New Tern Raft

Today we launched our old tern raft and another brand new one.

Alf Peacock, Matt Hall, Mike Thomas and Roy Mathers.

Last year we did not put our raft out on the water until May simply because we hadn't finished building it. It turned out to be  a good idea to avoid gulls using the raft as they were already settled in on the Sailing Lake islands.

This year the gulls are nesting a mile away and the first pair of terns we saw seemed to spend all day on the mooring buoys waiting for us to put their raft back. Of course we can't prove they are the same terns that nested there last year, but we think it is possible.

In fact, I have a theory about these common terns: I think that these individuals may have hatched on a tern raft somewhere else and therefore associate these man-made islands with nesting, rather than the slightly more natural islands that all the other terns are using.

Next stop, Antigua!

Breeding on a raft is better than on an island because of the lack of competition and predation. The perspex walls help to make them more predator proof and terns will nest very close together, often in less than a square foot per pair!

Both of our rafts were built for us by Alf Peacock using a galvanised steel frame and large polystyrene blocks as a basis. The Friends of Paxton Pits Nature Reserve paid for them and they were put in place by volunteers led by ranger Matt Hall.

But what about the terns themselves?

At this time of year, several species of terns are on migration to their northern breeding grounds. Of the so-called "marsh terns" that breed near fresh water rather than salt, we are most likely to see black terns and common terns. Arctic terns look almost identical to common terns but they nest further north and winter further south. They also prefer salt-water locations. All three species have been seen in the district this week.  Other species can turn up, but you have to be there when they pass through. I can remember whiskered and little terns popping by Paxton Pits.

Common tern (RSPB).

Common Terns are really miss-named; they are outnumbered by Arctic Terns, both in the UK and globally, but they "tern up" in urban areas where people can see them.

While Arctic terns hold all the long-distance migration records, British Common Terns are not to be sneered at with most of them wintering from Ghana in West Africa through the Gulf of Guinea and down to the Cape.




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New Family at Paxton Pits

This is Ray Matthews' story for the local papers.  I think it is perfect.

For the second year running a wild Mallard duck has hatched a family in a Little Paxton garden and, with a little help from her friends, led the brood through village streets to the safety of Paxton Pits Nature Reserve. 

Nesting high up in an ivy-covered Hawthorn tree, the Mallard produced 10 ducklings which then gathered with mum on the garden pond.  Householder and Friends of Paxton Pits Trustee Ray Matthews takes up the story...

 “Last year she produced 9 ducklings and immediately made her way to Hayling Lake on the nature reserve.  It was exactly the same this year, only one week earlier.  Traffic and perceived threats from pets along the way needed to be negotiated, but it helped that she had a couple of human ‘guardians’ looking out for her and the brood.  

Ray Matthews

The biggest obstacle this year was getting through our garden fence.  The goodwill and cooperation of our neighbours came to the rescue, allowing us to plan ahead and cut temporary ‘duck doors’ to speed her on her way.

So this particular female has added at least 19 ducklings to Paxton Pits’ wildlife, much to the pleasure of the volunteers and Rangers who put so much effort in to creating a safe haven.”

Not such a perfect day.

"It was the best of times and it was the worst of times.*" Do you remember where that quotation is from?  It sprang to my mind today when things went wrong, then right, then wrong again.

Working on my blog at Chez-Jim.

These days I go to the office three times a week with an agenda in mind. If I printed out my to-do list on Monday it would take up a roll of wall-paper but by Friday it would be even longer and that's because on Wednesday, stuff always happens!

This Wednesday I didn't even start on my to-dos because the electric shutter was broken and the ice-cream freezer had gone off and it had started to thaw out. You can't just walk away from that and do your paperwork!

Fortunately the shutter can be worked manually but it is a real chore to wind it up and down. The freezer just had to be fixed quickly, so of course we checked the fuse boxes and all was working there.  The next step was to follow the wire from the shutter motor, through three walls and into the store cupboard where we found that it ran into a duct with the wire from the freezer. That seemed suspicious!

The duct ran along behind some shelves that were full of sales goods which we removed and "Lo and Behold**" we found a socket with two plugs. A sign read "Do Not Switch Off" but, guess what?

