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!

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.