Moor and Bolton IngsSouth Stack Cliffs

Conwy

Freiston ShoreLake Vyrnwy

Ynys-hir Sandwell Valley

Minsmere

The Lodge

Rye Meads

Ramsey Island

Rainham Marshes

Dungeness

Radipole Lake

Arne

Titchwell Marsh

Mid Yare Valley

Migneint

Fetlar

Mousa

Sumburgh Head

North Hill

Mill Dam

Hobbister

Forsinard Flows

Culbin Sands

Loch Ruthven

Insh Marshes

Fowlsheugh

Loch of KinnordyGlenborrodale

Inversnaid

Loch Gruinart/Ardnave

The Oa

Lough Foyle

Portmore LoughLower Lough Erne Islands

Baron’s Haugh

Coquet IslandAilsa Craig

Hodbarrow

Marshside

Exe Estuary

Hayle Estuary

Mawddach Woodlands

Valley Wetlands

Marazion Marsh

Frampton Marsh

Ken-Dee Marshes

St Bees Head

Campfield Marsh

Mull of Galloway & Scar Rocks

Dee Estuary

Coombes & Churnet Valleys

Carngafallt

Gwenffrwd/Dinas

Cwm Clydach Nagshead Otmoor

FowlmereNorth Warren

Stour Estuary

Elmley MarshesBlean Woods

Cliffe Pools

Shorne Marshes

Tudeley Woods

Northward HillNor Marsh & Motney Hill

Havergate Island & Boyton Marshes

Wolves & Ramsey Woods

Farnham Heath

Fore WoodAdur Estuary

Langstone HarbourPilsey Island

Garston Wood

Lodmoor

Ham Wall

West Sedgemoor

Aylesbeare Common

HighnamWoods

Snettisham

Lakenheath FenOuse Washes

Berney Marshes & Breydon Water

Wood of Cree

Coll

BalranaldLoch of Strathbeg

Corrimony

Nigg and Udale Bays

HoyCottasgarth & Rendall Moss

Marwick Head

The Loons and Loch of BanksBirsay Moors Trumland

Onziebust

Lumbister

Troup Head

Grange Heath

Bracklesham Bay

Lewes Brooks

Broadwater Warren

Vange MarshesWest Canvey Marshes

Fen Drayton Lakes

Salthome

and Garrison Farm

Wallasea Island

Isle of Tiree

Newport Wetlands

Black Park

Ramna Stacks & Gruney

Loch of Spiggie

Noup Cliffs

BrodgarCopinsay

Priest Island

Drimore Farm

Eileanan Dubha Ballinglaggan

The Reef

Oronsay

Smaull Farm

Horse Island

Aird’s Moss

Kirkconnell Merse

GeltsdaleLarne Lough Islands

Read’s Island

Tetney Marshes

How Hill Fen

Dingle Marshes

Nene Washes

Ouse Fen (Hanson-RSPB project)

Church Wood

Grassholm

Chapel Wood Greylake

Avon Heath

WarehamMeadows

Brading Marshes

Pulborough Brooks and Amberley Wildbrooks

StoboroughHeath

Normanton Down

Barfold CopseIsley Marsh

Old Hall Marshes

The Skerries

Aghatirourke

Carlingford Lough Islands

Strangford Bay & Sandy Island

Inner ClydeFannyside

Skinflats

Inchmickery

Fidra

Edderton Sands

Fairy Glen

Eilean Hoan

Loch na Muilne Blar Nam Faoileag

Balnahard

Hesketh Out Marsh

Malltraeth MarshMorfa Dinlle

Middleton Lakes

EA/RSPB Beckingham Project

Sutton Fen

Winterbourne Downs

HMS Cambridge

Snape

Locations of RSPB reserves

Featured reserves

1

RSPB Reserves 2008A review of our workCOMPILED BY JO GILBERT

ContentsIntroduction:The changing role of reserves 5

Challenges in reserve management in 2007 6

Reserves and wildlife – a review of 2007 8

Condition of RSPB-managed SSSIs/ASSIs 10Progress towards species targets 11Other wildlife 16Habitat creation and restoration 16Land acquisition 17

Protecting threatened birds 18

Rejuvenating Leighton Moss for bitterns 20Choughs on the Argyll Islands 24Woodland edge restoration for black grouse 26Trials and tribulations of seabird colonies 30Restoring Ramsey Island’s wildlife riches 34

Restoring lost habitats 36

Acid grassland creation and stone-curlews at Minsmere 38The Otmoor story 42Wetland restoration at Loch of Strathbeg 46Geltsdale reserve – an upland jewel 50Wetland creation at Portmore Lough 54

Beyond birds – improving conditions for biodiversity 58

Restoring the heathlands of Dorset and Devon 60The little-known treasures of Dungeness 64A helping hand for rare moths 68

Reserves and people – a review of 2007 70

Great days out 72Innovative events 73Living classrooms in South East England 74Volunteer to start a career 78The new wilderness of Lakenheath Fen 80Conwy Waterside Coffee Shop 82

Working for the environment 84

Coast in crisis in Eastern England 86Renewable energy on reserves 90

Thank you to our supporters 92

32 R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8

Our visionOur vision is to help achieve a wildlife-rich future by

doubling the area of land managed as RSPB nature

reserves by 2030, protecting our most special places for

birds and all wildlife, and redressing past losses through

habitat restoration and creation. Our reserves will be

rich in wildlife and, through working with adjoining

landowners, act as catalysts to enhance the quality of

the surrounding countryside. They will be wonderful

places where everyone can enjoy, learn about and be

inspired by wildlife.

Increasingly, we will focus on restoring land of low

ecological interest to that of high quality. Although our

ambition may appear large, we believe it is the minimum

that an organisation of the RSPB’s scale and character

should seek to contribute, given the size of the task

facing us.

Hen harrier hunting over Loch Gruinart, where six nests fledged eight chicks in 2007

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4 5R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8

The emphasis of the Society’s land

acquisition programme has altered

significantly since the 1970s. At

that time, given weak statutory site

protection legislation, we mostly

bought land already notified as

Sites or Areas of Special Scientific

Interest. Today, by deliberate policy,

the position has reversed, so that

about three-quarters of such

expenditure is on land of low

current ecological value and our

aim is to transform it to high

ecological value.

Acquiring land for habitat restoration

can play an important part in helping

wildlife adapt to climate change. At

Lakenheath Fen, we have turned

carrot fields into reedbeds in just a

decade. These reedbeds are now

bursting with life and provide new

habitat for bitterns whose current

coastal reedbed strongholds,

including our Minsmere nature

reserve, are under threat from sea

level rise and storm surges caused by

climate change. As our understanding

of the impact of climate change

grows, greater investment in habitat

restoration will be required to enable

species and habitats to adapt.

Nature reserve management is also

providing an important role in

securing the future of conservation-

dependent habitats such as reedbeds

and heathlands, where the land-uses

that helped maintain the habitat, such

as reed and furze cutting, and low

intensity grazing, have much reduced.

But our objectives in managing our

reserves remain the same. First,

where a site is designated, we do all

we can to ensure that statutory

requirements for the site to be

assessed as being in favourable

condition are met. Second, we strive

to deliver RSPB species and habitat

objectives for a site, over and above

statutory requirements. Third, we aim

to deliver public benefits such as

enjoyment of the countryside, flood

defence, carbon sequestration and

clean water supply that arise from a

high-quality natural environment.

In general, these objectives are

mutually supporting and good

management planning and execution

can help integrate their delivery.

However, there are circumstances

where the need to deliver objectives

for the wider environment influence

the way in which we achieve those for

birds. A good example is in the

uplands, where achieving favourable

condition for blanket bogs can limit the

use of burning to manage heather, that

if used would raise populations of

some breeding moorland birds such as

golden plovers. Ultimately, we believe

it is more important to achieve

sustainable bird populations, than to

elevate breeding bird densities by

using techniques that result in other

undesirable environmental outcomes.

Looking forward to the next few

years, it seems likely that times will

get tougher for nature conservation.

Increasing grain prices are making

the intensive farming of marginal land

more profitable, development

pressures continue and the economic

outlook is uncertain. Nature reserves

will play an even more important role

in providing crucial refuges for

wildlife, as well as enabling people

to enjoy the natural environment at

first hand.

Berney Marshes, where over 100 ha of wet grassland habitat have been created from former arable land

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IntroductionThe changing role of reserves

Gwyn WilliamsHead of Reserves and Protected Areas

Dr Mark AveryDirector of Conservation

7R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8

The unprecedented and widespread

high rainfall last year affected many

reserves, causing delays to planned

management and disrupting work

programmes. Reserves reported a

direct impact on bird breeding

success, for example, on capercaillie

and black grouse at Abernethy and

the bittern nest at Mid Yare reserve,

which was physically washed away.

Flash floods caused landslides at

Abernethy, and at Pulborough Brooks

there was a surplus of water for wet

grassland management for the first

time in four years. Severe flooding at

Fairburn Ings and Dearne Valley

reserves in June caused considerable

damage to footpaths and viewing

screens, and came close to

inundating the visitor centre at

Fairburn. Newly established reedbeds

on the flashes were destroyed and

most nests of ground-nesting birds

and passerines were wiped out.

Although very disruptive, these were

mostly short-lived events; however, at

the Ouse Washes in Cambridgeshire,

washland was under water for most

of the season.

The Ouse Washes were flooded from

6 June for the rest of the grazing

season, restricting habitat

management on 80% of the reserve.

Cattle numbers were reduced to 650

head from the normal 2,000 head,

with grazing restricted to the higher

washes and the flood defence banks,

and some livestock farmed out to

other reserves. Grazing income was

reduced by 55%. The conservation

impact will be felt next season as the

lack of grazing management has left

thick, matted vegetation unsuitable

for returning breeding wading birds.

Much of this will have to be topped.

It also curtailed the work programme,

postponing essential fencing and

ditching. The reserve is in the

Environmental Stewardship HLS

Scheme, and although Defra

accepted the flooding as “force

majeure” and so honoured the annual

grant payments, the scheduled

capital works will have to be rolled

over to next year, squeezing two

years’ worth of work into one.

The continuing poor weather

throughout the summer affected

invertebrate numbers; most notably

butterfly and bumblebee counts were

down. The productivity of birds known

to depend on good June weather,

such as black grouse, was also lower

than usual. On the positive side, most

wetlands did not dry out (except in

West Scotland), giving good

prospects for the breeding season

in 2008.

Thankfully, the foot-and-mouth

outbreak in August, centred on the

Pirbright research establishment, did

not spread further than Surrey.

Difficulties were caused by the initial

ban on livestock movements,

particularly to reserves where roads

separated the grazing units. Our deer

management programme also had to

be held back on a handful of

reserves. Our nearest reserve at

Farnham Heath, although outside the

control zone, closed for a short

period in deference to the wishes

of neighbours.

Of additional concern was the arrival

of bluetongue virus in September,

which, unlike foot-and-mouth, could

not be controlled by culling affected

livestock. After government vets

confirmed bluetongue disease was

circulating in the UK, a widespread

protection zone was established,

covering most of eastern England

and Dorset, with much of the rest of

England in a surveillance zone.

Control zones were established in

localised areas around any outbreak.

This all caused considerable

problems for reserves because of

livestock movement restrictions

between the zones, with the

potential for livestock to be stranded

at a reserve at the end of the grazing

season. The Nene Washes in

Cambridgeshire experienced

considerable problems when, in

October, a suspected local

bluetongue case resulted in a

temporary control zone boundary

being drawn across the Washes.

It was the end of the grazing season,

with 350 head of cattle on a reserve

that was rapidly flooding and a total

ban on livestock movements.

Slaughter of the cattle involved was

only averted thanks to the

intervention of the local MP securing

a last minute movement licence.

Storm and pestilence did seem to be

the theme for the year. One notable

success against this theme was the

reduction in rat numbers on Valley,

North Uist. This has resulted in

corncrakes recolonising areas and an

increase in the number of calling

birds on the island.

Conservation management is tightly

linked with the management of

grazing animals and significantly

affected by weather events. We hope

that 2008 will bring a steadier year to

livestock and reserve managers alike.

Challenges in reserve management in 2007

Reserve management is extremely challenging, and 2007 proved

exceptionally so. It started with a very dry spring, and many

wetland reserves unsure of whether they would hold onto water

levels. However, they need not have worried, as by July there was

widespread flooding, with many reserves affected. Then, in August

there was a foot-and-mouth outbreak in Surrey, and fears that we

would see a recurrence of the devastation caused in 2001. Finally,

just as things seemed to be returning to normal, there was an

outbreak of bluetongue virus in livestock in Suffolk in September.

AUTHORS: STEPHEN HARE, SENIOR LAND AGENT; AND JO GILBERT, HEAD OF ECOLOGICAL

ADVICE AND SUPPORT, RESERVES ECOLOGY

6

The Ouse Washes flood every winter. Ground-nesting birds face problems when flooding occurs in the summer

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8 9R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8

The strategic aims of the work on our reserves are:

• to ensure that all Sites and Areas of Special Scientific

Interest (SSSI and ASSI) site management

units/designated features for which the RSPB is

responsible for delivery of favourable condition are

classified as in favourable or unfavourable recovering

condition by 2012 in Scotland, Wales and Northern

Ireland, and 2010 in England

• to ensure that populations of 11 key species of birds are

at least maintained at 2005 levels on the existing

reserve network

• to ensure that populations of 15 priority species of birds

are enhanced by 2012 on the existing reserve network

• to achieve new functioning priority habitats on land

acquired prior to 2006

• to ensure biodiversity thrives on reserves

• to acquire further land to support delivery of our

conservation objectives.

Progress was made towards these aims in 2007. Poor

weather conditions during the summer of 2007 hindered

reserve management in some areas.

Reserves and wildlifea review of 2007

Four cirl buntings were present over winter at the Exe estuary, where wild bird cover has been planted for them

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10 11R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8 R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8

Condition of RSPB-managed SSSIs and ASSIs

Progress towards

species targets

We aim to maintain the populations

of 11 key bird species at or above

their 2005 levels. Ambitious targets

have been set to increase

populations of a further 15 key bird

species breeding on our reserves by

2012 (see table).

Figures for 2007 show mixed

progress, with 17 species set to

achieve or exceed their 2012 targets,

and seven set to remain below their

2012 targets if current population

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Almost three-quarters of the land

managed by the RSPB is designated

as SSSI/ASSI, reflecting the high

wildlife value of the RSPB

reserve network.

In England, 24,201 ha (84.6%) of the

26,399 ha of SSSI managed by RSPB

are currently assessed as being in

favourable or unfavourable recovering

condition by Natural England,

compared to 21,272 ha (80.6%) in

2006. This increase has been due to

re-assessment of condition and

remedies by Natural England. Only

557.4 ha (2.1%) are in unfavourable

condition due to factors within, or

partly within, the RSPB’s control. This

compares to 1,049 ha (4%) in 2006.

Plans for remedial action have been

agreed with Natural England for

556.4 ha.

In Scotland, monitoring of SSSI

condition is based on the condition of

the individual features assessed

across the whole SSSI. By March

2008, 1,047 (out of a total of 1,156)

had been assessed as being in

favourable or unfavourable recovering

condition. The 221 features assessed

as being unfavourable declining or

unfavourable no change include 126

which are not within the RSPB’s

control. An extensive programme of

remedial management is being

undertaken to restore favourable

condition to the 95 features (9%

of those assessed) within the

RSPB’s control.

Data are not yet available from the

statutory conservation organisations

for sites in Wales and Northern Ireland.

Species 2005 2006 2007 2012 target

Slavonian grebe 2 2 3 2

Black-necked grebe 0 1 0 5

Bittern (booming males) 18 19 20 34

Common scoter 11 14 10 11

Hen harrier (nests) 49 51 41 55

Black grouse (lekking males) 104 151 189 170

Capercaillie (lekking males) 48 39 47 60

Spotted crake 10 13 14 10

Corncrake (calling males) 242 266 294 330

Crane 0 0 1-2 3

Stone-curlew 6 7 6 20

Lapwing (on lowland wet grassland) 1,311 1,366 1,392 1,650

Snipe (on lowland wet grassland) 542 579 495 700

Black-tailed godwit L l limosa 46 50 43 46

Whimbrel 10 n/a >8 10

Redshank (on lowland wet grassland) 1,070 1,128 1,180 1,300

Red-necked phalarope (males) 18 12 8 18

Little tern 191 127 137 191

Nightjar 90 >85 87 90

Woodlark 83 80 83 83

Dartford warbler 164 122 c 145 200

Crested tit c 200 n/a n/a c 200

Golden oriole 2 2 3 4

Chough 31 34 37 40

Scottish crossbill n/a n/a n/a ?*

Cirl bunting 0 0 0 1

Note: Figures are pairs except where stated otherwise. Scottish crossbills and crested tits are not monitored annually on RSPB reserves.* Target not yet set.

Blanket bog is being restored at Forsinard Flows, where 442 ha of conifer plantation have been felled since 2005

Populations of priority bird species on RSPB reserves

Favourable

Unfavourable Recovering

Unfavourable No Change

Unfavourable Declining

England (Based on May 2008 data)

Scotland (Based on March 2008 data)

Condition of SSSI area (England) and features (Scotland) on RSPB

reserves in 2008

Numbers of lekking male black grouse on RSPB reserves

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20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

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12 13R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8

trends continue. Numbers of the

remaining two priority species were

not monitored on reserves in 2007.

