September's Newsletter

Farming and Land Management

Autumn is upon us. The marsh is beginning to echo with fowl again as teal and wigeon begin to return. There are also good numbers of wheatear and whinchat about and the groups of yellow wags with plenty of juveniles are a delight to see before they depart once more. Many of you will have spotted the Spoonbills on the Swale at low tide too, it’s well worth the trek down to Spitend hide if not!

The grazing marsh has now been mown or ‘topped’. This removes the dry dead strand from the grass to allow new growth to come through which is good for both cattle and over-wintering wildfowl. In September we will be preparing for winter by digging some new rills, repairing gateways and undertaking lots of work at the Swale NNR too. Do send your sightings in or post your photos on Flickr.

Unfortunately, the seemingly annual August monsoon spoiled our preparation to work on the scrapes in front of Wellmarsh and Counterwall hides – it will now be too soft to use our machinery. Typical! Nonetheless, thank you to the hardy band of volunteers who have done a great job clearing scrub from the islands. So, rather than hope in vain for more dry weather we have now pump water back on to the flood the scrapes so all hides are in use and attracting waders and fowl again.

Lastly, the sunflowers, quinoa and buckwheat have flowered in August so all is not lost after a slow start. There should be some food for our small seed eaters later in the year!

Photograph is Whinchat by S&RPR