October Newsletter
Farming and land management
| 'Dry as a bone' is how many have described the marshes at present. We have yet to have any autumnal rain of any measure so the summer drying wetland is becoming unseasonably dry! That said waders are returning in numbers and as Richard mentions below we have even had several 'rarities'. With that in mind we very much appreciate your support in asking new visitors to respect others enjoyment by staying in their cars along the entry road so as not to disturb any of the nearby wildlife. Across the Reserve you may see larger than normal groups of cattle as they can now cross many dried ditches which usually keep them apart. Fortunately that has no real effect on the marshes other than to make checking the calves a little trickier for our stockmen. We will endeavour to keep large groups off the entry road though! Autumn works on the Reserve are underway with repairs to our network of pipes, ditches, gateways and paths. If you are wondering what the large piles of white material are its chalk for repairs to areas poached by large numbers of cattle, like gateways or around the cattle yard. Finally, if you are visiting its worth stopping along the entry road adjacent to the cover strips of now desiccated stalks and seed heads. Clouds of goldfinch, green finch, linnets and sparrows are making short work of over 3 hectares of seeds designed to keep them fed through the winter. If and when this runs out we will be trialing large scale feeders to help them through the 'hungry gap' January to March too - more of that to come in the winter. |
Thoughts from a regular
On the face of it, the summer period has been “quiet” altho’ several rarities, for Elmley, have featured, Glossy Ibis, Great White Egret, Purple Heron and Pallid Harrier ( which I unfortunately missed ).
Good to see the Lapwings starting to flock now, and the return of the Wigeon and Teal in largish numbers, now that Autumn has started. There will soon be rakes of Godwit and Curlew, and the inevitable Short Eared Owl.
Wildlife - October 2016
|
Tide Times - October 2016
| 1st 13:40 | 17- 13:53 | |
| 2nd 14:12 | 18- 14:35 | |
| 3rd 14:42 | 19- 15:19 | |
| 4- 15:12 | 20- 16:06 | |
| 5- 15:43 | 21- 16:56 | |
| 6- 16:16 | 22nd 17:54 | |
| 7- 16:52 | 23rd 06:23 | |
| 8- 17:34 | 24- 07:35 | |
| 9- 18:27 | 25- 08:55 | |
| 10- 06:52 | 26- 10:08 | |
| 11- 08:15 | 27- 11:10 | |
| 12- 09:40 | 28- 11:58 | |
| 13- 10:46 | 29- 12:39 | |
| 14- 11:40 | 30- 12:13 (Clocks change) | |
| 15- 12:27 (Full moon) | 31st 12:45 | |
| 16- 13:11 (Full moon) |
|