Species making good

progress towards achieving

their 2012 targets

Five species, the black grouse,

corncrake, redshank (on wet

grassland), chough and bittern are

currently on track to exceed their

2012 targets if recent population

trends continue.

• Total numbers of lekking male

black grouse already exceed their

2012 target. Numbers at

Corrimony are probably increasing

due to the expansion of young,

open woodland (see Woodland

edge restoration for black grouse

on page 26). Numbers at

Abernethy increased, following a

reduction in grazing pressure in

the early 1990s, reaching a peak

of 165 in 1997 then declining until

2005. Following two years with

high productivity, numbers again

increased to 90 in 2007. Increases

in numbers of black grouse at

Geltsdale and Lake Vyrnwy

are likely to be directly due to

the management undertaken

for them.

• Total numbers of singing

corncrakes increased again on

RSPB reserves. The vast majority

of these birds are in Scotland. At

the Nene Washes in England,

where corncrakes are being

introduced, there were three

corncrake territories in 2007

compared to four in 2006. It is

thought that a total of five

different individual calling male

R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8

corncrakes returned to the Nene

Washes as a whole in 2007. The

first captive-bred birds returned

and called at the Nene Washes

in 2005.

• There was an overall increase of

three pairs of breeding choughs at

RSPB reserves in 2007. This was

due to increases from nine to 13

pairs at South Stack and from four

to six pairs at Ardnave, partially

offset by slight decreases at

several other sites.

• Total numbers of booming

bitterns are increasing on RSPB

reserves, although currently not

at a rate fast enough to achieve

their 2012 target. However, a

reedbed audit undertaken in

2006/07 suggested that the

majority of reedbeds were in

good condition for breeding

bitterns, giving cause for

optimism for 2008. Between

2006 and 2007 there were

increases of one booming bittern

each at Minsmere, Blacktoft

Sands and North Warren, but a

decrease from three to one

boomers at Dingle Marshes (see

Coast in crisis in Eastern England,

p 86). There was a single booming

bittern at Lakenheath Fen for the

second year running, but no

evidence of nesting.

• There was another increase in

total numbers of breeding

redshanks on the RSPB’s principal

lowland wet grassland sites.

Redshanks usually increase

following raising of water levels

and creation of surface flooding

on wet grassland. Unfortunately,

most of the nests of the

estimated 258 pairs of breeding

redshanks at the Ouse Washes

were washed out by floods in

late spring.

Species making

satisfactory progress

towards achieving their

2012 targets

Twelve species are currently making

satisfactory progress towards

achieving their 2012 targets. These

are Slavonian grebe, common scoter,

hen harrier, spotted crake, crane,

lapwing (on lowland wet grassland),

black-tailed godwit, whimbrel,

nightjar, woodlark, golden oriole,

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Cranes bred for the first time on an RSPB reserve, at Lakenheath Fen

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Redshanks increased on wet grassland reserves,

reaching a total of 1,300 pairs in 2007

14 15R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8 R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8

and cirl bunting. Significant changes

in populations of these species are

described below.

• Although numbers of nesting hen

harriers were lower than in 2006,

the pairs that nested had a good

breeding season and fledged a

minimum of 53 young, compared

to 45 young fledged in 2006.

Changes in numbers on reserves

were within the annual variation

expected for this species.

• Cranes nested for the first time

on an RSPB reserve in 2007. At

least one pair, possibly two,

nested at Lakenheath Fen. The

origin of the Lakenheath cranes

is not known. There were larger

than average numbers of cranes

in southern England in spring

2007, due both to an increase

in the Broads population and

an influx of migrants from

the Continent.

• Numbers of the limosa race of

black-tailed godwits declined from

48 to 41 pairs at the Nene

Washes (their main UK breeding

site), although they are still set to

achieve their 2012 target.

Numbers of breeding black-tailed

godwits at the Nene Washes had

previously increased every year

between 1999 and 2006. The

decline is possibly the result of

poor productivity in 2006 (four

young fledged from 48 pairs) and

2005 (c15 young fledged from 45

pairs). Reasons for this poor

R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8

productivity are unknown. Black-

tailed godwits had a reasonably

productive breeding season at the

Nene Washes in 2007, fledging 20

young. No black-tailed godwits

bred on the RSPB-managed

section of the Ouse Washes for

the third year running.

• Cirl buntings are yet to breed on

an RSPB reserve. However, four

cirl buntings were present over

winter at the Exe Estuary, where

wild bird cover has been planted

for them, and a pair held territory

there in March. The birds were

not recorded after this and are

assumed not to have bred. This

was the first time any cirl

buntings have been recorded on

the reserve.

Species making

unsatisfactory progress

towards achieving their

2012 targets

Seven species are currently not on

track to achieve their 2012 targets, if

current population trends continue.

These are black-necked grebe,

capercaillie, stone-curlew, snipe (on

lowland wet grassland), red-necked

phalarope, little tern and Dartford

warbler. Significant changes in

populations of these species are

described below.

• There was a recovery in numbers

of lekking capercaillie at their

main RSPB sites, Abernethy and

Craigmore, following relatively

high productivity in 2006 (0.5

chicks per hen at Abernethy, and

1.7 chicks per hen at Craigmore).

Productivity in 2007 was low,

though, with an average of just

0.1 chicks per hen at both sites.

• Breeding stone-curlews increased

from one to two pairs for the first

time at Minsmere (see Acid

grassland creation and stone-

curlews at Minsmere, page 38).

This increase was offset by a

decline from two pairs to none at

Winterbourne Downs. The land at

Winterbourne, though, is currently

beginning its phased reversion to

chalk grassland. During the initial

stages of reversion there will be a

lack of suitable stone-curlew

feeding habitat.

• There was a large decline in total

numbers of drumming snipe on

reserves. This was mainly because

of lower numbers of drumming

snipe at the Ouse and Nene

Washes. Most of the snipe that

were recorded drumming at the

Ouse Washes were washed out by

floods in late spring, together with

most other breeding birds there.

The Nene Washes experienced a

bank-to-bank flood in March, and

then very dry conditions during

April. This combination of

conditions is thought to have

reduced numbers breeding there.

• Numbers of male red-necked

phalaropes declined worryingly,

from 12 to eight pairs on RSPB

landholdings in the Western Isles

and Shetland. Work will be

undertaken in 2008 to investigate

whether this decline is likely to be

due to changes in vegetation at

some of their key breeding sites.

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Sutton Fen, in the Norfolk Broads, was acquired in 2007

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137 pairs of little terns bred on RSPB reserves during 2007

16 17R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8 R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8

• Although numbers of breeding

little terns were slightly higher

than in 2006, they are still below

the high numbers attained in

2005 (although not far below their

previous five-year mean of 149).

Scottish crossbills and crested tits

were not monitored on RSPB

reserves in 2007. Scottish crossbills

will be monitored on reserves in

2008 as part of the first national

survey of breeding crossbill species.

Other wildlife

In addition to ongoing surveys of

wildlife on reserves, a major project

was undertaken during 2007 to update

records of rare and scarce species on

reserves onto a centralised computer

database. Seventy thousand records of

species were added to this database,

which now contains over 200,000

records of 7,000 non-avian taxa

recorded on reserves. In total, almost

600 UK Red Listed species, 400 UK

Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) priority

species and over 2,000 Nationally Rare

and Scarce species have now been

recorded on our reserve network

(categories not mutually exclusive).

Examples of the importance of RSPB

reserves for wildlife other than birds

are described in the Beyond Birds

section, page 58.

Habitat creation and

restoration

During 2006-07, 35 ha of conifer

plantation was felled on reserves to

restore heathland at Farnham Heath

(16 ha), The Lodge (15 ha) and

Pulborough Brooks (4 ha), making a

total of 89 ha felled on RSPB reserves

since 2005. At The Lodge, 19 ha of

humus was scraped off to provide

suitable conditions for heathland

establishment, and 20 ha of previously

felled plantation was seeded with

heather. At Minsmere, heather litter

was spread over 26 ha of previously

acidified ex-arable land.

Reedbed creation and management

continued at nine sites, with 22,330

reed seedlings planted at Ham Wall,

22,000 reed plugs planted at

Leighton Moss, 1,500 reed plugs

planted at Dearne Valley and

maintenance of suitable conditions

for reed expansion at other sites. 28

ha of scrub were removed from fen

habitat and 23 ha of reedbed created

at Strathbeg.

Habitat enhancement work on the

RSPB’s lowland wet grassland

reserves included:

• The construction of water

storage reservoirs at Frampton

Marsh (75 ha of grassland for

the Environment Agency),

Freiston Shore (80 ha of

grassland) and Vange Marshes

(100 ha of grassland) to store

winter rainfall, which can be

used to maintain high water

levels on the grassland during

spring and early summer. At

Freiston Shore, 70 ha of

grassland were also re-seeded,

and wet features were created at

Vange Marshes.

• Improvements made to water

control structures at Ouse Washes,

where 44 ha were converted into

grassland in 2004, and to the ability

to control water levels on parts of

the Nene Washes.

• The creation of 200 small

“scrapes” at Otmoor (see The

Otmoor story, page 42).

• Habitat improvement works on

17 ha of restored wet grassland at

Cattawade Marshes, carried out

by the Environment Agency.

Earthworks have been undertaken at

Hesketh Out Marsh prior to creating

156 ha of intertidal habitat through

managed realignment. At Forsinard

Flows, an additional 172 ha of conifer

plantation on former blanket bog was

felled, making a total of 442 ha felled

since 2005.

Land acquisition

During 2006-07, the RSPB acquired

its 200th nature reserve. During this

time, 3,420 ha were added to RSPB

landholdings, comprising seven new

reserves totalling 1,278 ha, and 16

extensions totalling 2,142 ha at 14

reserves. On 1 April 2007, RSPB

managed 137,445 ha at 202 reserves.

The new reserves were:

• Broadwater Warren, Kent (mainly

conifer plantation for heathland

recreation)

• Fen Drayton Lakes,

Cambridgeshire (partially restored

gravel pits for creation of open

water, reedbed and wet

grassland)

• Hesketh Out Marsh, Lancashire

(arable for intertidal habitat

creation)

• Middleton Lakes, Staffordshire

(partially restored gravel pits for

creation of open water, reedbed

and wet grassland)

• Morfa Dinlle, Gwynedd (wet

grassland restoration)

• Snape, Suffolk (heathland, plus dry

grassland for reedbed creation)

• Sutton Fen, Norfolk (fen).

Our supportersIn 2006-07, we received £5.29 million

in grants for land acquisition – the

most successful year ever. Grants of

£1,696,486 were received from the

Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for Morfa

Dinlle, Middleton Lakes and

Broadwater Warren. The Countryside

Agency, through Defra’s Aggregates

Levy Sustainability Fund, granted

£150,000 towards the purchase at

Middleton Lakes. The Department of

Communities and Local Government

(DCLG) and East of England

Development Agency (EEDA)

provided funding at Fen Drayton

(£1,600,000), and £35,000 came

from Natural England at Campfield

Marsh. The Environment Agency

contributed £268,500 for Abbey

Farm, Snape. With the assistance of

a £187,500 contribution from the LIFE

financial instrument of the European

Community, land was purchased at

Migneint. The Tubney Trust awarded

grants of £515,300 towards the

purchases at Forsinard Flows and

Sutton Fen. The Jordan Charitable

Foundation also awarded £25,000

towards the purchase of Forsinard

Flows. Grants of £50,000 from the

European LEADER+ Fund (delivered

by the WARR partnership) and

£272,000 from Waste Recycling

Group Ltd (WRG) through

Grantscape’s Biodiversity Challenge

Fund were received towards the

purchase of Broadwater Warren. We

are grateful to all of our supporters, a

list of whom are published in The

RSPB Annual Review 2006-2007.

Rathlin

The Lodge

Winterbourne Downs

Forsinard Flows

Lough Foyle

Frampton Marsh

Dee Estuary

Broadwater Warren

Fen Drayton Lakes

Loch of Strathbeg

Cottasgarth and Rendall Moss

Inner ClydeBalnahard

Hesketh Out Marsh

Morfa Dinlle

Middleton Lakes Sutton Fen

Snape

New reservesExtensions

Migneint

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New and extended RSPB reserves during 2006–07

15 ha of conifers and 19 ha of humus

were removed from The Lodge

during 2006/07 to restore heathland

19R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 818

Protectingthreatened birdsRSPB reserves are very effective at conserving bird species with

small UK populations breeding in localised habitats. Over the last

half-century, RSPB reserves have played an important part in

preventing the extinction of several UK breeding birds (such as

marsh harriers and Dartford warblers) and in greatly aiding the

impressive recovery of others (such as bitterns, avocets and

corncrakes). Our reserves support more than 1% of the UK

breeding populations of 63 bird species. Most of the bird species

that breed on RSPB reserves in UK important numbers have either

increased or remained stable on reserves since 1990.

The number of corncrakes breeding on RSPB reserves increased

again in 2007, to 294 calling males

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Leighton Moss is the north-west outlier for the bittern

population in the UK, and in fact, the last remnant of

what was once a much bigger north-west population up

until the 1970s. As other reedbeds in the north-west

succumbed to the natural drying-out process, due to lack

of direct management, they were gradually invaded by

scrub and lost their breeding bitterns. This left Leighton

as the only site to hang on to breeding bitterns, due to

the continuous management effort put into the site by the

RSPB since 1964.

AUTHORS: ROBIN HORNER, AREA MANAGER, WEST COAST ESTUARIES;

AND GRAEME LYONS, RESERVES ECOLOGIST

Rejuvenating Leighton Moss for bitterns

At Leighton Moss, there has been a

steady decline in breeding bittern

numbers during the 1990s, from five

booming males down to just one.

Combined with the loss of otters in

1995, this pointed to a possible

problem for top fish predators, and

focused the minds of those in the

RSPB. Detailed bittern research

highlighted several factors:

isolation from the main core bittern

population in East Anglia,

lack of suitable wintering sites close

to Leighton for young birds to

disperse to, resulting in poor

overwinter survival of young birds,

deterioration in the wetland

ecosystem, resulting in adverse

conditions for fish populations and a

possible reduction in food availability.

Isolation is being tackled by a

UK-wide programme of reedbed

creation and rejuvenation being

undertaken by a large number of

organisations. The idea is to establish

a series of stepping stones radiating

out from East Anglia towards other

areas of the UK, including sites

around Leighton Moss in the north-

west, to help encourage dispersal

(see RSPB Reserves 2007, p 18).

The deterioration of the wetland

ecosystem has largely centred around

a reduction in the water quality, as

witnessed by an increase in the

occurrence of algal blooms and a

reduction in the biomass and diversity

of aquatic water plants. This, combined

with a build-up of nutrient-rich

sediments, was perceived to be

causing a reduction in the fish biomass

available to both bitterns and otters.

The natural ageing and drying-out

process of the reedbed was also

reducing the feeding opportunities

for bitterns.

Rejuvenating a complex wetland

ecosystem is far from straightforward,

but the abundance of the thick,

nutrient-rich sediment was seen as the

most important starting point. This soft,

muddy sediment – or “gloop” as it

became known – was up to two

metres deep in some of the ditches,

and up to one metre deep in most of

the pools. In summer, as the water

levels naturally dropped, there were

often fewer than 30 centimetres of

water above the sediment in the

ditches, and fewer than 50 centimetres

in the main pools. These conditions are

hostile to fish, especially when the

shallow water heats up in the summer

and the oxygen levels drop. Also, the

lack of a sufficient depth of water above

the sediment surface as a buffer made

the upper layers of sediment more

susceptible to nutrient release, due to

disturbance from wave action and birds,

and due to the surface heating up.

Nutrient release from the sediments

into the pools in summer was fuelling

an increase in the occurrence of algal

blooms and a decrease in the aquatic

plants, with the added knock-on

effects for fish populations of less

food and less oxygen.

The decision was taken to remove as

much of the sediment as possible

from the ditch system and the key

pools. This amounted to around

40,000 m3 of “gloop”, with an

associated high cost. The Bittern II

EC LIFE-Nature Project contributed

substantially to the cost of this,

enabling us to re-open a number of

ditches to improve the connectivity of

the pools and increase the amount of

reed water for feeding bitterns.

Several areas of drying-out reedbed

were also cleared of accumulated

reed litter to provide some shallow

pools with sparse reed, again

to improve the foraging areas

for bitterns.

Specialist contractors were chosen to

do the work and much of the

machinery was built specially for the

job and to cope with the difficult

There were 20 male bitterns booming on RSPB reserves in 2007

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Fish density at Leighton Moss

Date

0

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200

300

400

500

600

700

800

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Dec02

Jan04

Jan05

Jan06

Nov-06

Mar08

Fish

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Note: Sediment was removed during the period 2004–6

22 23R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8 R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8

on-site conditions. The excavator was

imported from the USA, where they

have much experience of working in

very wet and soft conditions in areas

such as the Florida Everglades.

The pressure exerted on the ground

by this 20-tonne machine was only

the equivalent of someone walking

across it – and amazingly it

could float!

It took three autumn/winters to

complete the works. The contractors

managed to pump all the excavated

sediment and ditch arisings away to

adjacent farmland or the periphery of

the reserve, thus leaving very little

evidence of where they had been.

