Introduction - Watchree Nature Reserve€¦ · Web viewAnnual Report 2016/171 Watchtree Nature Reserve Ltd. Great Orton, Carlisle, Cumbria. CA5 6NL Tel: 01228 712539 E-mail: [email protected]

A Wildlife Haven and Community Asset for All

Annual Report 2016/17

Prepared by Ryan Dobson

Introduction.................................................................................................1

BBC Countryfile............................................................................................2

Wildlife........................................................................................................2

Visitors.........................................................................................................4

Fundraising..................................................................................................6

Watchtree Wheelers...................................................................................6

Events..........................................................................................................7

Education.....................................................................................................8

Staff & Volunteers.......................................................................................9

Looking Forward........................................................................................10

Appendix 1 - BBC Countryfile Visit.............................................................11

Appendix 2 - Wildlife Report 2016.............................................................13

Watchtree Nature Reserve Ltd. Great Orton, Carlisle, Cumbria. CA5 6NLTel: 01228 712539E-mail: [email protected] Web Site: www.watchtree.co.uk Company Registration No. 5214585 Registered Charity No. 1127029

Annual Report 2016/17 1

Introduction

On behalf of the Directors I am pleased to present our eleventh annual report on the work and progress of Watchtree Nature Reserve Ltd. This report will cover all areas of the reserve’s varied work, including wildlife and habitat development, the Watchtree Wheelers, visitor numbers, membership, events and much more. We hope the report makes for interesting reading and if you require any further information then please contact us directly and we will be happy to assist you.

The 2016/17 financial year marked a considerable change in our business, as our 10 year funding agreement with Defra ended on 31st March 2016. The most remarkable element of this report is our success in maintaining all the facilities and services as an independent and sustainable organisation. We have received financial support for new projects and our daily operation has been self-supporting. This report will look at how this has been achieved and the steps necessary to maintain sustainability.

We have created diverse ways of fundraising in response to funding pressures and have focussed our work on reducing costs. In many cases this has been achieved by nurturing the good will of our community, hence a large proportion of this report is dedicated to the generosity of our supporters.

There are many successes to celebrate and we hope you enjoy this look back at the last 12 months. The final section of this report looks to next year and beyond, where the wheels are already in motion for some exciting developments.

Figure 1: Countryfile presenter Helen Skelton during their January 2017 visit



BBC Countryfile

Watchtree is now many things to many people, but we are first and foremost a nature reserve. Among the highest accolades for a reserve is a visit from BBC Countryfile. In January 2017 we were fortunate enough to welcome the BBC Countryfile team for a third visit. Their initial intention was to simply film our impressive Starling murmuration; however, on discovering more about Watchtree they produced an interesting four minute piece which incorporated many aspects of the reserve. The show was presented by Carlisle’s own Helen Skelton and it was a real pleasure to introduce Helen to Watchtree and show her around – we have a feeling she’ll be back!

You can read more in Appendix 1 - BBC Countryfile visit.

Wildlife

Habitats

Grasslands

The haymaking and grazing was once again licenced to three of our neighbours. The grassland monitoring report from R. Jerram notes that the meadows, whilst not achieving the floristic composition of the original 2002 habitat plan, have stabilised and are acquiring some diversity. Developing habitat for the Marsh Fritillary butterfly remains a key objective. Our volunteers have continued with the hedge laying programme. We aim to provide areas of wild bird food and insect pollinator crops, and with this in mind, three fields were ploughed and sown with nitrogen-fixing clovers to help prepare the soil.

Woodland and Scrub

We have a new woodland management plan which has been approved by the Forestry Commission. Over the next three years we shall be carrying out a 25% thinning of the woodlands, mostly the Scots Pine and Larch. We shall continue to manage in the hope that Red Squirrels will eventually make their home here. Our main aim now is to manage the woodlands for diversity of both habitat and species. Thinning will let the light in which will encourage ground cover in order to maintain a good diversity for our extensive range of breeding birds and insects.

Wetlands

The wetland habitats are developing into extensive reed beds, and in the constructed wetlands the trees are dominating the water edge, which we are continuing to coppice on a long rotation. The Great Crested Newt continues to flourish, and we also have large numbers of Smooth and Palmate Newts and lots of frogs and toads. Our pond life is abundant as the regular pond dipping sessions illustrate.

Other Habitats

The most under-rated habitat is the old concrete runway areas, which is interesting for its plant community and associated invertebrates, especially the Dingy Skipper butterfly and its food plant the Birdsfoot Trefoil.



Species

Birds

Our bird records are extensive, the main sources being from Liz Still who carries out a breeding bird survey, now in its twelfth year, and from bird ringing and nest recording. The main highlights of the season were the sighting of a Goshawk, and the capture and ringing of a Yellow Browed Warbler. A remarkable 67 Willow Warbler territories were recorded, where a territory is defined by the presence of a singing male, although it should be noted this does not necessarily mean a pair are present. Skylarks are now well-established, with 21 territorial males recorded. It was a thrill to have a pair of Lapwing breed again and rear a single chick.