I switched them both on and the freezer lit up so I was pretty sure the shutters would work as well:.........They didn't.

An inspection of the plug's innards showed a burned-out fuse which we replaced by taking one out of a redundant fan heater. Victory was ours. But who turned the switches off??

A Ranger is good in a crisis. We can give you CPR, rescue a swan, tow you out of a hole, and give you a tracheotomy or an amputation with no anaesthetic, and all of these roles are more rewarding than emptying dog bins, at least in my view. However we are deemed incompetent when it comes to changing a fuse; they have to tested by a man named Pat.

Laurence Rose; ornithologist, composer
and former chair of the Friends.

I went back to my list and started work on editing a press release concerning dogs and disturbance during the nightingale season. I was interrupted many times with minor issues and requests for information and then a scheduled meeting about boats and break-ins.

There was no time for lunch as we had to put the furniture out for an afternoon talk which was to be given by an old colleague from the RSPB, Laurence Rose. I was looking forward to hearing what he had to say about springtime in Norfolk but crisis number two was on it's way, by bicycle.

A breathless cyclist popped his head round the door to tell us that our cattle had escaped and they were on the footpath. This has happened before; on one occasion they turned out to be someone else's cows so we asked him to describe them. "Brown, very butch and extremely shaggy, with big horns." Definitely not Fresians then. 

Age has taught me to be sceptical so I assumed that the cyclist had actually found himself cycling through the cattle enclosure which is out of bounds and within the quarry, but Ranger Sam James and I went to check anyway. As we passed people on the Heron Trail we asked them if they had seen any loose cattle and they certainly had. 

"Form a circle, girls"

Enjoying the shade of hawthorns and munching on the fresh shoots of overhanging willows, our 12 Highlanders were about a mile away from their field and heading south along the Ouse Valley Way. They were almost at the moorings and it was obvious that we were not going to get them to march all the way back towards Buckden on the hottest April day for four years. 

We called in Ranger Paul Claydon and the three of us hatched a plan, cowboy-style. Using three vehicles, we planned to march them south to the sheep paddock near Dodder Fen. I say "march" but I mean "lure". Highlanders are not animals to be marched or driven. If they start to jog or gallop they become unstoppable. They have "rear wheel drive" so the back end tends to swing about making steering difficult (I watch too much Top Gear.) Fortunately they have a weak spot which is their stomach.

Sam was sent to the yard to get the Kawasaki Mule and two bales of hay while Paul stayed with the cows to act as anchor-man and stop them heading for the main road. Meanwhile I went ahead to open all the gates along the Ouse Valley Way and block any potential escape routes using whatever I could find. The big blue tractor was useful for blocking off the Heron Trail and various bits of fence and fallen tree came in handy too.

Using mobile phones, Paul (who was the only one who could actually see the cows) warned us that they were getting spooked and looked like heading north again. Sam reversed towards them and shouted "Come on; grub's up"....... and they blooming' well did! He gave them just a taste of hay and they started to follow him in single file with Paul bringing up the rear in the blue Piaggio pick-up. I drove along the river bank to act as a flanker then got ahead of them again to use my car to stop them going right past the paddock and on towards the village. 

I have to say, we did extremely well to keep the cows calm. If either Paul or I had made a sudden movement or tried to push them along they would have broken out and we would have failed. I can't deny that luck also played a part. If we had met any visiting dog-walkers the game would have been up. 

I really love being a ranger! What next?

There was a lot of gear to put away in the yard so Paul and Sam did that while I emptied an overflowing dog bin and went off to look for two suspicious characters who had been spotted in the bushes near "The Beach" on Cloudy Pit. I didn't find them, but by now it was 5:30 pm and I thought I would leave before something else happened. 

If we had not caught the cattle, we might have been in for an all night job. You cannot just go home at the end of a shift when there is a chance of your cattle getting onto a main road or into people's gardens. Imaging waking up to find 12 highland cattle calmly munching your laundry in the back garden! Imagine the letters to the Council and the articles in the Hunts Post. People would pass me in the street and whisper "Mooooo" behind my back. I'd have to emigrate.