What we have achieved

An intensive monitoring programme

was instigated to determine the

success of the work. This involved

measuring sediment depth, species

composition and abundance of

submerged macrophytes from a boat

before and after sediment removal.

The results of this monitoring have

shown an impressive recovery of

Specialised low pressure machinery was needed to work in the soft reedbed conditions

Abundant bladderwort in one of the

ditches, two years after it was cleared

of sediment

Ro

bin

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(R

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aquatic vegetation in most of the

water bodies from which sediment

was removed. Aquatic vegetation has

also increased in species-richness

and abundance in one of the two

uncleared pools.

The cover of submerged

macrophytes along the ditches

increased from a mean of 21% in

2004 to 66% in 2007. This was mainly

due to large increases in the

abundance of bladderwort (see

photograph) and small/lesser

pondweed. In the two pools that

were cleared, the volume of

macrophytes increased by 25 times

between 2004 and 2007.

The reserve has since been

re-colonised by otters, which

successfully bred in 2007, indicating

that conditions have improved for

those top fish predators. We now

await the final piece of the jigsaw

with a recovery in bittern numbers.

This project has proved to be a

fantastic fix to the build-up of

nutrients in the water-bodies of

Leighton Moss. We are now working

with neighbours and regulators to

reduce the level of nutrients that

continue to wash into the reserve.

Thanks to:European Commission – LIFE-Nature,

Heritage Lottery Fund, SITA Trust,

Lancashire Environmental Trust and

the Co-operative Bank plc.

Otters have returned to Leighton Moss since the restoration works were completed

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24 25R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8

The southern Hebridean islands of Islay, Colonsay and

Oronsay are home to 99% of the Scottish chough

population; over the last 25 years, the RSPB has been

actively managing land on the Argyll Islands to benefit

foraging choughs. During this time, we have acquired four

nature reserves and set up two management agreement

areas, covering over 6,500 ha in total. Recently, a significant

portion of The Oa reserve on Islay and the islands of

Colonsay and Oronsay have been designated as SSSIs and/or

Special Protection Areas (SPA) for choughs, due to their

particular importance to the breeding population.

AUTHOR: GUS KEYS, SITE MANAGER, THE OA

The chough breeding populations on

Islay, Colonsay and Oronsay have had

mixed fortunes over the last 20 years.

A big decline on Islay during this time

has halted in the last five years at

around 50 pairs. However, on

Colonsay and Oronsay, the breeding

population has grown to almost 20

pairs. The precise reason for the

different population trends on the

two islands is complex, with first-year

survival of fledglings and changes in

land management being only part of

the answer.

Work on reserves

RSPB reserves on the Argyll islands

hold a total of 10 breeding pairs of

choughs, and we have been

undertaking grazing management to

provide optimum conditions for

foraging birds. At Loch Gruinart

reserve on Islay, much of the reserve

management is geared towards

managing wet grassland for breeding

wading birds and wintering geese,

but the reserve’s grazing pastures are

managed for choughs, and the

reserve boasts one of the longest,

continually occupied chough nest

sites on the island.

Oronsay reserve holds one resident

pair of choughs and regularly hosts

large flocks of adults and sub-adult

birds, which come to feed on kelp fly

larvae, found amongst the large

aggregations of seaweed deposited

onto beaches after storms.

Similarly, at Smaull Farm and The Oa

reserves on Islay, the extensive

grazing of coastal habitats and

management of in-bye through the

rearing of cattle and sheep enables

us to maintain a mosaic of habitats,

which provide foraging choughs with

a wide variety of invertebrate

sources, mostly accessed when

sward height is low.

The two management agreement

areas at Ardnave (Islay) and Balnahard

(Colonsay) are very important

breeding and wintering sites for

choughs on both islands. The dune

systems and in-bye fields at Ardnave

support a large proportion of Islay’s

sub-adult flock.

Nesting opportunities

on Islay

Nest site provision on reserves

receives high priority. Fifty per cent

of Islay’s chough population nests in

artificial sites, mostly old buildings.

On The Oa reserve, we have

targeted areas with good adjacent

feeding habitats and either re-roofed

old buildings, provided nest ledges

or, in one case, erected a field

shelter typically used for horses as

potential chough nest sites. So far,

we have been able to attract two

“new” pairs of choughs into

previously unavailable buildings.

Managing for

invertebrates

The majority of the chough’s diet

comes from the wide variety of

invertebrates found in soil. In the

spring, leatherjackets form an

important part of their diet.

Leatherjackets become less abundant

as they complete their life cycle, so

other invertebrate sources become

more important, especially when

young choughs fledge in June. During

the warmer months of the year,

when dung-associated invertebrates

are most active, choughs utilise the

high numbers found in cattle dung.

During the autumn, birds can

occasionally be seen foraging on spilt

grain in arable fields and searching

out the larvae of mining bees.

Therefore, managing for a wide range

of invertebrates is as important as

maintaining extensive livestock

systems when considering the needs

of choughs.

What next?

A great deal of research on chough

population ecology has been

undertaken within the Argyll Islands

over the last five years. An ongoing

project undertaken by Glasgow

University and the Scottish Chough

Study Group, funded by the UK

Natural Environment Research

Council (NERC) and supported by

RSPB and SNH, aims to increase our

knowledge of chough ecology on

Islay and develop a wider

conservation strategy for choughs in

Scotland. The RSPB’s network of

reserves will undoubtedly play a

major part in refining habitat

management techniques and using

that knowledge to give sound,

practical advice to landowners and

farmers. Choughs have always been

a part of the make-up of Islay,

Colonsay and Oronsay, and will

continue to be for years to come.

Thanks to:The Heritage Lottery Fund, through

the Nàdair Trust and by Scottish

Natural Heritage (SNH).

Choughs on the Argyll Islands

The number of choughs breeding on RSPB reserves increased to 37 pairs in 2007

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26 27R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8

Black grouse in Britain have undergone a 22% population

decline and substantial range contraction since the early

1900s. Wide-scale habitat and land-use changes have been

the main cause, directly affecting both the woodland and

open ground habitats on which black grouse depend. In

Scotland, black grouse are primarily associated with

woodland edge habitats. At Corrimony and Inversnaid, we

are making particular efforts to manage the complex

mosaic of open ground and woodland habitats for the

benefit of black grouse.

AUTHORS: NICK CHAMBERS, SITE MANAGER, CENTRAL SCOTLAND RESERVES;

DAN TOMES, SITE MANAGER, CORRIMONY; AND NEIL COWIE, RESERVES ECOLOGIST

Corrimony

In the dramatic, mountainous

landscape of the central Highlands,

Corrimony links the Caledonian

woodland of Glen Affric, the

commercial plantations and native

woodlands in Glen Urquhart and Glen

Cannich, and the surrounding open

deer forests.

Here, we are restoring the natural

transition from Caledonian woodland

to open ground for the benefit of key

birds, in particular black grouse.

Habitat management seeks to create

and maintain a balance between

closed canopy woodland and the

mosaic of open woodland and open

ground, with about 500 ha of each.

Management that appears to have

benefited black grouse at Corrimony

includes reductions in numbers of

red deer, targeted cattle grazing,

felling of non-native conifers and

thinning of Scots pine plantations.

Deer fences have also been removed

and trees planted to create patches

of new woodland. All these

management interventions have

helped to create open areas and low

density woodland, particularly

adjacent to open moorland.

Numbers of lekking black grouse at

Corrimony have been increasing over

the last 10 years, from 16 males in

1997 to 57 in 2007. This has been

matched by good productivity. The

sharp fall in productivity in the last

couple of years was possibly caused

by poor weather, notably the cold,

wet spells in June when chicks are

most susceptible.

As part of the planned forest

restoration, around 220,000 native

Scots pines and broadleaf trees have

been planted on the open moorland

at Corrimony since 2000, in areas

that were far from existing seed

sources. These plantings and ongoing

natural regeneration led to an

increase in the proportion of open

moorland with trees and scrub from

35 to 52% over the period

1998–2007 (see figure above).

A proportion of the open ground

habitats are being managed by cattle

grazing, cutting or burning in patches.

This keeps the vegetation more open

and gives it a diverse structure,

creating a plentiful and accessible

food supply for the birds. It also

maintains the flower-rich pastures

and flushes for gentians and orchids

and benefits other wildlife, such as

Woodland edge restoration for black grouse

Black grouse

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Numbers of lekking black grouse in Corrimony

Distribution of trees on the open ground at Corrimony

in 1998 and 2007

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Productivity

Males

Productivity

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Birches Juniper Rowan Scots Pine Willows

1km 1km

28 29R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8 R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8

fritillary butterflies and the numerous

rare lower plant species.

As part of the trial management, we

are investigating the impacts of cutting

and burning field layer vegetation, to

see what effect this has on vegetation

regrowth, the abundance of

invertebrates and use by black grouse.

The trials are still in progress, but

initial findings show declines in some

invertebrate prey following cutting (eg

caterpillars) but increases in others (eg

flies).

Inversnaid

At Inversnaid reserve, on the banks

of Loch Lomond, we are working

with others to establish a landscape-

scale area of woodland habitats and

open ground. Many species will

benefit, including black grouse.

Inversnaid reserve was established in

1986 and extended in 2003 with the

acquisition of Garrison Farm. The

original reserve has extensive oak

and alder woodland and supports a

number of birds of conservation

concern. These include good

numbers of redstarts, wood warblers

and tree pipits. Biodiversity interest is

also very high, with small pearl-

bordered fritillaries, Wilson’s and

Tunbridge filmy ferns, and an

extremely good selection of higher

woodland plants and mammals.

Garrison Farm holds the main black

grouse lek and is being managed and

developed to provide the suite of

habitats black grouse require

throughout the year.

A series of extensive consultations

has led to a planned strategy for

managing grazing on 120 ha, and

establishing a mosaic of woodland

cover and open ground habitats over

another 250 ha. Grazing pressure has

been reduced by the removal of over

1,000 sheep and careful

management of deer.

Managing grazing

The lower ground is managed

through lets to local graziers, farming

both Highland cattle and sheep. This

provides a varied sward height and

keeps the main and subsidiary lek

sites clear of tall vegetation,

particularly bracken. The vegetation

has responded well to the change in

grazing regime, with cotton grass

growing extensively on the wet

flushes and a good variety of

flowering plants providing feeding

opportunities for black grouse.

The higher ground, where the

woodland establishment is being

undertaken, can suffer high levels of

wild herbivore attention. As a

consequence, and to protect the

newly established trees, we contract

a stalker to cull red and roe deer. This

has required careful management

and consultations with neighbouring

estates, the local Deer Management

Group and the Deer Commission, to

ensure our conservation objectives

are met without significantly

compromising the commercial

interests of deer stalking on our

neighbours’ estates. Fencing of the

new woodland was not possible, as

black grouse mortality from deer

fences can be unacceptably high,

even on those marked in the most

visible manner.

Establishing trees

A total of eight blocks, each around

one hectare, have been planted with

a mixture of broad-leaved trees and

Scots pine. These will act as a seed

source for woodland expansion

within suitable open ground habitats

up the hill. As a trial, one hectare of

ground was scarified to assess the

level of natural regeneration. Heather,

blaeberry and many other plants

have regenerated well.

Black grouse respond

The process of establishing woodland

can be very slow, and at present we

are concerned with maintaining the

current small black grouse population,

which has increased from just two

males in 2002 to four males in 2006,

presumably as a result of the

reduction in grazing pressure. In

time, as scrub and woodland

develops, we expect to see a further

increase in numbers. At present, the

grouse are showing signs of

recovery, and the highlight of 2007

was the recording of two separate,

well-grown broods of young.

On a wider landscape level,

neighbouring land has also seen a

huge number of sheep removed,

with management being transferred

from Scottish Water to Forestry

Commission Scotland. In the wider

surrounds of Garrison, we have seen

a dramatic increase in lekking black

grouse. In 2006, about nine males in

this wider area attended three leks.

In 2007, this rose to 29 male black

grouse attending five lek sites. The

increase at Inversnaid reserve mirrors

this wider increase and for much the

same reasons. It is important during

this time of flux that careful

monitoring of all leks in the area is

undertaken, to follow the fortunes of

individual leks and how they

contribute to the area-wide

population.

Thanks to:Forestry Commission Scotland, the

Woodland Trust Scotland, BP through

the Scottish Forest Alliance,

Biodiversity Action Grant Scheme,

and Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH).

Pete

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The small pearl-bordered fritillary benefits from

the vegetation management for black grouse

Tree planting at Corrimony Inversnaid and Garrison Farm

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31R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8

Seabird reserves

Each year, upwards of 120,000

seabirds of 26 species are counted

on RSPB reserves and productivity is

measured for a proportion. This

represents a substantial sample of

the whole UK populations of some

species. We contribute our data to

the annual Seabird Monitoring

Programme, managed by the Joint

Nature Conservation Committee.

Review of 2007

By the very low standards of recent

years, 2007 was a slightly better

breeding season for some seabirds in

some places.

On our Tiree reserve in the Scottish

Hebrides, 36 pairs of little terns

produced 44 fledged young – a

bumper year for this vulnerable

species here. Roseate terns at

Coquet Island in Northumberland and

at Larne Lough in Northern Ireland

also did well, with many pairs there

using artificial nest boxes. These help

chicks to avoid the worst of the

weather and reduce predation risks.

Gannets continued to be one of the

few seabirds in the UK experiencing

long-term success (a 13% increase

since the mid-90s) with the UK’s

newest colony on RSPB’s Noup Cliffs

reserve, Orkney, increasing and birds

at established sites continuing to

expand their numbers. Gannets are

well known as plunge-diving birds,

much less reliant on small, shallow-

water fish than terns and kittiwakes.

Their success suggests a plentiful

stock of small-to-medium sized

pelagic fish such as saithe, pollack

and mackerel in inshore waters.

However, in Shetland, our Sumburgh

Head reserve suffered a slump in

kittiwake numbers and breeding

success, although it did at least

produce some chicks.

The decline in the numbers of

incubating kittiwake adults and their

failure to produce any chicks between

2001 and 2004 are thought to be a

direct result of shortage in available

sandeels in the water around

Sumburgh. Huge numbers of snake

pipefish, a relative of the seahorse,

have again appeared in the diets of

kittiwakes and auks in the North Sea

in 2007. The explosion in their

numbers since 2004 remains

unexplained, but their effects are all

too plain. Pipefish, as the name

suggests, are thin, stiffly-scaled fish

with very poor nutritional value

compared to other fish, such as

sandeels or young herring. As

30

The sight, sound and smell of a seabird colony in June is

an unforgettable wildlife experience. Some of the most

awesome colonies in Europe are at RSPB reserves. At

Sumburgh Head in Shetland, Bempton Cliffs in Yorkshire

and South Stack on Anglesey, thousands of guillemots,

razorbills, puffins, fulmars and others jostle for nesting

space in the early summer. Our reserves not only provide

wildlife spectacles, but also act as important indicators of

environmental health in the seas around us.

AUTHOR: DOUG GILBERT, RESERVES ECOLOGIST

Trials and tribulations of seabird colonies

Kittiwakes

Ste

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Number of gannet nests at RSPB Noup Cliffs reserve

Kittiwake population and breeding success at RSPB

Sumburgh Head reserve

Nu

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2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Year

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150

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01997 1999 2001 2003 2005

02007

Year

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Incubating adults

Chicks per occupied nest

Pro

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250

300

350

400

450

0.2

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.08

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1.4

32 33R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8 R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8

pipefish increase and sprats and

sandeels become less abundant,

kittiwakes and auks foraging around

our coasts are increasingly bringing

pipefish back to feed chicks that

either starve through poor nutritional

intake or occasionally even choke on

their long, tough bodies. Speculation

that climate change and sea surface

temperature shifts may have driven

this change is strong.

At Troup Head in Aberdeenshire, 2007

saw the latest full colony count

carried out in partnership with the

Seabird Monitoring Programme. The

numbers of adult guillemots present

on the cliffs during the breeding

season has reached an all-time low.

Since 2001, there has been a 70%

decline in adult guillemots on the

same stretch of cliff here. Work on

the reserve to monitor changes in the

diet of these birds continues, in an

effort to pick up evidence for potential

reasons behind this dramatic decline.

Many seabirds on Orkney suffered a

collapse in productivity, with both

Arctic and common terns failing to

fledge a single chick on any of the

sites that are monitored.

The problems that have affected

terns are also having a serious knock-

on effect on Arctic skuas. Worryingly,

of over 90 Arctic skua pairs nesting

on RSPB reserves in 2007, only six

chicks reached the fledging stage.

This echoes the wider picture for this

species in the north of Scotland.

Small stolen fish, in particular from

terns, form the staple diet of these

graceful birds. Kittiwakes on Orkney

fared no better than terns and skuas,

with another year of extremely poor

breeding success.

What can we do?

Throughout the UK, one threat facing

ground-nesting seabirds such as terns

and fulmars, as well as burrow-nesters

such as puffins, is the continued

presence of introduced mammalian

predators, especially rats and mink.

The RSPB has carried out an analysis

of where introduced mammalian

predators might suppress the

breeding success of key bird species,

or where we need to keep island

reserves as rat-free as possible. We

will use this to inform our

management of seabird islands.

Thanks to:We would like to thank Martin

Heubeck, Shetland Oil Terminal

Environment Advisory Group

(SOTEAG) and the JNCC Seabirds

Monitoring Programme for providing

data and Scottish Natural Heritage

(SNH) for supporting our

management at these reserves.

