Rouzels

So, it’s been a while then… Massive case of writers block/lack of time/willing so not written anything since June. Apologies, anyhow.

I think I’ll take the opportunity to travel back in time a few weeks to the end of my latest conservation position and summarise what I was doing and how it worked out in the end.

As I’ve written previously,  I’ve been under contract as a Research Assistant for the RSPB on a project looking at the behaviour and habitats of Ring Ouzels Turdus torquatus. This year has been unbelievably frustrating birds-wise and has been a stark contract to last year, in one valley at least. To recap, I was comparing one ‘control’ valley – in this case Great Crowden Valley whose population of breeding Ring Ouzels has remained stable since 1990 , with a ‘treatment’ valley – at the RSPB’s Dove Stone nature reserve whose population has crashed since 1990. The word treatment implies that a course of productive management techniques may stem from the study.

Only one problem this year – the population of breeding Ouzels crashed in the control valley. Last year I had 8 or 9 confirmed breeding pairs in the valley, figures that correspond to well to post-1990 figures. This year I have had 2 confirmed breeding pairs, and probably not at the same time either (Ring Ouzels have 2 broods and probably 3 breeding attempts, but if the 2nd brood fails they won’t try again, unlike for the 1st brood). I must admit I’m struggling to understand why. The weather may be an obvious answer, April was unseasonably warm and May was very cold and wet, and there were quite a few birds seen in the valley but only a very small handful of these bred. However Ring Ouzels are hardy birds so I’m not sure weather is the answer. Predation also maybe an answer, I anecdotally saw a lot more stoats and weasels in Crowden than last year. But besides, there is an elephant in the room.

My ‘treatment’ valley at Dove Stone was stable with 2 breeding pairs both breeding twice; an improvement on last year when I had two pairs probably breeding once each, these birds had the exact same weather conditions to contend with; again I was also seeing more stoats and weasels. So it’s a mystery so far and a good reason to keep studying these fantastic birds.

Male Ring Ouzel at Dove Stone – July ’15

Male Ring Ouzel and fledgling at Dove Stone

It was pretty difficult at times this year when I was faced with walking up an down the control valley knowing in all likelihood I won’t see any of the birds I’m supposed to see, it was frustrating even with the phrase ‘no data is as good as lots of data’ ringing in my ears.

Even so it was still enjoyable, I saw my first English Red Kite Milvus milvus flying low over the valley. I was surrounded by Green Hairstreak Callophrys rubi butterflies  for a large period of spring which were joined by Emperor Saturnia pavonia moths and then later on by Oak Egger Lasiocampa quercus moths (one of which was in the bill of a Ring Ouzel at Dove Stone!). Overall, a gratifying summer which had so much more potential.

Depressed into Nature

I was completely shocked yesterday (5th February) about an interview with the former footballer Clarke Carlisle. I won’t go into too much detail about the interview as I think it’s largely irrelevant to what I write about here. Basically in the interview he admitted he had attempted suicide and suffered severely from depression. What shocked me however was the reaction from a ‘celebrity’ who accused Carlisle of being selfish and needing to ‘buck up’ and not be so attention seeking. This has prompted me to write again.

Here’s the thing. I suffer from depression. There I said it. I’ll say it again. I suffer from depression. Most people who know me know this fact but it may come to a shock to others. I’m pretty open about it.

I’m at a position where I can write about it clearly thanks to months of therapy and treatment. But what has seriously helped me to tame the Ole’ Black Dog has been to embrace the natural world.

I’ll give you the start of the story (OK the start of the recent story). At the back end of 2009 I had a serious breakdown caused by an incident at work, I saw my doctor about this and he got me to see a therapist. In the following few weeks the therapist suggested things I could do to turn my life around, things like restarting a hobby or interest which you previously enjoyed. Which led me to rediscovering bird watching (I was a keen birdwatcher between the ages of 6ish and 10ish). So I found myself at the RSPB’s Marshside and Hesketh Out Marsh reserves near Southport. Luckily it was late September so the air was full of Pink-footed Geese, thousands of them! It was such a fantastic and awe-inspiring spectacle that I was immediately hooked and wanted to explore more. I rejoined the RSPB, visited more reserves, and eventually asked about volunteering.