There were 51 species of breeding bird at Watchtree in 2016, and during the breeding season 87 nests belonging to 25 species were identified. A full report of all species recording can be found in Appendix 2. A more detailed ringing and nest recording report, together with a summary of the breeding bird survey, will be available on the web site in due course.

Figure 2: Lapwing by the Lake

Butterflies and Moths

Butterflies and moths are extensively monitored and are important indicators of the health of our environment and climate. Fifteen new species of moth were recorded, the highlight being Treble-bar; this species, which feeds on St. John's-Wort, has not been recorded in the Solway area for the last 20 years. A micro-moth, Ptycholoma lecheana, was the first VC70 record (vice-county) and the fifth Cumbrian record, and has not been seen in the county since 2008. Another micro-moth, Rhyacionia pinivorana, has been attracted to the reserve by the conifer planting, and was the fourth VC70 record.

The Speckled Wood butterfly, which has only recently arrived in north Cumbria, was a new species for the reserve. Two generations were noted so it is probably now resident breeding. However, overall it was not a great year for butterflies. The Dingy Skipper is doing well, although there was no increase in numbers or distribution in 2016, while the Wall did much better in 2016 than in previous years. The Dingy Skipper and Wall are Red List threatened butterflies in Britain; the Dingy Skipper is listed as ‘vulnerable’ and the Wall as ‘near threatened’. Both butterflies are national conservation priority species (S41 species), and at Watchtree they can often be seen on the old concrete runways.



Other Species

The Watchtree wetlands provide a very clean water habitat for a host of invertebrates, the most obvious being dragon and damselflies; however, there were fewer Black Darter than in previous years. The ‘constructed wetlands’ is now a really good environment for these insects, and the largest of the species, the Emperor Dragonfly, is now a resident breeding species. The Great Diving Beetle is abundant within the water bodies, and its nymph is a voracious predator, perhaps accounting for the variation in dragonfly populations. We maintain a healthy bat population, and several of the bat boxes are well used by Pipistrelle Bats. Daubenton’s Bats can also be seen hawking insects over water at dusk.

You can read our full report on habitats and species in Appendix 2 - Wildlife Report 2016

Visitors

Every year we report an increase in visitor numbers, but never before have we seen such remarkable growth. In 2015/16 we recorded 18,316 visitors, whilst this year we recorded a 67% increase to 30,374. Undoubtedly, some of this increase is due to good weather through some of the winter months, although the majority of growth is believed to be as a result of increased marketing and the introduction of a wide ranging events programme. Our feature on Countryfile in January of 2017 also encouraged a spike in visitors during an otherwise quiet time of year. From the point of view of the visitor centre, it certainly seems that there was never a ‘quiet time of year’ in 2016/17, as the graph below confirms.

Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

2607 2620

2347

2769

3297

2240

2804

15311666

2376

30203097

1,745 1,798

1,305

1,696

2,757

1,631 1,568

766

313 797

1,753

2,187

Visitors 2016/17 Visitors 2015/16 Visitors 2014/15 Visitors 2013/14

No.

of V

isito

rs

Figure 3: Total number of visitors in 2016/17 per month compared to previous years



Visitor Contributions

Visitor support is essential as we strive for sustainability, and we are pleased that such support is given gladly as detailed below:

Visitors Centre Donation Box

We received £6211 in donations through our visitor centre donation box alone, compared to £1,560 in 2015/16

Watchtree Café

Through our blackboards and other notices we have promoted the café as a charity outlet, encouraging people to use it because the profits support our work. This is another area of significant increase and in 2016/17 the turnover of the café was over £27,000, more than double the performance of the previous year, but expected given the increase in visitors. However, a larger range of products, including sandwiches and events focused around use of the café, have also facilitated this progression.

Membership

On the 31st March 2017 the total number of members was 530 and the membership scheme has a value of over £12,000. We are pleased to report that membership numbers have continued to rise but at a slightly lower rate, which is as expected.

Last year we reported that changes to the Watchtree Wheelers pricing structure had led to an increase in membership uptake and the figures rose by 75% from 2014/15 to 2015/16.

Membership benefits remain the same; discount on cycle hire, out of hours access, and regular newsletters. As we have increased the number and variety of events we host, we have maintained a membership discount in all areas.

Watchtree Calendar

Our 2017 Watchtree Wildlife Calendar was perhaps our best yet. The photography was excellent and we are grateful to all the contributors. This was our first calendar to feature our full event listings, which will hopefully lead to increased bookings. We doubled our output to 1000 calendars and for the first time – sold out!