Full colony counts for RSPB Troup Head reserve

0

20000

30000

40000

50000

10000

Year

1995 2001 2007

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Gannet colony

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Puffin with sandeels

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Better protection

for our seas

Protection of the marine

environment has long been

neglected by governments.

Without better control over

levels of fishing exploitation,

marine pollution and other

developments in our seas, the

degradation of seabird habitats

and food supplies will continue.

The effects of climate change

are already beginning to bite in

the seas that surround us. The

Marine Climate Change Impacts

Partnership, of which the RSPB

is a member, paints a stark

picture of major changes in

winter sea temperatures and the

effects this may have on seabird

breeding success in its 2007-08

Report Card. This should be a spur

to action to prevent wholesale

decline of our great seabird cities.

The RSPB looks forward to

marine legislation that can offer

greater protection for our seas

progressing at both Westminster

and the Scottish Parliament

during 2008-09. We will be

lobbying strongly to ensure new

designations that protect some

of our iconic, nationally important

species not protected under

European designation, such as

the black guillemot, are put in

place. We will continue to urge

the government and devolved

administrations to meet their

international obligations under the

Birds Directive, and bring forward

new proposals to extend SPAs

to the waters surrounding

colonies, seabird foraging areas

and those areas important for

non-breeding ducks and divers.

35R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8

We maintain a flock of Welsh

mountain ewes on the island to help

graze the sward to an optimum

height for choughs (ideally between

two and four centimetres). The flock

size varies considerably depending on

the size of the island’s rabbit

population. Getting sheep on and off

the island is no easy task. It requires

a spell of calm weather, a suitably

high tide and the availability of a lorry.

Derek Rees, our contracted

shepherd, has a purpose-built, open

decked aluminium work boat to

transport the sheep. Once loaded on

the mainland, the sheep then have to

cross the notorious Ramsey Sound

with a current running at up to 10

knots on the highest spring tides.

Thanks to Derek’s expert local

knowledge and experience, sheep

movements are well planned and

organised affairs, resulting in minimal

stress to animals (but not necessarily

the workers!).

Ramsey is also an important site for

seabirds. Around 3,000 guillemots

and 1,500 razorbills breed on the vast

cliffs on the west coast. In addition,

the island supports a thriving

population of Manx shearwaters. This

burrow-nesting seabird was severely

curtailed during 200 years of brown

rat occupation. The rats came ashore

from shipwrecks in the 1800s but

were successfully eradicated during a

four-month-long project in the winter

of 1999-2000. At that time, the Manx

shearwater population was around

900 pairs. Eight years later, the

population has increased to around

2,300 pairs. Burrow-nesting birds will

always struggle where rats are

present: this is the reason we no

longer have puffins on Ramsey. It is

hoped that, now the rats have gone,

one day puffins will re-colonise.

Another species that suffered due to

rats is the storm petrel. We have not

lost them from the reserve

completely, as a small population of

around 50 to 100 pairs nest on the

Bishops and Clerks, a small string of

islands two miles off the north-west

coast of Ramsey. It is our plan to

install nest boxes amongst their

favoured breeding habitat of boulder

scree along the west coast of

Ramsey, and monitor these for signs

of activity at the end of the breeding

season. The petrels, like the

shearwaters, only return to the island

under the cover of darkness, so this

year we plan to use a tape playback

of the male song, to try and attract

passing non-breeders from the

nearby Bishops and Clerks colony to

investigate Ramsey, and hopefully

encourage them to breed.

Ramsey also plays host to a number

of nationally important plants. One of

these, a sub-species of juniper,

Juniperus communis subsp.

hemisphaerica, is found at only four

sites in Wales. The low numbers and

skewed sex-ratio of these plants

preclude any regeneration from seed.

The causes of unfavourable condition

in coastal juniper are almost certainly

related to past management –

notably fire and high grazing

pressures – and these populations

are now thought to be incapable of

independent recovery without an

equivalent intervention.

To conserve the population of this

fragile sub-species on Ramsey, in

conjunction with the Countryside

Council for Wales, we collected

cuttings from the existing Ramsey

plants, propagated them at a nursery,

then returned them to Ramsey. They

are now ready to be transplanted

back to their natural environment.

Ramsey hosts three Nationally

Scarce aquatic plants: three lobed

water crowfoot, floating water

plantain and pilwort. All are classic

examples of heathland pool flora and

require open, shallow conditions in

which to thrive. The livestock are

beneficial in this respect too. Their

trampling and grazing help maintain

open conditions and seeds can be

transferred between pools and

ditches on their hooves. In addition to

maintaining suitable conditions in the

existing pools, several new ponds

have been created in recent years,

to encourage the spread of

these plants.

34

The RSPB purchased the stunning island of Ramsey,

Pembrokeshire, in 1992, following an appeal to its

members. The principal importance of the site is its

population of choughs. The island supports between seven

and nine breeding pairs, representing around 3% of the

Welsh breeding population. Visitors are welcomed onto the

island during the summer months. Typically receiving

about 5,000 visitors per year, the island makes a

significant contribution to the local economy.

AUTHOR: GREG MORGAN, WARDEN, RAMSEY ISLAND

Restoring Ramsey Island’s wildlife riches

Ramsey Island

Ben

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Bringing sheep onto Ramsey Island

37R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 836

Restoring lost habitatsThe main factor causing the loss of biodiversity in the last

century has been destruction of habitat. RSPB nature

reserves conserve more than 5% of the UK resource of

native Caledonian pine, reedbed, Flow Country deep peat

blanket bog, wet grassland and brackish lagoons, and also

significant areas of lowland heath and intertidal habitats.

Nature reserves allow the re-creation of lost habitats in the

areas from which they have disappeared or their creation in

new areas. The RSPB has been particularly active in

creating and restoring reedbeds, wet grasslands and

heathlands where the importance of the habitat for birds is

high, and in so doing has contributed significantly to UK

Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) targets for these habitats.

Flow Country dubh lochans near Altnahara

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39R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8

Last year we celebrated the 60th anniversary of Minsmere

reserve on the Suffolk Coast. One of our management

successes has been to create two large areas of lowland

acid grassland and heathland on ex-arable land, providing

habitat for breeding stone-curlews, silver-studded blue

butterflies and a variety of rare beetles and plants. The 140

ha of acid grassland created provides a significant

contribution to the UK government’s BAP target for

recreating 500 ha of lowland dry acid grassland by 2010.

AUTHORS: MALCOLM AUSDEN, SENIOR RESERVES ECOLOGIST; AND MEL KEMP,

HEATHLAND WARDEN, MINSMERE

At Minsmere, we have used a range

of innovative management

techniques to create lowland acid

grassland and heathland on arable

land acquired in stages from 1989 to

2004. The project comprised the

following stages:

Initial site assessment

Surveys were undertaken over the

course of 1990-91 to compare soil

conditions on the arable fields with

those on the surrounding heathland,

and to investigate the composition of

the seedbank. The results of these

suggested that the key constraints

for successful development of acid-

loving vegetation on the arable fields

were high soil pH, high levels of

plant-available phosphorus and a lack

of seeds of acid grassland and

heathland plants.

Arable cropping

Cropping was undertaken, mainly

using cereals, with the aim of

reducing soil fertility. This followed

earlier success with the same

technique in Breckland. This period of

cropping at Minsmere had no

measurable effect on levels of plant-

available phosphorus or other key soil

nutrients (Marrs et al. 1998).

Research into methods of

soil acidification

Experiments were carried out by the

University of Liverpool and ourselves

to investigate methods of reducing

soil pH, to negate the effects of

applications of lime while the fields

had been arable. The most promising

treatments were the addition of

sulphur and the addition of a

combination of sulphur and bracken

litter (Owen et al. 2001).

Field-scale application

This began in 1996 and involved

application of the following four

treatments, aimed at creating acid

grassland:

• Addition of 2.6 tonnes of

elemental sulphur per hectare

and re-seeding with an acid

grassland mix.

• Addition of 3.3 tonnes of

elemental sulphur per hectare

plus 2.5 cm depth of bracken litter.

Small quantities of heathland

clippings and litter were also

added to provide heather seed.

• Seeding with an acid

grassland mix.

• Natural regeneration.

Sulphur and heathland clippings and

litter have also been applied to the

margins of some fields to create a

fringe of heathland surrounding the

acid grassland.

Ongoing management

and monitoring

The ex-arable fields have

subsequently been managed by:

grazing with sheep; encouraging

heavy grazing by rabbits; and by

controlling noxious weeds by topping

and herbicide application. The

reserve is also grazed by 250 or

so wild red deer.

Rabbit grazing is particularly important

in providing the short (less than two

centimetres) sward required by stone-

curlews and the soil disturbance

required by annual plants and warmth-

loving invertebrates. Rabbits have

been encouraged to spread into the

interior of fields by depositing brash

piles (see photograph).

Plots have also been created for

stone-curlews to nest on. These

comprise 1.3-ha blocks, created by

ploughing half of each block in

alternate years to maintain the sparse

vegetation and bare ground required

by them. Nesting stone-curlews have

been protected from predation by red

foxes using electric fencing.

A detailed programme of monitoring

has been carried out to determine

the success of the different field

treatments used. This has involved

monitoring of soil chemistry,

vegetation, ground beetles, habitat

conditions for stone-curlews and

breeding birds.

Acid grassland creation and stone-curlews at Minsmere

Dav

e B

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A colony of silver-studded blue

butterflies has established on the

newly created heathland at Minsmere

38 R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8

Mal

colm

Au

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(R

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B)

Rabbits have been encouraged

to spread into the interior of

fields by depositing piles of

brash for them to shelter in

and establish warrens beneath.

40 41R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8 R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8

What we have achieved

All treatments involving re-seeding,

with or without soil acidification, have

developed grassland with a high

cover of acid-tolerant grasses.

Addition of sulphur, bracken litter and

heathland clippings and litter, has

resulted in a sward with a high

species-richness of acid grassland

plants. Seeds of these must have

been introduced amongst the litter

and cuttings. Fields left to regenerate

naturally had vegetation very

dissimilar to that of nearby, existing

acid grassland, and in some areas –

particularly on the sandiest and most

drought-prone soils – they support

annual plants and ground beetles of

high conservation value. The

vegetation contains a number of

scarce annuals, with smooth cat’s-ear

abundant, and clustered clover and

spring vetch widespread throughout

the sward. The ground-beetle fauna

of the ex-arable fields includes a

range of scarce species characteristic

of warm, dry, sandy soils. Further

details are given in Ausden et al.

(submitted). A colony of

silver-studded blue butterflies has

established on the newly created

heathland, just four years after the

first spreading of heathland clippings

and litter.

Stone-curlews started nesting on the

ex-arable fields in 2003, having last

bred in the Minsmere area in 1969. In

2007, the population increased to two

pairs. Each pair had two broods,

fledging a total of six young.

Breeding stone-curlews are

extremely sensitive to disturbance

and vulnerable to egg collectors. The

priority has been to minimise

disturbance and allow this significant

population to become established. In

2007, Minsmere held one-third of the

coastal Suffolk coast population. At

present, there are no viewing

facilities for the public to see

breeding stone-curlews at Minsmere,

although we are hoping to provide

these in the future.

Thanks to:The project was funded by Natural

England's Higher Level Stewardship,

Heritage Lottery Fund, SITA Trust and

Viridor Credits via Suffolk

Environmental Trust. The sheep flock

grazing the reversion fields have been

supported by a Natural England

Wildlife Enhancement Scheme

agreement.

References:Ausden, M, Kemp, M, Lyons, G and

Telfer, M G (submitted) Creation of

acid grassland on arable land:

vegetation development and

colonisation by ground beetles

(Coleoptera, Carabidae)

Marrs, R H, Snow, C S R, Owen, K M

& Evans, C E 1998 Heathland and

acid grassland creation on arable soils

at Minsmere: identification of

potential problems and a test of

cropping to impoverish soils.

Biological Conservation 85: 69-82

Owen, K M & Marrs, R H 2001 The

use of mixtures of sulphur and

bracken litter to reduce pH of former

arable soils and control ruderal

species. Restoration Ecology 9:

397-409.

Soil pH of acidified and unacidified ex-arable fields

at Minsmere compared to that of nearby existing

acid grassland

The graphs show soil pH nine years after soil acidification. Values are means ± one standard error

3Existing acid

grasslandAcidified with 2.6t

sulphur per ha

Acidified with 3.3t

sulphur per ha plus

bracken litter

Unacidified (1)

Unacidified (2)

So

il P

H

4

5

6

7

The ex-arable land at Minsmere supported two pairs of

breeding stone-curlews in 2007

Ch

ris

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)

A view across one of the blocks of ex-arable land at Minsmere, showing a

mixture of heavily grazed heather and acid grassland.This area was a

cereal field in 1995

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R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8 43R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8

Otmoor was a diverse and extensive wetland in the

nineteenth century. Drainage and river engineering have

subsequently reduced the wetland to a few fragments.

Since 1997, in partnership with the Environment Agency,

we have been recreating the riches of the former wetland.

Our reserve now supports a significant proportion of the

Upper Thames river valley’s remaining breeding wading

birds, together with large numbers of wintering wildfowl

and other wetland wildlife.

AUTHOR: NEIL LAMBERT, SITE MANAGER, OTMOOR

In the past, Otmoor was a

magnificent wetland. Flooding could

persist throughout the winter and

some areas would remain wet and

marshy during the summer. A mosaic

of pools, ditches, water courses and

wet grazing marshes developed, and

it was described as “a languorous

East Anglian fen transplanted into the

heart of Oxfordshire”.

In the 19th century, bitterns and black

terns nested, and there is reference

to the vast flocks of wintering

waterfowl, with wildfowl being

collected on “an industrial scale” for

the markets in the city of Oxford and

beyond. In the 1930s, the

Oxfordshire Ornithological Society

estimated 40 to 50 pairs of snipe

were breeding within 11-13 km radius

of Oxford.

The moor has changed dramatically in

the last 200 years. The local river, the

Ray, has been engineered,

straightened and its floods tamed.

Enclosure in the 1830s saw the

division of the open marsh into

hedged fields. The most radical

changes took place between 1969

and 1980. Nearly a third of Otmoor

was drained and arable farming was

introduced. This involved building clay

banks to keep out river water and the

installation of pumps to remove

excess rainwater. A further arterial

drainage scheme for the River Ray,

which would have affected the

drainage of Otmoor, was only

abandoned in the mid 1980s as

Government belatedly recast its

priorities for flood defence.

Remnants of the old Otmoor

landscape remained, particularly on

the 211-ha SSSI encompassing a

military rifle range. These remnants

still held many of the former

wetland species, including birds

such as lapwings, redshanks, snipe

and curlews.

Wetland restoration

The RSPB has purchased nearly 400

ha of grassland and arable land since

1997 and is restoring wet grassland

and reedbeds for a range of wildlife,

including breeding wading birds

and bitterns.

Restoration has involved:

• establishment of grassland on

ex-arable land

• excavation of ditches and pools to

provide shallow water and muddy

margins, for feeding wading birds

and other wetland wildlife

• construction of a 22-ha reed-filled

water storage reservoir. Reedbed

is also being established

elsewhere on the reserve.

The grassland is being established by

a mixture of natural regeneration and

sowing of seed mixes. As our

experience has grown, the seed

mixes have been refined and we now

use seed collected from nearby

grassland sites when possible. For

the first year at least, the grassland

sward is mown regularly to help with

establishment. Seasonal grazing is

then introduced during the dry

summer months for another two

years. During the first few years,

water levels are also kept lower, to

speed up the rate of establishment

of a strong, grass root structure.

The restoration of the grazing marsh

includes the creation or enhancement

of over 60 km of water-filled ditches,

to provide shallow water and muddy

margins for wading birds to feed in.

The aim is to create at least 200 m of

water’s edge per hectare of grassland.

So far, about 450 small, shallow pools

have also been created. The majority

of the ditches are no more than 50 cm

deep. This creates a high proportion of

shallow water, keeps costs down and

reduces the amount of excavated

material that has to be “lost”

elsewhere on the site. A proportion of

the ditches are up to two metres

The Otmoor story

An

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Cattle grazing alongside ditch at Otmoor

Common darter, one of eighteen species of dragonfly and damselfly

recorded at Otmoor.

42

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45R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 844 R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8

deep. These act as wet fencing for

livestock, as an arterial system to

move water around the site, and

provide conditions for a different range

of aquatic species such as dragonflies,

aquatic plants and fish.

A unique machine, the “Big Wheel”

rotary ditcher, was imported from

Ohio in the USA to create over 20 km

of shallow ditch features. The ditcher

has two bulldozer blades, which

carve out the ditch. The soil is then

broken up, thrown up to 20 m away

from the ditch by a second part of

the ditcher. This is a 2.5 m spinning

wheel with eight steel blades bolted

onto it. The ditcher has now worked

on a number of other sites across the

UK, where it has created a total of

450 km of shallow ditches.

Construction of the reedbed reservoir

involved the excavation of nearly

three kilometres of new ditches and

six large lagoons. Staff and

volunteers have planted over 150,000

reed seedlings. Seed was collected

from small stands of reed that were

still present on the reserve and

grown in seed trays within a

greenhouse on the site. When the

reed seedlings are around 30 cm tall,

they are transplanted into the

reedbed. At this stage they are at risk

from grazing geese, swans and

coots. Fencing is installed for the first

year until the reeds become well

established – this is the most time-

consuming and expensive part of the

process, taking ten times as long as

the planting itself! The reedbed

provides the essential habitat for

aquatic plants and a healthy fish

population – critical for bitterns.