* "A Tale of Two Cities"
** A misquote from the James V1 Bible.

April showers arrive late; in June!

Stop Press: Our new Environmental Education Centre has just won an award from Huntingdonshire District Council for it's green credentials. The building is managed by our partners, the Wildlife Trust, to give people of all ages a taste of the wonders that Paxton Pits has on offer. In the design plan, we wanted to get as "green" a building as we could afford within the budget. We still don't have solar panels but I'm so pleased that we won this. I'm sure will win other awards when the plantings have matured and the landscaping comes into its own.

The showers we had this week were the only significant precipitation since the winter. The birds showed their appreciation by having a good bath and then singing their hearts out. There also seems to be a surge in nest building this week. This first rain started our annual swarm of baby toads around the Hayling Pit, particularly near the allotments. Please watch where you put your feet if it rains again!

The drought has been really tough on our snails. You can find thousands of shells in the shrivelled turf behind the Lefarge Plant. Even so, a few survivors like this banded grove snail popped out to enjoy the rain.

On Sunday we fielded our team of bird-counters for the second breeding bird survey of the year. Most of the birds were mapped in dense vegetation so the observers needed to be good at recognising bird-song. Even so, it was impossible to sort out all the calls, squeaks and ticks coming from hidden baby birds. It was a relief to hear a few turtle doves singing after a long silence. People were starting to complain that these uncommon birds had become extinct here. Apparently this is quite normal as the males take a big share in raising the young and don't have time for 'choir practice' until the nest is empty. If you would like to help with next year's counts, please get in touch with me.

Our bird ringing programme is run by RSPB staff in their time off, usually starting very early on a week-end morning. The ringing site is behind our yard at Ray House Farm, near the moorings. The scheme produces all sorts of useful data and often we get reports of birds that we didn't even know we had on the site, or we get definite proof that birds have bred. Recent captures include a Cettis Warbler (pictured) which we were not aware of there, although we have them on the Meadow Trail. They are incredibly noisy, letting out a scolding, explosive chain of expletives from dense cover, so its surprising we missed this one.

Of course, the main point in putting rings on birds is to catch them again. That way we might find out how long they live or where they go. Ringer Ian Dillon told me, "We also caught one Nightingale, which brought the biggest smile of the day from our visiting ringers Vic & Helen Inzani. This was an adult male first caught in June 2008 and re-trapped twice in 2010, but not trapped in 2009. A Garden Warbler plus 2 Great Tits from 2008 were also notable re-traps. The Garden Warbler is quite interesting having been trapped at least once each May since 2008 but never in any other month. Where does it go during June, July and August before it migrates south again?"

Only today I learned that a male lesser whitethroat caught by a cat in St Neots was ringed here on May 15th. They are supposed to stay here and nest, not go to town!

We seem to have more squirrels around than ever. Once in a while we see a black one. This one, which seems to be a young one, was on the bird table at the visitors' centre. Although they generally supposed to be more dominant than their grey siblings, this little chap was constantly being chased off by the resident greys.

Out in the arable fields I'm amazed to see anything growing as we don't have the ability to irrigate the crops. In fact we didn't even bother to plant our wild-bird cover mix until a week ago, but we don't expect much of a crop. Fortunately the wheat that we planted last autumn was well established and deeply rooted before the drought struck. There will be a lot of grain, but it will be a bit small. In amongst the crop on Peter's Field you can see red poppies, blue cornflowers and a few mauve corn-cockles. The daisy-like plants along the margin are corn chamomiles.

Our meadow would normally be waist high in grasses, rushes and wild flowers at this time. It looks like a brown playing field now except in the lusher margins near the trees. This where you can see some very fine examples of spotted orchids, especially at the foot of the steps that lead up to the Hayling Pit. Please don't trample them when you take photos. The rangers were horrified to find that someone had picked a hand full of them last week, then left them on a nearby bench!

Pip

In the chaos of nightingale season I almost forgot about Pip. He was brought into my office early last week and then ignored in a box on my desk while we worked outside with the midweek volunteers. I looked in on him after lunch and he was gone: But I soon found him hanging upside-down from a neighbouring desk. He seemed sluggish and I didn't give much for his chances. These tiny mammals are likely to go the way of my tomatoes (all dead by the way) when we get a late frost.