I made an incredibly bold move in January 2010 when I spent two weeks residential volunteering at the RSPB’s Lake Vyrnwy reserve in Mid-Wales. I took two weeks unpaid leave from work to do something I never dreamt I’d ever do, working outdoors in a picturesque nature reserve – a bit different from bar work! Looking back the experience wasn’t that great in all honesty, the coldest winter in my own living memory meant there wasn’t a lot that could be done work-wise, and my depression was still quite prominent so it reared it’s ugly head at times too. However I had a wonderful conversation with one of the long term residential volunteers who told me I should think about wildlife conservation as a career as it would help my depression (and give me confidence) by being outdoors a lot of the time. So thanks Cleo wherever you are!

I filled in a feedback form after Vyrnwy which included the question (paraphrased) ‘Would you be interested in volunteering for a RSPB reserve in your local area?’ Which I replied yes. At the time there was no local reserve to me but lo and behold I received a letter in the post in April of 2010 asking if I wanted to volunteer at the newly opened Dove Stone reserve 24 miles away from my house. I said yes and the rest is history to quote a cliché.

So all this resulted from a moment of low low depression. I made the first step to dig myself out of a hole which resulted in me eventually securing a career in wildlife conservation. I’ve not attention seeked, I’ve not ‘bucked up’ and I’ve certainly not been selfish. One of the lowest moments of my life has led me to the highest; something I know others, such as Clarke Carlisle, can aspire too. Admitting you have depression and then seeking help can quite literally turn your life round for the positive. I still get low (and occasionally really low) moments but I now have the tools to come out the other side.

Anywho, that was a rather serious and confessional rambling blog post. I’ll try be a bit more light-hearted next time, or at least less personal!

Odds and ends

It has been a week of less spectacular and less important jobs at RSPB Dove Stone. To be honest this isn’t the awe inspiring work that takes place up on the boggy moorland. The task in hand this week was taking out an old stock fence which was no longer needed, and then scarifying a bit of grassland and then replanting with wildflower seeds.

The old stock fence was located near the picnic benches at the foot of Ashway Gap. It was rendered useless by a brand new stock-proof fence that now borders the whole of the picnic site. The old fence was used to protect a formerly new bit of woodland planted some years ago. Funnily enough the area of the woodland was where I did my very first bit of voluntary work at Dove Stone in April 2010 which involved digging up Rhododendron ponticum bushes.

Wonder where the fence ran?!

Taking out an old fence is simple enough, just remove the wire with special fencing pliers and use brute force and ignorance in removing the fence posts. (Actually removing the larger turning posts requires A LOT of brute force and less of the ignorance!)

The meadow creation was a lot nicer task and was very much in the public eye; the main footpath around Dovestone reservoir is immediately adjacent to where we were working. We had several people asking, ‘what are you doing’, ‘what a nice day it was’, and ‘my isn’t it windy.’ It was nice to chat with them and promote the RSPB a little bit and tell them part of the grand plan for the area. The actual task involved breaking up the ground a bit with mattocks, removing the turf, turning the newly exposed soil, raking, then spreading a wildflower mix before stamping it in with your feet. Gardening basically!

Take this turf off, throw your seeds in and job’s a good ‘un (ish)

Hopefully this summer there will be a nice wildflower area besides the picnic area where people can enjoy and appreciate the wild spaces around them.

Sphagnum and Surveys

Bit of deja-vu again this time. As, yet again, I’ve been up on Saddleworth Moor restoring blanket bog with the guys from RSPB Dove Stone. This time was slightly different, it was still spreading sphagnum to areas which are currently sphagnum-free zones, but this time it was the actual plant I was planting rather than chucking beads around.

The areas targeted this week were areas previously restored about five years ago by the local water authority. These areas have seen gullies blocked by heather bales and stone dams to create soaking wet areas. The only element missing from these areas are sphagnum, hence planting sphagnum plants rather than beads.

The task itself is relatively easy, first remove the lump of sphagnum from its sack, then break the frozen solid lump of plant matter up with a spade (!), then get a fist size lump, make a hole with your heal in a damp area and place the lump of sphagnum in said hole. And repeat.

Pretty enjoyable, although the weather over the last month has made the ground ultra frozen places so damp areas were at a premium.

The real plant in the hand!

Task two this week was to begin a Dipper Cinclus cinclus survey, again for the guys at RSPB Dove Stone (I think you can gather I do most of my volunteering there!). My survey patch was Crowden Little Brook, a small fast moving stream which begins on the moors and ends in the Longdendale Valley.

Ideal Dipper country (tho none on this particular stretch!)

The terrain was pretty tough, tussocky grass and numerous crossings of a fast moving stream made for a difficult walk. This is ideal Dipper territory, but not ideal human territory! Two Dippers were seen by me and my colleague (both of which were early on, before the terrain got difficult!)