What we have achieved

In 2007, Otmoor RSPB reserve

supported 45 pairs of breeding

lapwings, 18 pairs of breeding

redshanks and five drumming snipe.

Otmoor RSPB reserve now supports

a significant proportion of the

remaining waders in the Upper

Thames river valleys. The reserve also

supports large numbers of wintering

waterfowl. During winter 2006-07,

maximum counts on the reserve

included 2,800 wigeons, 2,400 teals,

342 pintails, 3,500 lapwings and

2,300 golden plovers. Bitterns winter

almost annually. Other wetland

wildlife includes 18 species of

dragonflies and damselflies, 30

species of butterfly, the red-listed

beetle Badister meridionalis and

tassel stonewort.

The future

The dilemma for the future of

Otmoor is how far we can restore

the natural-functioning of the

floodplain. Reconnecting the wetland

with the river may bring benefits, but

may also bring nutrient-rich water,

invasive non-native species and flash

floods. We are also working with

Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and

Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT) to

explore where land in the wider area

can be brought into conservation

management to restore the

landscape-scale wetland of the past.

Thanks to:Biffaward, Cherwell District Council,

Defra through Natural England,

Environment Agency, Doris Field

Charitable Trust, Heritage Lottery

Fund, Miss W E Lawrence 1973

Charitable Trust, SITA Trust, South

Oxfordshire District Council, Trust for

Oxfordshire’s Environment with funds

from Viridor Credit’s Oxfordshire Fund

and Waste Recycling Groups Ltd

(WRG) through Waste Recycling

Environmental Ltd (WREN).

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Rotary ditching machine in action at Otmoor

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There were five drumming snipe on Otmoor RSPB reserve in 2007.

R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8 47R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8

Loch of Strathbeg, on the north-east coast of

Aberdeenshire, is the largest sand dune loch in Britain. The

RSPB has had a reserve here since 1979, and it now covers

915 ha, encompassing 70% of the 206-ha loch, plus

adjacent SSSI wetland and some undesignated improved

grassland. The shallow loch is separated from the North

Sea by sand dunes. There is some saline intrusion, but the

loch is generally fresh water.

AUTHOR: SIMON BUSUTTIL, RESERVES MANAGER, EAST SCOTLAND

The bird life using the loch and its

wetlands is rich. Over 29 years, the

RSPB’s management has established

a significant waterfowl refuge, and

numbers of most wintering species

have risen. Up to 20% of the world’s

pink-footed geese arrive at the site in

autumn. Internationally important

numbers of whooper swans, greylag

and barnacle geese and teals also

use the reserve.

Descriptions of the loch from the

1970s speak of being able to see the

bed of the loch through clear water

and of brown trout hiding among

beds of aquatic plants. However, with

a predominantly intensive agricultural

catchment covering 5,700 ha, it is not

surprising that Loch of Strathbeg has

suffered from increased levels of

nitrogen and phosphorous over the

past 30 years. Increased levels of

autumn ploughing have led to soil

erosion and the loch’s sandy bed

being covered in a layer of silt. The

consequences of these man-induced

changes have been a shift in the

character of the vegetation in the loch

from one of macrophytes to one

dominated by epiphytic algae and the

resulting pea-soup appearance of the

water. The increased numbers of

geese roosting on the loch in the

autumn may also have contributed to

this change. The trout have declined

significantly and so too have several

bird species dependent on either fish

or aquatic invertebrates and

vegetation, such as goosanders,

goldeneyes, tufted ducks and

pochards.

Restoring the burn

The Nature Conservation (Scotland)

Act 2004 and the implementation of

the European Union’s Water

Wetland restoration at Loch of Strathbeg

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Water voles are spreading across the newly created wetland areas at Loch of Strathbeg

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Creation of the new channel for the burn

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Up to 20% of the world’s population

of pink-footed geese use the refuge at Loch of Strathbeg

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49R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8

challenges, especially in terms of

minimising damage to the

vegetation, and, more importantly, to

the peat substrate. The solution was

to use a huge cutting disc attached

to the hydraulic arm of a 360° digger.

Known as the “birds-eye”, this

mowed mature willows at ground

level, rowed them up and then

burned them at 700°C in a

compressed air burner towed behind

it. This minimised impact on

vegetation and peat and was far less

damaging than the manual cutting

and dragging off site of the cut trees

would have been.

Now, on Mosstown Fen for the first

time in half a century, significant

management of the fen is taking

place. In partnership with a private

contractor, specialist wetland

harvesting machinery has been

purchased and is being used to cut

and remove vegetation, again with

minimal impact on the peat

substrate. We intend to re-introduce

a cutting and grazing regime to this

area, allowing short fen vegetation to

replace much of the thick, rank

impenetrable vegetation. Breeding

wading birds such as redshanks and

lapwings will then be able to return

to this part of the site.

Restoring the loch

These two large-scale habitat

projects are the start of a continued

programme of work to fully restore

the Loch of Strathbeg. We are now

carrying out a full Site Condition

Assessment of the loch. This will

identify the on-site and

catchment-wide factors affecting

water quality and enable us to

propose a range of options for

bringing the site into favourable

condition. Given that the

internationally important numbers of

birds themselves are contributing to

the levels of nitrogen in the loch, our

view is that, in order to achieve the

high water quality standards that it

could, standards in the catchment

must actually be higher.

The future looks bright for the Loch of

Strathbeg. SEPA (Scottish

Environmental Protection Agency) are

targeting pollution reduction

measures at the Savoch catchment,

and options for further remedial work

on the loch are being examined. Over

a quarter of a century we have not

only secured a significant waterfowl

refuge, but begun to create the

conditions the full-scale restoration

and sustainable management of a

spectacular wetland.

Thanks to:The Heritage Lottery Fund, European

Regional Development Fund (ERDF)

through the Eastern Scotland

European Partnership, Scottish

Natural Heritage (SNH), The Gillman

Trusts, Friends of Strathbeg and

Scottish Environmental Protection

Agency (SEPA).

48 R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8

Framework Directive in Scotland

through Water Services (Scotland)

Act 2005 provided the catalyst for a

programme of work to begin

restoring the Loch of Strathbeg. A

review of historic data, supplemented

by further data collation, identified

the Savoch Burn as the major source

of pollution to the loch. The burn had

been straightened and embanked in

the 19th century to drain the

floodplain at the western end of the

loch. Having identified its

pre-canalised course, the RSPB

employed contractors, Alaska

Environmental, to re-engineer the

burn, removing its containing banks,

restoring an inundation regime on the

flood plain and digging a new channel

for it. Freed from its constraints, the

burn can now find its own course

over time. Already, riffles and banks

are beginning to appear in what was

a uniformly flowing watercourse.

Initial monitoring suggests that water

now takes up to 24 hours to reach

the loch, where previously it took two

hours. The result is that the silt in

suspension is deposited in a

specifically designed silt trap before it

reaches the loch. Built with future

access in mind, these will be

periodically dug out and the silt

returned to the farmland. The water

in the burn now passes through a

newly created 23-ha reedbed “cell”,

which adds significantly to the range

of habitats on the reserve and further

slows the flow of the burn, aiding

deposition. Having passed through

the reedbed, the burn is used to feed

water to a 36-ha cell of wet

grassland. This area had previously

suffered from being extremely

difficult to manage, either being too

dry or too wet. Completely

re-engineered, involving the

movement of 30,000 m3 of soil, we

are now able to control water levels

in both cells through single water

control structures.

Within hours of the work being

carried out, brown trout and

thousands of brook lampreys were

seen moving along the re-engineered

burn. Careful measures were put in

place during work to avoid the known

areas frequented by water voles.

Repeat surveys after the engineering

work are showing that they have

benefited and are spreading across

the newly created wetland areas.

Restoring the fen

Agricultural change has also had a

negative impact on the fen and

swamp areas around Strathbeg.

These areas, once grazed and cut for

bedding and fodder, have been

abandoned and are now dominated

by rank vegetation, with significant

areas of willow scrub.

As part of this habitat restoration

programme, Alaska Environmental

also cleared 28 ha of scrub from

Mosstown Fen. Working on

SSSI-quality wet fen posed significant

Water in the burn now takes up to 22 hours longer to reach the Loch

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Mosstown Fen after 28 ha of scrub were removed

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A brief history

Our interest at Geltsdale comprises a

mixture of different tenures. We have

held the sporting rights over the

entire reserve since 1999. Following

a number of acquisitions, we now

have direct management control

over about 45% of the reserve and

the sporting rights over the

remainder. Geltsdale is managed by

our site team and, since 2003, by a

new tenant farmer. The tenancy is

one of the largest organic enterprises

in England. Geltsdale has a rich

industrial history, with coal mining

taking place through the early

industrial period up until the 1930s.

The land was formerly managed for

grouse and as a hill farm.

A special place

Geltsdale reserve comprises part of

Geltsdale and Glendue Fells SSSI and

is an integral part of the North

Pennine Moors Special Area of

Conservation and Special Protection

Area. The reserve is designated both

for its internationally important

habitats (blanket bog, dwarf shrub

heath) and associated birds (golden

plovers, hen harriers, merlins,

peregrines). The reserve comprises a

suite of upland habitats, dominated

by the core of blanket bog, grading

into a mosaic of heather moor and

grassland habitats. These habitats are

fringed by farmland and woodland

habitats. Over 100 different species

of bird have bred on the reserve

since 2003. A recent survey of land

under our direct control found all of

the blanket bog in good or recovering

condition, representing a marked

improvement since the start of

our tenure.

Managing for a range of

benefits in partnership

with others

The reserve is managed for the full

range of priority habitats and

species. Geltsdale is open access

and we are working to help people

experience its beauty and tranquillity.

In 2007, we completed the

development of a small-scale

information centre at Stagsike.

Our management includes extensive

livestock grazing (increasing the use

of cattle), heather cutting, bracken

management, grip blocking,

re-instating wet features in

meadows, and the establishment and

restoration of woodland and wood

pasture. Agri-environment payments

provide critical support, providing a

financial framework for conservation

farming. It is envisaged that, in the

future, both cattle and ponies will be

used to create and maintain the mix

of vegetation structure and

composition that many of our key

birds require.

We aim to create a more natural and

diverse moorland community rich in

bryophytes (mosses), berry-bearing

shrubs and flowering plants. We aim

to trial a range of innovative

approaches that inform our

understanding of how wildlife and a

range of ecosystem services (eg

carbon storage, clean surface water)

respond to our land management,

and to further our understanding of

the management required to allow

habitats and species to respond to a

changing climate.

50

Geltsdale reserve, located in the north-west corner of the North

Pennines, comprises a mosaic of upland habitats and birds

associated with the English uplands. Our interest dates back to 1975,

when we entered into a wardening agreement with the Nicholson

family (estate owner). Because of the Nicholsons’ positive attitude to

nature conservation, our relationship flourished, allowing us to

increase our influence over the reserve. Today, the reserve extends to

over 5,200 ha, almost half of which is under our direct control. We

have ambitious plans for Geltsdale, where we are working to develop

what we consider to be a more sustainable approach to land

management than is generally found across our uplands.

AUTHORS: DAVE O’HARA, GELTSDALE MANAGER;

PAT THOMPSON, UPLANDS CONSERVATION OFFICER

Geltsdale reserve – an upland jewel

The award-winning information centre at Stagsike Cottages, Geltsdale

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Geltsdale supports 18 to 20 pairs of ring ouzels, a nationally

declining species

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Breeding farmland waders at Tarnhouse, Clowesgill

and Halton Lea

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Birds of prey

Geltsdale currently supports six pairs

of merlins and a single pair of

peregrines. Despite attracting

displaying and prospecting birds, hen

harriers have not bred since 2006

when a pair fledged two young. In

good vole years, Geltsdale has

supported up to 10 pairs of short-

eared owls. We are concerned that

the absence or low numbers of some

species of birds of prey at Geltsdale

reflects the persecution that we

believe is taking place across the

North Pennines (and beyond). The

absence of hen harriers is not related

to prey availability.

Black grouse

The black grouse population in the

North Pennines is relatively isolated,

with few birds elsewhere in England.

At Geltsdale, numbers have

increased following targeted habitat

management including reduced

grazing pressure by sheep and the

introduction of cattle grazing, whilst

the woodland planting has created

new habitat for the species. The

number of lekking males has

increased from seven males in 2005

to 22 males in 2008.

Breeding waders

The enclosed grassland consists of a

mix of rushy pasture and meadows.

This is an important breeding wader

habitat across the North Pennines. At

Geltsdale, the introduction of cattle

grazing, wetland creation and

enhancement has been associated

with substantial increases in breeding

waders, particularly lapwings,

curlews, snipe and redshanks.

Golden plover numbers have

remained stable since 1999, with 39

pairs in 2007. Whilst curlew numbers

have remained stable overall,

numbers on the moorland have

recently declined (see figure above).

Understanding the effects

of management change

We conduct research on the reserve

to help us understand how birds and

habitats respond to different

management regimes. Between

1999 and 2006, we assessed the

effects of reducing sheep numbers

on moorland bird abundance and

vegetation condition. Stock

reductions led to declines in golden

plovers and curlews, with the

resultant increase in vegetation

height and density being the probable

cause. These findings illustrate how

alternative management will have to

be deployed (eg cutting and cattle

grazing) to maintain the necessary

open vegetation under a regime of

low sheep stocking densities.

Ground nesting birds such as waders

and black grouse are often vulnerable

to the effects of predation, which can

act to cause declines or limit

recovery. For this reason, we

currently undertake carefully targeted

control of crows and foxes at

Geltsdale. This is particularly

important for black grouse because

of the need to maximise the chances

of the population both increasing and

expanding range.

Thanks to:

Our work at Geltsdale is supported

by Cumbria Waste Management

Environment Trust, European Regional

Development Fund, The Famous

Grouse, Forestry Commission,

Natural England through Defra’s

Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund,

North Pennines AONB Partnership’s

Sustainable Development Fund and

SITA Trust.

Species Popn. size Status Comment

Hen harrier 0-1 SPA Last bred successfully in 2006

Peregrine 1 SPA Occasional second pair

Merlin 6 SPA Stable

Barn owl 5 Increasing

Short-eared owl 8 SSSI Fluctuates with vole population

Black grouse 22 Increasing

Corncrake <1 Confirmed breeding 2006

Golden plover 39 SPA Stable

Dunlin 1-2 SPA Stable but vulnerable

Curlew 123 SPA Stable

Lapwing 46 SSSI Increasing

Redshank 14 SSSI Increasing

Snipe 19 SSSI Increasing

Ring ouzel 20 SSSI Stable

Current priority breeding bird populations

Recent management includes:

• between 2002–2007, blocked 80

km of grips (artificial drains) with

peat dams

• sheep stocking reduced from two

ewes/ha to 0.6 ewes/ha and

switched to extensive organic

farming system

• currently cut 20 ha of heather

each year to create heterogeneity

and to help restore areas of

heather-dominated blanket bog

that were formerly burnt

• we no longer use fire to manage

active and recovering blanket bog.

Restoring pasture

woodland

We have established 200 ha of new

woodland on bracken-dominated acid

grassland slopes and aim to

introduce extensive cattle grazing into

the wood when the trees are

established. This is part of a

commitment to re-establish scattered

woodland and scrub around the

moorland edge.

Restoring wet meadows and the

upland in-bye farmland

Through close work with our tenant

farmer, the farmland has seen

dramatic change. There has been a

major reduction in sheep numbers

and an increase in cattle grazing. The

meadows are late-cut, with inputs

restricted to use of organic manure.

Restoration work includes drain

blocking, scrape creation and

naturalising of canalised water

courses.

Monitoring

In addition to priority birds, we also

monitor other key moorland fauna,

including meadow pipits, voles and

red grouse.

Restoring blanket bog

Geltsdale includes 2,600 ha of

blanket bog, a habitat made up of a

variety of peat-forming plants, which

over thousands of years have

resulted in the formation of a layer of

deep peat which stores vast

quantities of carbon.

Sphagnum mosses are recovering where cutting has replaced

burning on the blanket bog.

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The water level in Lough Neagh has

been lowered twice to create

additional farmland. The last lowering

was completed in 1959 and as

Portmore is connected to Lough

Neagh it was also affected, causing

the fringe of reed surrounding the

Lough to dry and willow, and alder

scrub to take hold.

A survey of the scrub fringe adjacent

to RSPB-owned meadows at

Portmore Lough showed that the

scrub consisted of 86% willow and

14% alder, none of which was

estimated to be older than 40 years.

Restoring the fen

Following a consultation and approval

process with the Forest Service,

Environment and Heritage Service

and local residents, we started the

scrub clearance project in 2005. The

first stage was to bore and inject

every individual stem with 10 ml of

herbicide in late summer. This killed

almost 95% of all the trees injected.

This method was chosen as it

prevented re-growth from stumps

and brash; allowed the standing

deadwood to dry which when

chipped made it commercially viable

to burn in wood chip burners; and

reduced its mass, lessening the

negative impact on sensitive ground

conditions when being removed. The

fringe area where the scrub was

removed from has a layer of

approximately six inches of

vegetation and thatch and then

several metres of silt. Therefore, low-

pressure machines had to be used to

avoid breaking the surface and

disappearing.