I waited until the end of the day to see if he was fit enough to release. He didn't look like a fighter I must say: Just hanging-out in his box looking, frankly, boring. I walked him back to where he was found in the faint hope of a successful release. If he didn't perk up I was prepared to take him indoors again.

As soon as I put him on a tree he sprang to life. He didn't fly but he "ran" up the branch in a sinister looking bat-crawl, using his hooked wing-fingers and his hind toes. If I had been a bird I would have pecked him to death for just being batty. When he reached the top of the branch he promptly turned upside-down and went to sleep. Then he was virtually invisible.

Pip is a pipistrelle bat. We don't have many at Paxton so we like to look after them. I guess that most of the ones we see come from houses in the village, but a few live in old, ivy-covered trees on the reserve. This is not really a woodland site, but a few more bat boxes might help.

Actually we have two kinds of pipistrelle that have different voices, but they look the same in the hand. You have to point an electronic bat detector at them to tell the difference.

Countryfile

After much feverish last-minute texting and e-mailing our team was assembled at Paxton Pits Nature Reserve. It was exactly 5.15 am and the weather was perfect; calm, still and clear as could be.

The team comprised of Delia Shannon, John Minnie and Keith Ridout from Aggregate Industries and Dr Ray Matthews (Chairman of the Friends of Paxton Pits Nature Reserve). I was present to act as guide and make the tea. We were all there to meet a crew from the BBC who had been staying nearby in St. Neots overnight to be ready for the early start.

Dean Jones was quick and businesslike; obviously in charge while Jim Blanche, who was festooned with boxes and wires, was busy from the off. A ludicrously big, furry microphone on a stick revealed him to be the sound-man. Methodical Dave Ronnie had a Volvo full of tripods and cameras, so no prizes there. And finally John Craven, who not only looked and sounded familiar but had a manner that made you think that you were picking up a conversation where you had left it yesterday.

We were off to hunt down a nightingale. Not just to hear it, but to capture it forever on film. As simple as that!

I had stood around for the previous hour and only heard one nightingale, a long way off. Although the weather was perfect, Ray and I were a bit worried as we passed three territories with not a peep. I parked my car near one bird that was singing in a half hearted way and he promptly packed up. We decided to push on to our favorite spot where four territories converge as this would give us a better chance of success and, ‘Bingo’, there was our bird, singing his heart out from the middle of a hawthorn. We couldn’t see him but we knew that if we waited he would move, and he did, three times, and always to the middle of another bush.

Leaving the crew with “Mr Bashful” I went in search of a more co-operative songster and found him in an ash tree near our farm-yard. Although I scanned the whole tree through binoculars I still couldn't see him. But then a young man on a bicycle peddled past, casually glanced up and pointed to the tree saying “Nightingale,‘See him?” I sent him back to get the team and the rest of the session went perfectly. That bird sang in the open for something like half an hour while the climbing sun gave him strength. It was John Craven’s first nightingale.

Ray and John (who look like twins) conducted a short piece to camera (several times) about the nightingales at Paxton and it was ‘in the can’ (as we broadcasters say).

Dean wanted a few shots of the sorting plant to illustrate what the Reserve would have looked like immediately after quarrying; the point being that we can create new habitat and wonderful places for people too. But we knew that, didn't we?

You can see the resulting two minutes of Paxton Pits at its best on the Countryfile Programme, on Sunday May 29th. Look out for a clip of John Craven speaking from Priory Park as well.

Mid March

Have you seen our mammoth? The big hairy structure at the entrance to our Environmental Education Centre has been completed by the Green Team (Inspire) from Hunts Regional College. Go and have a look.

The Friends AGM was held last Friday night and was our biggest so far, with over 130 people attending. It was a really inspiring event for all of us.

I released our 2010 visitor figures on the night.

70 Schools brought 1428 children; 77 Groups brought 1369 people and 26 events attracted 1482 visitors. The total number through the Centre in 2010 was 37,303.