I said surveys in the title, not survey, as I’ve done two this week. I’ve just got back from surveying a part of The Roaches for the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust. This is a four part survey  so I shall report in this in the coming weeks.

Back on the bog

The team arriving at the site, a bit on the cold side today!

On Wedenesday it was back with the RSPB on Saddleworth Moor spreading more sphagnum seeds onto potentially boggy areas.  I’m not going to repeat what I wrote a couple of weeks ago as the task was just the same, I’ll go into a tad more detail tho maybe.

The weather was a lot nicer than last time, the snow was on the ground forming mini glaciers rather than falling horizontally across my face! By and large the moor was good to start spreading again. The sun was out, the birds were singing to write a cliche! (specifically Meadow Pipits Anthus pratensis were singing, Red Grouse Lapogus lapogus scotica were calling and a Snipe Gallinago gallinago flew over).

It was a lot more noticeable this time (mainly due to a lack of snow blowing into my eyes at 40mph!) that the areas we were spreading the sphagnum bead were largely devoid of sustaining vegetation, there was just a mono-culture-like spread of grass and the odd clump of heather. The areas of bare ground were more noticeable too; the bare ground up here is a very dark brown, almost black, soil and it dries very quickly, some areas I walked across had the consistency of cheap instant coffee granules. Well managed moorlands act as a brilliant carbon capture store and the dark soil is an indicator of this, so the eroding soil is a direct visual example of carbon escaping into the air. The addition of the sphagnum will help to stop the erosion and restart a carbon capture process (sphagnum is the major component of peat, a large source of carbon).

The sphapgnum beads in my hand, they have the consistency of silica. (Photo by me)

In other news, I did a recce of a site for a Woodcock survey I will be doing in May. The rather eerie Alderley Edge (near the Wizard pub!). More on this in May…

This time last year

This week, due to the balmy British weather(!), the weekly volunteering session was cancelled. Unfortunately at Dove Stone we couldn’t get up to the moor as the snow had drifted across the access road. The sphagnum in the buckets were frozen solid too. So I was at a bit of a loss as to what to post this week.

My mind has been drifting to this time last year when the weather was a lot warmer. In fact the weather was unseasonably warm ironically, so much so that I could start butterfly surveying.

Last year I was assigned a butterfly transect walk at RSPB Dove Stone (specifically the shore of Yeoman’s Hay and Dove Stone reservoirs) which ran from April 1 to September 30, but if the conditions were favourable I could start early.

So armed with a clip board, a compass, an anemometer, a butterfly net and a butterfly ID book I began my survey. The conditions needed to be specific, temperature above 13°C (preferably above 17°C), not too windy, and not too cloudy. The first survey was a bit light on numbers, only four butterflies seen (two commas Polygonia c-album, a small tortoiseshell Aglais urticae, and a peacock Inachis io), but it was a great first step for me in the field of butterfly surveying having never done it before.

By the time the end of September came I was practically an expert (yer right!) in butterfly surveying, and my knowledge of the insects went from nothing at all virtually to pretty decent in six months.

Small Copper, taken by me at the end of August 2012

Hopefully the weather will improve, and next week’s post should be more relevant!

Sphagnum spreading on the bog

Courtesy of Ken Gartside

Courtesy of Ken Gartside

Last Wednesday I spent most of the day on top of Saddleworth Moor, about a mile east of the Chew Reservoir, spreading beads of Sphagnum across the moor. Sounds easy enough? Well not exactly.

The trip from the RSPB‘s Landie to the site involved roughly a mile of walking, half of which was over a heavily eroded path, and the other half being over pure open moor complete with grass tussocks, gullies, pockets of snow and deep (ish) ravines. Add to this the weather, which was horizontal, strong winds driving snow towards us at breakneck speed.

The task itself involved grabbing a previously helicoptered-in bucket of Sphagnum beads, each containing a seed, walking 150metres and chucking a handful of beads as far as you can in a wide arc every ten paces. Repeat this a dozen times and the task is done. Again the terrain this is done in is undulating, tussocky, wet and treacherous.

Altogether over 150 buckets-worth if Sphagnum was spread between eleven people (9 volunteers and two RSPB wardens).  Once we were done we had to get back to the Landie, this time towing sack loads of plastic buckets, in the same conditions in which we arrived.

The idea of spreading the Sphagnum like this is to target an area of the moor without sphagnum. The sphagnum is one of the life bloods of a wet boggy moorland and has been eroded away in many areas. The sphagnum soaks up a heck of a lot of water and if left alone will eventually form peat.