Managing the fen

To keep the scrub from regenerating,

we have acquired a small herd of

Konik ponies. They will roam the fen

at a density of 0.75 LU/ha. These

ponies are the closest relative of the

extinct tarpan horse and are utilised

on many nature reserves due to being

hardy, self-sufficient and requiring

little husbandry. They are tolerant of

wet conditions and graze the interface

between the meadow and fen,

creating an invertebrate-rich area.

Managing the wet

meadows

The meadows adjacent to the area

cleared of scrub also underwent

major restoration to create suitable

habitat for breeding lapwings. These

meadows were dominated by soft

rush and although the meadows had

been mown and arisings removed for

nine years, it had a marginal impact

on the rush cover, which only

reduced to 80%. Following

consultation with Environment and

Heritage Service and Department of

Agriculture and Rural Development,

we were given consent to weed

wipe the meadows with a digitally

controlled anti-drip hydrostatic weed

wiper. The rush cover was mown as

short as possible and all arisings

collected, the new growth was then

weed wiped with 1:1 water herbicide

mix and cut again 60 days after the

herbicide application. This project will

take three years to clear the

meadows of soft rush, but in the first

year we succeeded in reducing the

cover to approximately 30%.

54

The RSPB’s Portmore Lough reserve lies to the south-west corner

of Lough Neagh (the biggest inland lake in the UK) in Northern

Ireland. It is linked to Lough Neagh by two canalised waterways.

Portmore Lough is designated ASSI, SPA and Ramsar for

breeding waders, wintering wildfowl and terrestrial

invertebrates. It is becoming increasingly important as a key area

for lapwing recovery in Northern Ireland. We have restored nine

hectares of fen and 20 ha of wet grassland to connect Portmore

Lough to the wet meadows, and provide suitable habitat for

breeding lapwings and snipe.

AUTHOR: JOHN SCOVELL, SITE MANAGER, PORTMORE LOUGH

Wetland creation at Portmore Lough

Nine ha of fen have been restored by scrub removal, so reconnecting it to the Lough

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Low pressure machinery was used to avoid breaking the ground surface

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56 R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8

What we have achieved

Between September 2005 and

January 2008, we have removed

1,000 tonnes of wood chip, restoring

nine hectares of fen.

Water levels were raised by installing

sluices and bunds, creating damp

conditions and splashes on the

meadows. To create shallow muddy

margins, 0.5 km of ditches were

re-profiled. Two kilometres of foot

drains (one metre wide and 30 cm

deep) and 4,000 m2 of scrapes

were excavated.

Raising the water levels and creating

muddy fringes has benefited

breeding lapwings and snipe.

R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8

Four pairs of breeding lapwings, and

two pairs of snipe were recorded in

2007, and 12 species of odonata

were also recorded.

Looking to the future

Portmore Lough is now being

managed as one of five key recovery

areas for lapwings in Northern

Ireland. It is the last substantial area

of wet grassland in the south-west

Lough Neagh area and it is within six

miles of Maghaberry prison, which

has a core breeding population of 20

pairs of lapwings inside the perimeter

fence. The range expansion of this

population is very limited, due to

restricted habitat in the prison and on

its margins. Portmore Lough is the

closest available suitable habitat.

Thanks to:Craigavon Borough Council through

Ulster Wildlife Trust’s Landfill

Communities Fund, Department of

Agriculture and Rural Development,

Environment and Heritage Service

and the Lough Neagh Partnership.

A small herd of Konik ponies now graze the fen to prevent scrub from regenerating

57

Lapwing numbers are recovering at Portmore Lough, where four pairs bred in 2007

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Beyond birdsimproving conditions for biodiversityRSPB nature reserves make a major contribution to the

conservation of all wildlife, not just birds. At least 95% of

the UK’s species of dragonfly, 76% of spiders, 60% of

moths, and 65% of ground beetles are found on RSPB

reserves. Data for other groups are less complete, but it is

clear that RSPB reserves must support a high proportion

of the 88,000 species of terrestrial, freshwater and marine

organism found in the UK.

To ensure that management for birds does not damage any

key species in other taxa, and to improve management for

biodiversity generally on its reserves, the RSPB funds an

ongoing, targeted programme of surveys by taxonomic

specialists at potentially important reserves. These surveys

have confirmed that the reserve network plays an

important role in the conservation of UK BAP Priority

Species. Around 400 non-avian UK BAP species are

present on RSPB reserves.

RSPB nature reserves support

76% of UK spider species

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Restoring the heathlands of Dorset and DevonWith its mild, maritime climate, south-west England

provides ideal conditions for lowland heathland. The region

boasts a quarter of the UK’s heathlands, around 14,500 ha

in total, and is extremely important for heathland birds,

holding 48% of the national populations of Dartford

warblers, 31% of nightjars and 8-10% of woodlarks.

AUTHOR: JENNY GOY, DORSET ADMINISTRATOR

60 61R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8

The RSPB’s involvement with

heathland in the south-west goes

back to the 1960s, when cold winters

proved too much for our delicate

heathland birds and Dartford warbler

numbers crashed. Lack of

management and understanding of

heathland needed to be addressed.

Now, we have heathland reserves at

Aylesbeare in Devon and Arne,

Stoborough Heath and Grange Heath,

forming the Arne reserves in Dorset.

We have also been working in

partnership with Dorset County

Council (DCC) to manage one of their

flagship Country Parks, Avon Heath,

on the Hampshire border.

Arne reserves

Located on a peninsula to the west

of Poole Harbour, the 750 ha of the

Arne reserves form one of the finest

examples in the UK of lowland heath

and valley mires with a maritime

influence. The reserves hold

nationally important breeding

populations of Dartford warblers and

nightjars. There are many species of

plants, vertebrates and invertebrates

of Red Data Book or national

importance.

Since 2004, we have removed 7.1 ha

of trees from 865 ha of heath,

opening up the habitat for heathland

birds. In 2007, 4–5 pairs of woodlarks

bred; in 2006, 80 pairs of Dartford

warblers bred; and in 2004, 27–28

pairs of nightjars bred on the

Arne reserves

Farewell to Avon Heath

In 1998, the RSPB entered into a 10-

year partnership with DCC to manage

the heathland SSSI at Avon Heath

Country Park. Supported by

Countryside Stewardship and later by

a grant from the Heritage Lottery

Fund through Tomorrow’s Heathland

Heritage, RSPB began the restoration

work needed to move the habitat into

favourable condition.

By the last year of the agreement,

the RSPB had achieved most of the

ambitious restoration targets for the

park: 156 ha of tree removal on

wooded heath and scattered tree

reduction; 10 ha of improvements to

wet heath; an annual 15 ha of

bracken control and five hectares of

bare ground creation.

Although the RSPB will now be

reducing its presence at Avon Heath,

we will continue to have a strong

working relationship with DCC and

the rangers on site. DCC are now

responsible for delivering their

favourable condition requirements

and the RSPB Dorset Heathland

Project will continue to provide

management work for them on a

contract basis.

The RSPB would like to thank the

ranger team at Avon Heath for all their

help and support during the past 10

years. This agreement has proved to

be a very interesting and rewarding

partnership, full of learning

experience, and we are pleased that it

has strengthened our friendship with

DCC. We look forward to continued

close working in the future.

The heathland at Arne is home to all five of the UK’s native reptiles

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RSPB Dorset Heathland Project (DHP) to RSPB

Habitat Management Services

Since 1989, DHP has restored over 1,300 ha of heathland in Dorset for

many different clients. We have monitored the success of our work by

regularly surveying the birds, insects and plants, which have benefited as

a result. This work was largely funded by EC LIFE-Nature and Heritage

Lottery Fund grants, sponsorship from BP and contracts with landowners.

DHP now has a new role – acting as a contractor with conservation in mind

– and thereby continuing to aid the restoration and maintenance of habitats

and species. The wealth of experience and knowledge built up on heathland

is also applicable to other habitats and we now cover wetlands, woodland

and grasslands. We offer a wide range of services from scrub and tree

clearance, tree work, tackling invasive species on land and in ponds,

surveys of birds, mammals and invertebrates, tractor work and forage

harvesting, as well as GIS mapping, strategy development and FEPs. We

work across the south-west and south-east, with clients in Hampshire,

Kent, Somerset and Devon, as well as Dorset. We are always happy to

discuss how best to achieve your conservation objectives, so please contact

Sarah Alsbury, sarah.alsbury@rspb.org.uk, tel. 01929 555987.

62 63R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8 R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8

Southern damselfly

One non-avian species to have

benefited from our heathland

conservation work is the southern

damselfly, Coenagrion mercuriale.

This internationally endangered

species, listed as rare in the British

Red Data Book, is a UK Biodiversity

Action Plan priority species. The

south-west holds a few small

colonies concentrated in Devon and

Dorset. They breed in heathland

streams and runnels, and, more

rarely, rhos pasture, chalk streams

and calcareous mires. Its decline

follows loss of suitable habitat due to

lack of appropriate heathland

management, including reduced

grazing, over-deepening of shallow

breeding streams, drainage and

dredging of breeding sites.

A colony of southern damselflies has

been recorded at Aylesbeare

Common in Devon since 1956, where

they occupy a two-hectare area of

shallow runnels and pools, fed by a

neutral, base-rich spring. The water

filters through a network of natural

and hand-dug runnels in a mire

dominated by black bog-rush.

Early work at Aylesbeare included the

creation of shallow depressions and a

small pond, plus hand-clearance of

runnels, but numbers of southern

damselflies remained low. In 1990,

grazing was introduced to open up

the rank vegetation and create

trampled areas, resulting in a marked

population increase, with maximum

counts of over 100 individuals in

most years between 1999 and 2007.

Summer grazing with Galloway cattle

has continued and been extended

over the whole site. During winter

2007, the animals were retained on

the southern damselfly area to

enhance conditions. Occasional scrub

control has been needed, as has

annual management of runnels and

cutting of vegetation; small pools and

waterfalls have also been created.

This continued management seems

to be having a very positive effect,

with 145 individuals counted in 2007.

The Southern Damselfly Action Plan

seeks to increase the species’ range,

mainly through natural

re-colonisation. However, it is unlikely

that southern damselflies can

disperse more than two kilometres

from an existing site. We are

assisting in this re-colonisation by

restoring a potential new site for

southern damselflies on our

Stoborough Heath reserve, part of

the Arne reserves, less than one

kilometre from an existing colony at

Creech Heath. Scrub has been

removed from a valley mire and

stream edges, and water control is

being improved. The site has been

fenced and was grazed with ponies

during summer 2007. Two sightings

of the damselfly have already been

made during early morning visits, so

we are hopeful for positive results

when the formal surveying starts at

Stoborough in summer 2008.

Thanks to:The Environment Agency for financial

support of the southern damselfly

work, and the British Dragonfly

Society.

Peak counts of adult southern damselflies at Aylesbeare since grazing introduced

The southern damselfly has suffered a 30% decline in its UK

distribution since 1960

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Black bog-rush, which occurs in the flushes used by the southern damselfly at Aylesbeare

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65R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8

RSPB Dungeness, currently the

oldest RSPB nature reserve, was set

up originally to protect nesting

seabirds and other rare species such

as Kentish plovers and stone-curlews

that nested on the shingle beaches.

In recent years, as we have become

more aware of the importance of the

site for a range of nationally scarce

and rare non-avian species, we have

devoted a lot of our management

effort to sustaining and enhancing

the populations of species such as

Jersey cudweed, great crested newt,

medicinal leech, bumblebees and a

rich assemblage of ground beetles.

Stinking hawksbeard

We are working closely with Natural

England to help re-establish the

endangered stinking hawksbeard.

Whilst the presence of a seed bank

here cannot be discounted, there

have been no records of truly wild

plants since 1980, when the last

native specimen was observed at

Dungeness. Experimental plots have

been set up, and the survival and

seed production of introduced

stinking hawksbeard plants inside and

outside of the enclosures is being

monitored by the University of

Greenwich.

Management for

bumblebees

Dungeness nature reserve is home

to 11 of the 16 species of true

bumblebees that occur in Britain,

including the BAP priority species

brown-banded carder-bee, large

carder-bee and red-shanked carder-

bee. Dungeness was the last known

location in the UK for the short-haired

bumblebee, a species not seen in the

UK since the 1980s. Research into

the habitat requirements of these

bees showed that a long flowering

season of plants in the pea family

(legumes) is important for the

survival of populations of these long-

tongued bumblebees. Pollen from

clovers, especially red and white

clovers and vetches, predominated in

the pollen baskets of foraging bees

returning to their nests. Thus, we

have adapted the management of our

enclosed grasslands by:

• rotating the grazing in the

enclosed grasslands to provide a

succession of flowering plants

during the bees’ flight season

• shutting off the most botanically

rich fields to exclude grazing in

the late spring and summer, so

The little-known treasures of DungenessThe unique landscape of Dungeness, with its vast area of

exposed shingle, shaped into a series of ridges by storm

waves over the centuries, has long been known as a

premier birdwatching site. Less well known is its botanical

diversity, and the fact that Dungeness is one of the richest

sites for invertebrates in the whole of the UK, supporting a

number of rare and localised species that do not occur

elsewhere in Britain.

AUTHOR: BOB GOMES, SITE MANAGER, DUNGENESS; GRAEME LYONS, RESERVES

ECOLOGIST; AND MALCOLM AUSDEN, SENIOR RESERVES ECOLOGIST

64

Bare ground around the pools at Dungeness is important to a number of rare plants and invertebrates

Ben

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that forage resources are not

grazed off at their peak flowering

time

• holding back the topping dates in

fields until August or later, to

allow clovers and vetches to set

seed and replenish the seed bank

• spreading red clover seed,

collected locally, on site, to

increase the abundance of clover

in the sward

• establishing clover along track

edges by the spreading of

clover- rich hay, gathered

elsewhere on the reserve.

The effect of this work has been

monitored by the collection of

quadrat data to measure the

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Red clover is an important source of nectar for long-tongued

bumblebees. Its abundance at Dungeness has been increased by

various measures, including spreading seed

66 67R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8 R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8

frequency of legumes in the

grassland, and by timed walks to

count bumblebees. The results show

that the abundance of clovers has

increased in many of our fields.

Silt margins and beetles

Dungeness reserve contains a

number of water-filled gravel pits,

where gravel has been extracted to

provide aggregate for the

construction industry. During the

restoration of these pits, silt from the

washed gravel was pumped around

the margins of the larger pits to

soften the edges and provide a

shallow gradient into the deeper

water. The damp silt habitat created

by this work, where there is summer

draw down in water levels, has been

found to support a rich assemblage

of ground beetles including

Omophron limbatum, and Acupalpus

maculatus. The silt margins are also

the habitat of the critically

endangered Jersey cudweed and the

rare mosses sea bryum, Bryum

warneum and Bryum dyffrynensis.

Colonisation of this early

successional habitat by plants has led

to the habitat becoming less suitable

for these specialists, which live in the

bare silt. To try and maintain the

populations of these rare ground

beetles and the cudweed, we have

carried out experimental

management of small plots, using a

360° excavator to turn over the silt.

This arrests plant succession and

creates new areas of bare ground.

The management has been

successful at exposing bare ground,

but the initial effects on rare beetles

have been varied (see graph). For

example, pitfall trap catch rates

of Omophron limbatum were

significantly higher on the managed

half of only one of the plots. Pitfall

trap catch rates of the rare ground

beetle Acupalpus maculatus, a recent

colonist in Britain, were significantly

lower on both managed halves of

plots. Jersey cudweed has also

seeded into these areas and is

colonising the bare margins.

Re-profiling of islands within the

gravel pits, to provide habitat for

breeding seabirds, has also provided

new bare sand and shingle which

should benefit the above species.

Thanks to:The research into bumblebee habitat

requirements was supported by

Natural England, Defra through the

Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund

administered by Natural England, and

the Heritage Lottery Fund. Habitat

management work was also

supported by the latter two

organisations, and by the European

LEADER+ fund (delivered by the

WARR Partnership).

References:Allcorn R.I. Akers P. & Lyons G.

(2006). Introducing red clover

Trifolium pratense to former arable

fields to provide a foraging resource

for bumblebees Bombus spp. At

Dungeness RSPB reserve, Kent,

England. Conservation Evidence 3,

88-91.

Omophron limbatum, sometimes called spangled button beetle, is a distinctive ground beetle, restricted to

damp, silty areas around gravel pits at Dungeness and just a handful of other sites in the UK

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Lydd Airport

There are proposals to expand

Lydd Airport, next to Dungeness

nature reserve, from under 5,000

passengers a year to 500,000. If

approved, these plans will be

disastrous for the area. They will

damage or destroy the area’s

internationally protected wildlife.

This includes internationally

important populations of birds

and a unique range of other

plants and wildlife.

The sensitive vegetation that

clings to the shingle ridges is

particularly threatened. Air

pollution around Dungeness is

already high and pollution from

an expanded airport could be the

final straw. The RSPB is objecting

to the development in view of

the bird strike risk and damage

to the area’s unique wildlife.

Results of trial management to create bare ground

habitat for two rare ground beetles at Dungeness

(a) Bare ground

(b) Pitfall trap catch rates of Omophron limbatum

(c) Pitfall trap catch rates of Acupalpus maculatus

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Note: Monitoring was undertaken in July/August 2006, following soil disturbance in March 2006.Values are means ± one standard error.

