Category: Biodiversity

Tim Hill again enlightens us on the birds to be seen on Marston Marsh. It is good to hear what he has to say about the scrapes. These were created recently as part of the work to reconnect the river with the marsh. The work had two main purposes, to improve the river’s ability to store water in times of flood, and to improve marshland wildlife habitat. There was concern about the effect of the heavy equipment used, but the surface scars are beginning to heal.

Here is Tim’s report:

A chiffchaff has decided not to migrate again and was “Chiffchaffing” into early December. Cetti’s warblers have been ever present and I recently discovered one that sounded like a great spotted woodpecker calling quietly. They are mobile but have been in the ditches either side of the central path running from the main entrance off Marston Lane (close to Abinger Way) to the river.

The new scrapes look very promising and are already attracting large numbers of black-headed gulls, with smaller numbers of herring and common gulls, all enjoying bathing in the winter afternoon sunshine. A heron has regularly opted to use the new fence around the pipe connecting the large scrape to the river as its favourite perch but has competition from the gulls and a kingfisher.

November saw ducks regularly on the larger area of water at the east end and mallards have been joined by up to 4 gadwalls. The latter has only appeared here when the marsh has been in full flood before. Since November there has been a resident greylag goose that has wandered up and down between the new scrapes and has sometimes been joined by a small group of others. Pink-footed geese have been seen flying over, mostly in a SW direction, giving their classic “wink, wink” calls. They are usually seen around 8 am or soon after.

The bare earth at the west end was popular with corvids in late autumn. 100 were counted one afternoon being mostly crows and jackdaws but with a few rooks. The latter is a species that I have rarely seen on the ground here. Pied wagtails have also been seen on the ground around the new scrapes with a couple of visits by a grey wagtail flying over.

Large flocks of teal have visited in the last few weeks but have not landed. They usually come from the direction of Tesco, do a couple of circuits of the east end of the marsh and then return. Hopefully, now the wet area is much larger due to the recent rain, they might decide to settle on the water.

The “Marmite” species (ring-necked parakeet) seems to be thriving. The maximum number I have seen has been 30 and I am sure I missed a few. Without leaves on the trees, they ought to be easy to spot but that seems not to be the case. The best chance to count them is as they fly, as a flock, out from the poplars before returning to settle for the night.

The crows and magpies now have fewer perches to sit on as they wait for food to be placed on the gateposts at the east end of the boardwalk. At the beginning of December the large willow decided to shed about half of its branches with two large breaks, one either side of the main trunk.