The last few days of fine weather have pushed spring into overdrive. The Rangers and volunteers have been out doing last-minute vegetation management jobs before the buds burst and the sap rises fully.

Many birds are already nesting so we have to avoid major projects that might disrupt them but the first summer migrants are only just starting to arrive. You may hear chiff chaffs singing from the tallest trees but it has been hard to find any other migrants. We have seen just one swallow and one sand martin so far.

Birds of prey are displaying high overhead in the blue sky. Today there were five buzzards wheeling and mewing above the visitors' centre and a male sparrow hawk was performing his ariel antics over the allotments.

Insects are very much in evidence at the moment. I took the photos of a peacock and a comma butterfly on a blackthorn bush yesterday, but there are lots of brimstones and a few tortoiseshells around as well. Today I saw my first bee fly of the year.

The blossom on our hedgerows is looking fabulous this week while on the ground you can see masses of violets, lesser celandines and coltsfoot flowers around the trails.

I have heard frogs croaking from both Rudd and Hayling Lakes and there are smooth newts in the smaller ponds, but I have not found a great crested newt yet. I've been looking for grass snakes in all the usual places, and finally saw one today from the road. It was swimming across the sailing lake.

This week-end we have a bird count on Saturday and a Friends volunteer work party on Sunday. To find out how to get involved in future projects, just ask in the Centre.

On the trail of the heron

Martin Davies is one of our stalwart bird counters. He's out in all weathers at all times of the year and he finds a lot of the rarities that turn up in the quarry where he collects data for the BTO award scheme.

On Saturday morning he set out through the quarry and stopped at the foot of Island Pit where there is a sandy delta. It's a good spot for waders and loafing ducks so he was not surprised to see a heron there, but this one was sitting down! They really don't do that. It was clearly unwell but he could not get close because of the soft silt, so he called me at home. These things always happen at week-ends don't they?

I arranged to meet an RSPCA inspector at the Visitors Centre and then escort her through the quarry, with no real plan for a rescue. It was a good job I brought along a lot of keys: Bardon Aggregates' locks had all been removed by thieves and the Rangers had used some of our old, random padlocks to secure the site.

As we scraped our way through the quarry in the RSPCA's Berlingo van, Cherry the inspector told me that she had lost the sump-guard on an earlier job and that weekends were incredibly busy for her. She covers a huge area, 6 days a week, and nights too. Although you call a national number, they have a reasonable network of local inspectors. Our experience is that they turn out pretty quickly and have rescued quite a few swans at Paxton over the years.

We found the heron quite easily. It was laid out on the mud with its feet trailing; so they weren't stuck in the mud. Perhaps its legs were broken?

I knew that the silt was quite firm for some distance because I had seen motorcycle tracks in it. All the same, I took a lifebelt and paid out the rope so that I could be hauled back if I got in trouble. As soon as I was in the open the heron stood up and walked into the lake, so it's legs were OK. A frontal attack was going to result in the bird swimming away and probably drowning. We needed to turn it towards the shore. A boat would have been nice. The Fire Brigade has inflatable surf boards that they use in mud and on ice. Perhaps we should get one.

I moved off some distance along the shore and waded out as far as I dared, then using Cherry's net, I slowly drove the bird ashore where the bank was very steep. Unfortunately the mud was very deep there and I got bogged down a couple of times. The mistake was to stand still. You have to keep moving before you sink. (Actually, the mistake was getting in there in the first place!)

But we won! The heron scrabbled up the bank into the bushes where I could grab it and I waded back to land with two wellies full of mud, and a very poorly and distressed looking heron.

Neither of us thought the heron would last long, but Cherry took it to her colleague in Peterborough and then it was transferred to the RSPCA centre in Norfolk.

Update March 17th.

Contrary to both our expectations, "Spike" recovered quite quickly and was soon having a go at anyone who came near. Cherry returned him to Paxton for release from our car park on Weedy Pit. He flew off straight away, so it was definitely a worthwhile effort for all concerned.

Health and Safety note: Never try to rescue wildlife or pets from water on your own. Get help first. The experts don't take long to arrive and even if you don't come to a sticky end, you are most likely to drive the animal further from shore.