69R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8

The effort to create breeding habitat

for bitterns over the last two decades

has benefited a range of reed-

dwelling moths. These include Fenn’s,

flame and white-mantled wainscots,

nationally rare specialities of our

coastal reserves in East Anglia, and

the scarce reed dagger, which has

been recorded at 14 reserves in east

and south-east England. While the

wet reed swamp favoured by bitterns

provides suitable habitat for the twin-

spotted wainscot, the other species

need drier reedbeds, and the reed

leopard requires a long period

between reed cutting because its

larva spends at least two years

feeding within reed stems.

Management of our reedbed

reserves tries to provide a range of

successional stages from open water

through to wet reed and dry reed, to

cater for this range of interests.

The very local marsh carpet was

discovered in 2002 at Lakenheath

Fen in a wetland we have created on

former carrot fields. Searches for the

beautifully camouflaged green and

brown caterpillars, which feed

among the seed-heads of meadow-

rue, have revealed a flourishing

population of this moth. When they

are flowering, stands of the plant are

now carefully marked to facilitate the

annual survey of larvae in late July,

and small areas of reed surrounding

the meadow-rue are cut to enhance

the growth and spread of the marsh

carpet’s larval foodplant.

Hazel coppicing for dormice at

Garston Wood in Dorset has

encouraged wood spurge. This is the

larval food-plant of the drab looper,

and we expected that this BAP

priority moth would be found there.

So we were pleased when it was

discovered in 2004.

One of the few British sites for the

olive crescent is an RSPB reserve.

Butterfly Conservation and RSPB

staff have investigated the

requirements of the larvae of this

moth, which at this site feed on

withered leaves of sweet chestnut in

the autumn. By cutting leafy chestnut

branches and hanging them at

different heights in the trees, we

discovered that the larvae prefer

branches at breast height, and that

high forest is favoured over coppice.

The woods are now managed to

provide these conditions.

The Kentish glory is a charismatic

moth of birch woods of the Highlands

of Scotland and it occurs at Abernethy

and Insh Marshes reserves. The

Kentish glory needs open, sunny,

sheltered areas with young birches.

The habitat is therefore managed to

make sure there are always trees of

the right age and in the right sites for

the larvae.

Sea level rise and the increasing

incidence of storm surges threaten a

suite of scarce moths of saltmarshes

and coastal reedbeds at Titchwell,

Dingle Marshes, Minsmere and

Havergate Island. These reserves

support nationally important

populations of ground lackey, scarce

pug, starwort and white-mantled

wainscot. New reedbeds created for

bitterns, marsh harriers and bearded

tits, and new saltmarsh for redshanks

will provide suitable habitat for these

moths. We hope they will colonise

these new areas by themselves, but

we might have to consider

translocation in some cases.

A helping hand for rare mothsWith their broad range of habitats, it is not surprising that RSPB

reserves support a rich variety of moths; over 60% of the 2,400

species on the British list have been recorded at our reserves. More

than 140 species of scarce or threatened macro-moths probably breed

on our land, and we have a responsibility for monitoring these

species, finding out how habitat management for birds might affect

them, and managing habitat for the moths themselves.

AUTHORS: GRAEME LYONS, FIELD ECOLOGIST; AND JAMES CADBURY, FIELD ECOLOGIST

68

White-mantled wainscot has benefited from reedbed

management at our East Anglian reserves

The population of marsh

carpet larvae is flourishing

at Lakenheath Fen

Kentish glory is found in the young birches

at Abernethy and Insh Marshes

Jeff

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Joan

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71R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 870

Reserves and peoplea review of 2007Involving people in our conservation work and enthusing

them about wildlife is important to us. By opening up the

majority of our land to visitors, we enable people to connect

with nature, get some healthy exercise and enable them to

find some quiet and peace in our increasingly hectic world.

Our network of nature reserves provides a unique

opportunity to connect people with nature. In 2007:

• more than 1.7 million people visited RSPB reserves across

the UK. Around half of these were members

• almost 70,000 people attended activities and events on

site, giving them an opportunity to experience wildlife close

up while building an understanding of the conservation

importance of habitats

• vice-president Kate Humble helped start building work at

our new reserve at Saltholme, on Teesside, which will be our

largest visitor, education and community centre when it

opens in 2008

• our reserves on the beautiful Scottish island of Islay – Loch

Gruinart and The Oa – played host to Simon King and BBC

Springwatch for three weeks, showcasing a range of special

species and raising awareness of our work to conserve them

• Lakenheath Fen, in Suffolk, opened to the public just 12

years after being transformed from a carrot field into a

wetland area full of wildlife

• around 60,000 children attended field teaching schemes on

our sites during 2007, undertaking a range of activities as

part of the National Curriculum

• volunteers gave us more than 342,000 hours of time to

support our conservation work on nature reserves. This

included many people working directly with the public.

Pond dipping is a popular activity for children and is held on many reserves

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72 73R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8 R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8

Almost 70,000 people attended

our special events and activities

in 2007.

Our birdwatching members and

visitors have long been well catered

for, with special events and walks.

However, we are constantly looking for

ways to connect more people with

nature, people for whom birdwatching

per se is not that compelling.

Many of our reserves have tackled

this challenge with gusto and

imagination. One technique has

been to build something different

onto some of the special dates in

the calendar:

• At Old Moor, we ran an event at

Christmas which involved lantern

making, using natural willow and

tissue paper, for a candlelight

procession. The event attracted

180 visitors to the classroom

alone, and over half of them were

completely new to the reserve.

• Instead of having the usual family

fun day at Rye Meads, we had

Christmas with a twist! So many

decorations are made of plastic –

not great for the environment – so

we showed people how to make

beautiful natural decorations using

pine cones, leaves and willow

twigs; all natural and recycled!

• Rainham created a Christmas

grotto with a real woodland feel in

the classroom. Kids (accompanied

by their parents) registered at

reception, where they were sent

on a trail to meet Santa, looking

for clues to answer the questions

of a quiz along the way. Once at

the grotto, they were welcomed

by Santa’s elves, who took them

to meet the man himself and

receive their gift. They then

returned to the centre, armed

with the answers to the quiz,

where they entered a lucky dip to

get their prize. Comments about

this event included: “Much better

than Harrods”, “I’m not going to

bother going to Lakeside next

year, this was far better!”, and

“Mummy, that’s the real Santa,

isn’t it?”.

• After Valentine’s Day at Conwy,

we ran a singles stroll for people

who didn’t receive a Valentine’s

card. This proved very popular,

with around 30 people attending.

We ran a “People Bingo” game

for everyone to get to know each

other, and some people made

new friends; we are getting many

enquiries about another one!

• At Halloween, Pulborough hosted

a Trick or Tweet event, which

could have been filled three times

over. It included apple bobbing,

crafts, hot chocolate,

marshmallows, carved pumpkins

and a visit to the Intrepid Forest.

R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 7

In 2006-07, around 1.7 million visits

were made to our reserves, a new

record. Our most popular sites

played host to 1.2 million visits in

2006-07. At these reserves, we are

often able to offer tea, coffee and

Great days out Innovative eventslight meals, and the option of

supporting conservation by buying

things in our on-site shops. We have

concentrated most of our resources

for visitor facilities into these

reserves, where we can be most

effective at connecting people

with nature.

We developed new facilities for

enabling access to the countryside at

Rainham in London, and at

Lakenheath in the fens of Suffolk. On

Rathlin Island, off the coast of

Co. Antrim, we built a new toilet

block and developed a new sheltered

information area for visitors to the

West Light viewpoint.

We had the best year yet for

recruiting new members at reserves

and generating support for our

conservation work through retail in

our shops and cafes. The on-site

shops and cafes contributed almost

£600,000 to our conservation work,

and 9,841 new members joined us.

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Visits to all RSPB reserves

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Year

200,000

400,000

600,000

800,000

1,000,000

1,200,000

1,400,000

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1,800,000

2,000,000

1999

/00

2000

/01

2001

/02

2002

/03

2003

/04

2004

/05

2005

/06

2006

/070

(The major foot-and-mouth outbreak affected 2001 to 2002)

Our reserves help people to enjoy and connect with natureThe Trick or Tweet event at Pulborough included apple

bobbing, as well as a visit to the Intrepid Forest

74 75R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8 R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8

Inspiring the next generation and

improving environmental

knowledge is at the heart of all

that the RSPB does.

Without education, long-term

conservation work is unsustainable.

Across the country, RSPB field

teaching schemes deliver hands-on

outdoor education activities to over

60,000 schoolchildren a year, at over

40 reserves.

Eight such schemes are run in

south-east England, and five of

these are on RSPB reserves at

Rainham Marshes, Rye Meads,

Pulborough Brooks, Dungeness and

the North Kent Marshes. The

remaining three are successful

partnership arrangements working

with the Royal Parks, the City of

London and West Berkshire Council.

Over 11,000 children passed through

the south-east schemes last year,

and our aim is to increase this to

nearly 18,000 over the next five

years. The plan to bring more

children closer to nature comes

aswe proudly celebrate 40 years of

providing out-of-classroom learning

on our nature reserves.

RSPB reserves tend to be very

different in habitat and wildlife, so

offer a variety of experiences for

schoolchildren under an overall

banner of Living Classrooms.

has developed an exciting team-

building course for secondary pupils,

using natural elements and a series

of challenges. Combined with the

more traditional pond dipping and

sweep netting, the children have fun

and learn about sustainability and the

natural environment. Very good

feedback has been received from

schools, and many are now booking

up for the more traditional courses in

ecology and geography fieldwork.

Rye Meads

At Rye Meads, dedicated areas for

education have been designed so

that field teachers can safely

introduce children to the wide variety

of wildlife and birds that live there.

Along with the other reserves, Rye

Meads has developed an innovative

climate change game to introduce

children to the challenges that both

they and wildlife may face in the

future. Children leave having had fun

learning, and also with the feeling

that they can do something positive

for wildlife by making small changes

in their day-to-day lives at home.

Dungeness

Dungeness offers a unique

environment for adults and children

alike. Pond dipping at Dungeness

does not involve dipping platforms

and safety rails; instead, children can

stand on the gently sloping shingle

bank and dip for the medicinal leech,

among other aquatic invertebrates

that live there. Pupils with special

needs also get a huge amount from

the hands-on experiences on the

reserve, and welcoming these

Living classrooms in south-east EnglandAUTHOR: CAROLYN MAXWELL, REGIONAL EDUCATION OFFICER, SOUTH EAST ENGLAND

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Rainham Marshes

Rainham Marshes has undergone a

transformation over the last two

years, and can now offer three

different “Discovery Zones”:

Reedbed, Marshland and Woodland,

together with the classroom in our

innovative new Environment and

Education centre. Rainham Marshes

prides itself in offering something for

everyone. This is certainly true of the

activities we offer schoolchildren,

some of whom come from the more

socially deprived London boroughs

and do not have much opportunity

for contact with wildlife or the

outdoors. With this audience in

mind, the team at Rainham Marshes

groups is highly rewarding for all

concerned. Field teachers at

Dungeness believe in “catching them

young” – nursery and pre-school

children have taken part in Meet the

Birdwatcher sessions, where

youngsters are encouraged to make

bird feeders and learn how to

use binoculars.

Pulborough Brooks

Pulborough Brooks has always been

a popular destination for schools to

visit and is booked almost to capacity

every year. Here, the education team

offers something different to schools

on Saturdays, as part of an Able

Pupils scheme. Children come along

We have been running field teaching schemes on our reserves for 40 years

An

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School group on a bug hunt

Local schoolchildren are encouraged to take part in Big Schools’ Birdwatch

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76 77R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8 R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8

to take part in activities such as Birds

as Indicators and Wetlands under

Threat, all designed to challenge the

more able pupils and provide a wider

curriculum. A Home Educating group

also regularly visits the reserve for

different activities, such as

investigating soils, rocks, woodland

trees and birds.

North Kent Marshes

Northward Hill is among the group of

reserves that make up the North

Kent Marshes, and it is here that one

of our newest field teaching teams is

reaching out into the local community

by taking activity-based roadshows

into schools. Hundreds of

schoolchildren have learnt about the

birds and wildlife on the Marshes in

this way, encouraging teachers to

book up a visit to the reserve.

Beyond reserves

Away from RSPB reserves, our

education staff at Hampstead Heath

and in Regent’s Park use these

important open spaces in London to

enthuse local schoolchildren about

the wildlife and birds in their own

locality, many schools being able to

walk or use public transport to

get there.

Recent research has shown that the

ability of UK pupils to name common

bird species, even those they are

likely to see daily, is quite poor, so

the opportunities to learn more about

animals and the environment offered

by field teaching can only improve

their knowledge and identification

skills. All field teaching reserves

encourage local schoolchildren to take

part in national initiatives such as Big

Schools’ Birdwatch. To back this up,

we run a popular outreach

programme, as part of which field

teachers visit schools to run activities.

It is not just schoolchildren who benefit

from the enthusiasm, dedication and

experience of RSPB field teachers.

Agricultural colleges, U3A groups,

Brownies, Scouts and Cubs also visit

our reserve-based schemes.

We all have an impact on the natural

environment and the more we know

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We also offer field teaching off-site, in places such as Regent’s Park

and understand how it works, the

better we are able to protect it as an

essential element of our quality of

life. RSPB field teaching, in the south-

east and elsewhere in the country,

offers a high quality start to the

learning process that will hopefully

lead on to a lifetime’s enjoyment of

and support for wildlife and the

natural world.

Our Living Classrooms and education

work is supported by a large number

of organisations, and we are grateful

for their ongoing support to make

this work possible.

‘I felt lucky to have the opportunity to

be part of the fantastic new project at

Saltholme, and really excited by the

prospect of my role in delivering it.’

EMMA BIRNIE

WARDEN, SALTHOLME

342,335 hours of work

were carried out by

4,694 volunteers – the

equivalent of 176 extra

full-time staff working

on the reserves. This is

worth over £2.14 million,

at £6.25 per hour.

78 79R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8 R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8

The investment paid off, and in 2005

a vacancy arose at Leighton Moss,

which Emma successfully secured.

Over the next year and a half, Emma

demonstrated a hunger to learn

about the workings of Leighton

Moss, from reedbed management to

the tea room, from formal education

to producing the annual report.

This hunger was supported and

encouraged by the Warden and

Site Manager, and backed up with

formal training.

Emma has now taken on the role of

Warden at Saltholme, the fledgling

reserve on Teesside. This role is

complex, and will involve the

management of a team of staff and

volunteers, as well as playing an

integral part of what will become one

of the RSPB’s busiest sites.

Ever one for a challenge, Emma is

considering the RSPB’s intensive

site managers’ development

programme. This two year pilot

scheme has been designed to equip

successful participants with the

skills they need to become

managers of complex sites.

As well as residential volunteers, over

4,000 people volunteer on reserves,

carrying out a range of tasks from

scrub clearance to conducting guided

walks. We would like to thank each

and every one for their gift of time.

The management of RSPB

reserves is undertaken by a large

team of staff and volunteers with

an exceptionally wide range of

skills, from the monitoring of

remote seabird colonies to the

management of major tourism

attractions with large trading

operations. The management of

large, complex sites such as

Minsmere, Abernethy and Old Moor

requires a particular set of skills and

attributes – from practical

conservation management to

leadership, from organising events to

advocating policy to politicians.

Attracting people with the passion

and potential to undertake these

roles is increasingly competitive.

As an Investor in People, the RSPB

has a belief that, in many cases, the

best way to fill these challenging

roles is to develop people in the early

Volunteering to start a careerAUTHOR: HARRY BOWELL, RESERVES MANAGER, NORTHERN ENGLAND

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stages of their careers, to furnish

them with the key competencies.

Many people use volunteering as a

way of garnering the initial skills

required to gain employment on

reserves. The Residential

Volunteering scheme run by the

RSPB on 36 reserves gives people

the opportunity to get in-depth

experience of the reserves and

allows site staff to invest time in

developing people with an interest

in a career within conservation.

Emma Birnie is an excellent example

of a member of wardening staff for

whom this development path is

working. Emma graduated from

Newcastle University in 2004,

having studied zoology. This course

has provided the foundation for

various kinds of work undertaken on

RSPB reserves, such as the

interpretation of monitoring data.

Emma had an ambition to work on

nature reserves since volunteering

at Leighton Moss during her time at

university. “I was inspired by my

first day working in the reedbed and

seeing my first bittern as I left that

evening,” says Emma.

“On graduating, I immediately

started volunteering full time for the

RSPB at Leighton Moss and

Cumbria Wildlife Trust (CWT).

At Leighton Moss, I undertook a

wide variety of practical tasks,

most of which involved getting wet

and muddy.”

Recognising her professional

approach and potential, the Site

Manager invested in some practical

skills training, such as brushcutting

and use of the Countryside

Management System software.

Emma Birnie, a volunteer, now Saltholme Warden

A volunteer building a ramp

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The new wilderness of Lakenheath FenThe Fens was once a vast wetland wilderness. Over three

hundred years of drainage has reduced this magnificent

landscape to a few remnant areas. A number of

organisations are working to restore lost Fenland

biodiversity, through initiatives such as The Great Fen

Project and the Wicken Fen Vision. At Lakenheath Fen, we

have re-created over 200 ha of vibrant reedbed and

wetland habitat in just 13 years. The reserve now resounds

to the calls of reedbed birds. Last year, we opened a

visitor centre to give visitors the freedom to experience

the wetland close up, with staff on-hand to help

understand this amazing new wilderness.

AUTHOR: NORMAN SILLS, SITE MANAGER, LAKENHEATH FEN

80 81R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8

We bought over a square mile of

carrot fields in the Fens in 1995 and

called it Lakenheath Fen reserve.

Now it’s a reedbed, supporting reed

warblers, sedge warblers, reed

buntings and bearded tits. We

wanted to tell people, and show

people, how we’ve made this new

reserve and we want people to

experience the colours and sounds –

and solitude – of a large expanse of

wildness. So, last year we opened a

visitor centre.

Knapped, black flints of some of the

buildings’ walls recall ancient industry

based on Breckland flints. Other walls

recall the yellow-clay brick of Fenland

cottages, homes that often would

have been lapped by flood-waters

before man finally drained and tamed

the Fens. Roofs are made of

stonecrop and fake-lead and solar-

collectors: modern protecting

traditional.

It was reeds and water that we put

into the arable fields; the sedge

appeared on its own. Once the

diggers had re-shaped the flatness

into deep hollows and wide, winding

trenches, water emanated from the

underlying sand; hollows became

meres and trenches became channels.

Next came teams of volunteers, who,

between 1996 and 2003 planted over

300,000 reeds by hand! The reeds

took a few years to establish and

during that time the embryonic

reedbed remained open, sunlit and

wet. These conditions suited well the

seeds of fenland plants that were

lying dormant in the moist, peaty soil.

So the seeds felt the warmth of day,

germinated and grew tall: purple

loosestrife, marsh woundwort, great

reedmace, yellow iris, water violet,

meadow rue and over 90 others!

Near the visitor centre, a grass path

winds around several shallow pools

that were recently cut into the black

peat; you can walk near to the plants

if you wish or go for a squelch to get

close to brooklime, brookweed,

water milfoil and other low-growing

types. Not far from the pools is a

patch of meadow rue that is

important for a rare moth. If, in

July/August, you hold a flower-head

and look closely at the developing

seeds, you may find the tiny, highly

camouflaged green and brown

caterpillars of the marsh carpet moth.

We hold a programme of guided

walks, where you can get down –

sometimes literally, on hands and

knees – to see, hold, identify and

understand dragonflies, grasses, fen

plants, bats, moths and bird song.

Many of our 20,000 visitors take part

in these “theme” days, while others

prefer more general events; perhaps

ones that add a sunset through reeds

or a mist over still water.

One early spring morning in 2006 we

were pleased to hear a male bittern

booming in the reedbed (and

reassured when it returned in 2007).

To our surprise, two pairs of common

cranes arrived in 2007. Although

common, perhaps, in the Fens of the

16th century, they hadn’t nested

there since about 1600. But now, in

winter and if you’re lucky, you can

peer through the reeds and see them

rooting about in a new paddock. Did

they come from the tiny population

of cranes in the Broads? Will they

stay to trumpet the revival of a Fens-

wide population? Whether they do so

or not, they were certainly a

remarkable addition to the colourful

display of plants, birds and insects

that arose from the re-wetting of

monotonously flat fields.

Lakenheath Fen visitor centre was opened in 2007

Over 60 pairs of bearded tit were

heard pinging in the reedbed in 2007

at Lakenheath Fen

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Thanks to:Heritage Lottery Fund, EU

INTERREG North Sea Programme –

Transnational Ecological Network

(TEN) III (Norfolk County Council),

Suffolk County Council, Suffolk

Development Agency and Waste

Recycling Group Ltd (WRG) through

Waste Recycling Environmental Ltd

(WREN).

Conwy Waterside Coffee ShopThe RSPB’s Conwy nature reserve in North Wales has

received a Marine Stewardship award from The Crown

Estate, enabling it to enhance the experience enjoyed by

thousands of visitors every year.

AUTHOR: JULIAN HUGHES, SITE MANAGER, CONWY

82 83R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8

The popularity of the reserve has

grown substantially since a new

visitor centre was opened in October

2006 and the old centre was

transformed into the Waterside

Coffee Shop. Visitor numbers have

almost doubled in two years, with

nearly 100,000 people coming to

Conwy last year, and feedback has

been very positive. The Marine

Stewardship Award recognises the

new centre as a prime example of a

successful, innovative and

sustainable business that

demonstrates environmental care.

It is a far cry from the origins of the

reserve, which grew from the silt and

spoil excavated from the UK’s first

immersed tube road tunnel in the

early 1990s, and landscaped to create

two freshwater lagoons. The nature

reserve’s industrial creation and its

location, adjacent to the main A55

trunk road and the London-Holyhead

railway line, enabled the RSPB to

design a nature reserve with

opportunities to see wildlife as a

priority. The lagoons provide a

valuable high-tide resting area for

waterbirds from the nearby estuary,

while lapwings – now a scarce

breeding bird in Wales – nest on its

grasslands each spring.

Conwy is very much about people,

with strong community involvement

and a thriving programme of

educational activities for schools. One

example of the former is our monthly

Farmers’ Market, which attracts

hundreds of people and enables local

farmers and food producers to sell

food directly to visitors. It fits well

with encouraging people to reduce

their carbon use, without being dull

or patronising about it.

More than 2,000 school students

have used Conwy as an outdoor

classroom during the last year, with

structured educational programmes

for groups from nursery class to

secondary schools. The new visitor

centre incorporates a classroom that

can be used as a base for visiting

groups, which is also used by other

members of the community –

wildlife-themed children’s birthday

parties are a popular request!

Around 60 local people volunteer

regularly at the nature reserve, and

fundraising for the new visitor centre

involved a large number of them. The

most frequent comment I hear made

about Conwy is the warmth of the

welcome and the friendly, informative

people. That’s down to volunteers,

whether they are helping visitors to

identify birds in the hides, advising on

binoculars or books, chatting to them

in the coffee shop or helping to

maintain the paths and buildings.

During last winter, a community team

built a nesting bank for sand martinsNearly 100,000 people visited Conwy in 2007

Good views of the reserve can be enjoyed over a coffee and cake

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and kingfishers on the edge of one of

the lagoons. It is close to a

viewpoint, providing an opportunity

for people to get an insight into the

family life of popular birds.

While Conwy attracts many regular

visitors from the locality, we want

visitors here on holiday to discover

the natural environment through the

RSPB. With the coast and Snowdonia

a firm favourite with tourists, a visit

to a nature reserve can be an extra

dimension to a family holiday. Conwy

is one of the RSPB’s reserves where

we can experiment with new ways to

bring people closer to nature. Judging

by the response from visitors, getting

close to nature is a popular cause.

The RSPB expresses its thanks to

the Cemlyn-Jones Trust, The Crown

Estate, Environment Wales, the Miss

Trevor Fund, Waste Recycling Group

Ltd (WRG) through Waste Recycling

Environmental Ltd (WREN) and the

Welsh Assembly Government.

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Working for theenvironmentNature reserves contribute to the environment beyond

their boundaries. They provide environmental benefits such

as absorbing high energy waves to protect property inland.

Some reserves are washlands and receive floodwater at

times of high rainfall, releasing the water more slowly

after the storm has passed. Other reserves are natural

water-harvesting areas for water companies.

As far as possible, our nature reserves are managed to

minimise their carbon footprint and maximise their value

in demonstrating good environmental practice.

Getting the most out of RSPB nature reserves is made

possible with the help of a great many partnerships.

These include statutory bodies, private companies,

farming tenants and other nature conservation NGOs,

to name but a few.

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The RSPB has a nature reserve agreement with Severn Trent Water over the land surrounding Lake Vyrnwy.

Environmentally sensitive habitat management helps safeguard water supplies to customers

Coast in crisis in Eastern EnglandThe wildlife-rich, low-lying coastline of East Anglia is

facing a greater relative rate of sea level rise than almost

anywhere else in the UK. The RSPB has ten reserves on

this coastline, supporting a mixture of important

freshwater and intertidal habitats, all threatened by

climate-induced sea level rise.

AUTHOR: KIRSTY TURNER, CONSERVATION OFFICER, EASTERN ENGLAND

86 87R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8

Intertidal habitats are threatened by

‘coastal squeeze’. This is the process

whereby intertidal habitat is lost at its

seaward side due to rising sea levels,

but replacement habitat does not

form to its landward side due to the

presence of ‘hard’ coastal defences.

The only option for maintaining the

overall extent of intertidal habitats is

to allow the formation of new areas

of intertidal habitat by setting back

existing sea defences. The flow of

intertidal water into and out of these

areas can be either unregulated

(managed re-alignment) or regulated

through a water control structure

(regulated tidal exchange).

Freshwater and brackish habitats in

coastal areas will also eventually be

lost through sea-level rise. There are

two approaches to maintaining the

extent of these valuable habitats. The

first is to protect these areas from

increased incursion by seawater by

strengthening the coastal defences

to their seaward side. The second is

allow an increase in the frequency of

saline incursions, but create

replacement freshwater and brackish

habitat further inland. Below, we

describe the approaches we are

taking on reserves in Eastern

England aimed at maintaining the

overall extent of these valuable

coastal habitats.

Saline incursion

In Suffolk, the frontages at Minsmere

and Dingle are particularly vulnerable

to sea level rise and increased storm

activity. Minsmere has a shingle and

sand beach, with two lines of sea

walls, the outer of which was pushed

back over an approximate 500 m

length to join with the inner one in

the surge tide of November 2007. The

majority of the Minsmere frontage is

sustainable in the medium term, but

there is an area, fronting the

sensitive North Marsh reedbeds, that

is likely to be lost to saline incursion.

The Environment Agency and Natural

England have agreed that this

reedbed needs to be protected for

the next 20 years, to allow time for

compensatory reedbed habitat to be

created elsewhere. Meanwhile, we

have developed contingency plans

involving works within the reedbed

and drainage systems to minimise

and contain any salt water, should

there be another, larger, surge event.

Tidal surges are likely to cause more damage to coastal sea defences as sea level rise progresses

Freshwater and brackish habitats at Titchwell are threatened by

catastrophic floods as coastal erosion has accelerated

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Dingle Marshes are protected by a

shingle beach barrier, which used to

be maintained in an unnatural profile

by the Environment Agency.

Following the cessation of

maintenance operations in 2006, the

surge tides of November 2006 and

2007 have moved this ridge around

50 m inland. The ridge now has a

much broader profile, with gently

sloping sides. The freshwater grazing

marshes of Dingle, managed by the

Suffolk Wildlife Trust, have been

affected by saline incursion, although

the impacts on breeding birds are not

yet known. The vulnerable freshwater

88 89R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8 R S P B R E S E RV E S 2 0 0 8

reedbed of Point Marsh at Dingle is

fronted by a low secondary defence.

Natural England and the Environment

Agency have agreed to maintain this

line of defence at an acceptable level

for site management for the next

20 years to allow compensatory

habitat to be created elsewhere,

before allowing the site to start to

evolve more “naturally” and the

freshwater habitats to become

increasingly saline.

For both Minsmere and Dingle

Marshes, the works required to give

20 years protection have not yet

been approved, nor has finance been

secured, so the freshwater habitats

are still vulnerable to saline incursion.

Wetlands in the Broads, including the

RSPB reserve at Strumpshaw Fen,

have also suffered from saline

incursion increasingly in recent years,

and further consideration will need to

be given as to how to manage

this risk.

At Titchwell, the sea walls enclosing

the brackish and freshwater habitats

have deteriorated, due to coastal

erosion, to the extent that there is a

risk of a catastrophic flood, which

would severely damage these

habitats. Currently, the RSPB is

investigating a number of options

that would secure the long-term

future of the site. Various surveys and

assessments are ongoing, and we

hope to be able to make a decision

as to the best course of action in the

near future.

Intertidal habitat creation

In order to compensate for continuing

losses of intertidal habitat through

sea level rise, the RSPB has so far

created 66 ha of mudflat and

saltmarsh at Freiston Shore,

Lincolnshire, in partnership with the

Environment Agency (lead partner),

Natural England and Her Majesty’s

Prison Service, and eight hectares of

mudflat and saltmarsh at Havergate

Island, Suffolk.

We are now also managing the Defra

habitat creation project at Wallasea

Island in Essex, which has created

115 ha of mudflat and saltmarsh to

compensate for damaging port

developments in the 1990s. We are

currently working to develop a

landscape-scale coastal habitat

restoration on a further 720 ha of

Wallasea Island through the Wallasea

Island Wild Coast project.

This project will develop innovative

ways of creating and managing

coastal habitats, possibly using a

mixture of managed realignment and

regulated tidal exchange, a series of

culverts or weirs allowing limited and

very shallow amounts of tidal water

onto and off the site, but leaving the

existing sea walls in place. This new

Wild Coast will support nationally and

internationally important bird

populations, and, we hope,

re-establish lost breeding populations

of birds such as spoonbills and

Kentish plovers in England.

Minsmere

Titchwell Marsh

Strumpshaw Fen

Dingle Marshes

Freiston Shore

Havergate Island

Wallasea Island

The tidal surge in November 2007 pushed the outer sea wall at Minsmere back to join the inner sea wall

Flooded visitor trail at Strumpshaw Fen following a tidal surge from the

River Yare.The reserve is approximately 15 km upstream from the sea

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Geothermal heating

Our new award-winning

Environmental Education Centre at

Rainham Marshes in Essex has a

closed loop “geothermal” energy

system installed to provide heating

and hot water in the building. Below

the frost line, the temperature of the

earth stays fairly constant at around

12°C. The ground source heat pump

system consists of a heat exchanger

with six ‘U’ loop pipes set in steel

pipes buried 80 m below ground.

Fluid flowing through the heat

exchanger in the building returns

some two degrees warmer, and

when this passes through the heat

exchanger using a thermodynamic

compression process, the water

temperature is increased up to 35°C.

An additional benefit from this type

of heating is the ability of the system

to work in reverse, with excess heat

generated during the warmer

summer months discharged into the

ground, effectively using the ground

as a heat sink and thereby cooling

the building. Although the heat pump

uses electricity, for each unit of

electricity used it produces the

equivalent of four units of heat.

Biomass fuel

In addition to the geothermal

technology, we are also using

biomass as a source of heating,

notably at our Old Moor reserve near

Barnsley and at the new centre at

Saltholme in Stockton-on-Tees. These

systems can use either wood chip or

compressed wood pellets. At Old

Moor we have a complex of

buildings, which include a visitor

centre and tea room, classrooms,

offices and residential

accommodation, all run from a

100 kW biomass boiler.

Biomass fuel supplied for commercial

use can come from a variety of

sources, typically forest residues,

sawmill co-products or managed

woodland sources. Currently, a vast

untapped resource is wood

recovered from waste streams in the

UK, estimated at around 7.5 million

tonnes a year, of which 80% is

currently disposed of at landfill sites.

Although very early days, we have

been investigating the feasibility of

converting waste generated from our

own extensive reedbed

management, for use as a

commercial biomass product.

Solar power

In addition to these emerging

technologies, we continue to use the

more established renewable products

such as photovoltaics and solar

collectors (solar panels). Over the last

five or six years, we have installed

some 60 kWp of electricity-

generating photovoltaic solar panels,

equating in size to over three

badminton courts or over 40 standard

car parking spaces.

Voltage optimisation

At The Lodge, the RSPB’s UK

headquarters, our energy usage is

greater than the combined total of all

our reserves and regional offices,

split equally between gas and

electricity. In order to reduce our

carbon emissions, we intend to

install a Voltage Power Optimiser on

the site. The declared electricity

supply in the United Kingdom is now

230V with a tolerance of +10% to

–6%, therefore anywhere between

216V and 253V. Most electrical

equipment manufactured in Europe

and the UK is rated at 220V and will

effectively operate at voltages down

to 200V.

By optimising the voltage to the site,

we can reduce our demand from the

grid, effectively saving on energy

used, cost and carbon emissions.

The VPO was developed in Japan for

sites that have three-phase electricity

and is now installed on many sites

across the UK for Local Authorities,

HM Prisons, Defra and supermarket

chains, to name but a few.

After monitoring energy used on site

for a period of time, a feasibility study

has been produced that shows savings

of approximately £10,000 a year, with a

payback period of a mere two years,

saving some 13% of electrical energy

consumed; this is in addition to the

374,000 kg of CO2 saved over a five-

year period. We are now undertaking

feasibility studies on other sites that

are suitable for this technology.

Changing habits

Technology and the general

acceptance of the need to

accommodate alternative renewable

energy systems is growing, but it is

essential, if we are to combat climate

change, that we all commit to reducing

our carbon emissions.

Thanks to:Our work to install renewable energy

technology is funded by a large

number of organisations, and we are

grateful for their ongoing support to

make this possible.

Renewable energy on reserves

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Installation of solar panels at Sandwell Valley

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92

Our conservation work on reserves has been made possible

by a large number of people and organisations. We would

like to thank our members, volunteers, individual and

legacy donors, charitable trusts, business supporters,

public bodies, non-governmental organisations, the

statutory sector and government agencies for the support

we have received. A comprehensive list of our funders and

supporters for the financial year 2006–7 and 2007–8 can be

found in the relevant RSPB Annual Review.

Join usIf you would like to support the RSPB in working for a

healthy environment for birds and wildlife to create a

better world for us all, then please contact us at one of

the addresses on the back cover.

Thank you to our supporters

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