Calendar sponsorship is now the key to its success and we featured 28 local business who all contributed £50 towards its production. Calendar sponsorship almost covered the cost of production; therefore, we made the bold decision to give away the calendar with a suggested donation, whereas in previous years we have sold it for £5 per calendar. This strategy paid off, increasing the number of calendars distributed and turning a healthy profit of over £1000 from the project.



Fundraising

Fundraising comes in many different forms, and for us the biggest fundraisers are donations, sponsorship and grants. Cafe sales, cycle hire and membership are also considered forms of fundraising and were covered in the previous section above.

Donations

Christopher Barker donated £200 in September 2016 to be used as we see fit. Wigton Choral Society raised and donated £352 to the Watchtree Wheelers through carol

singing services and events Harry Parsons and Ethan Catton raised and donated £301.30 to the Watchtree Wheelers

through a sponsored cycle ride at Watchtree Carlisle Girl Guides donated £46 which was raised through a carol service collection to be

used as we see fit. Story Construction donated £2200 in March 2017 to go towards the trails development

project.

Grants

The composting toilet project reported in our last annual report is now complete, thanks to funding from CWMET and Cumbria Community Foundation. Since completion the toilet has been well used and is much more popular than the portaloos which were in use previously.

Also included in last year’s report was the signage improvement project which was funded by Tesco/Groundwork. The majority of these works are complete, and include new finger post signage and roadside entrance sign, however there is still a small amount to be spent.

At the very end of the financial year we were pleased to be awarded £50,000 from Sellafield, as part of their Community Choices programme, which will kick start our trails development project. We hope to match fund this amount which will enable us to resurface the remaining concrete trails which make up our cycling and walking network.

Greggs donated £980 for the purchase of two charcoal burning kilns that have enabled our volunteers to make use of otherwise unusable wood to produce our own charcoal which we sell.

Watchtree Wheelers

The Watchtree Wheelers Cycle Centre is now firmly established as a successful project providing a significant dimension to our recreational services. It is a unique service for groups and individuals with additional needs and an important income generator for the reserve.

During the year we have had many cycling triumphs, and below are just a few highlights:

Watchtree Wheelers lead out the 2016 Tour of Britain stage from Carlisle to Kendal Philip Hindes MBE (2 x Olympic Champion cyclist) visited Watchtree to help inspire our

young riders and raise our media profile whilst also supporting the NSPCC, via a social ‘meet and greet’ event.



2 young ‘wheelers’, Ethan & William, raised over £300 by cycling a combined 60 miles around our cycle trails as their Personal Challenge for the Bishop of York's Youth Trust.

Francesca Dearden fundraised to help buy a Boma 7 Off Road All-Terrain Wheelchair for her mother following one of our Molten Rock demonstration days.

Our Little Wheelers sessions continue to thrive, and we now welcome more than 10 junior riders every week.

The financial contribution of this project to the overall reserve is significant. As well as an annual turnover of £22,747 in 2016/17, the project has attracted visitors who contribute to the reserve as a whole through donations, café sales and membership. Our fleet of adapted cycles has also attracted many supporters and helped to raise the profile of Watchtree Nature Reserve Ltd as a charity in the community.

Our supporters tell their Watchtree stories better than we ever can, and below are a small selection of our cycle related feedback and testimonials collected through Facebook, Tripadvisor and direct emails:

“Had a brilliant bike ride at Watchtree today. Never thought my son would be able to ride a bike but there are so many different/adapted bikes to try that we spent a really enjoyable couple of hours cycling on a beautiful day. Well worth a visit.”

“We went along to watch tree after a friend told us about it, my daughter was able to pedal a bike but not balanced and not very confident. After just over an hour with the wonderful volunteers at watch tree she was riding a bike without help and pedalling around.”

“We spent a few hours here yesterday ages ranging from 3 -88 years old and all thoroughly enjoyed it including hiring the bikes, Big Thank You to all the staff as they couldn't do enough for us and most are volunteers.”

Events

The introduction of a diverse, organised events program was, we believe, largely responsible for the visitor and income increase in 2016/17. Events, such as our trail runs and outdoor theatres, attracted a new audience, who then return having discovered this ‘hidden gem’. However, not all of the events were a complete success and we must accept that there is some ‘trial and error’ involved in discovering what events work in this area.

Craft Sessions

These included glass fusion, felt making, photography and journal making. There were mixed results, although all sessions that ran broke even; however, four sessions were cancelled due to a lack of interest. The initial idea behind these events was to attract new visitors, make full use of our portacabin, and to raise funds for Watchtree.

Due to the increase in visitors and associated workload we have not continued these sessions into 2017. Whilst we are not ruling out reintroducing some sessions in the future, an increased focus on cost effective advertising in relevant areas would be essential to their success.



Trail Runs

Our first 5k trail run was hosted as a one off to gauge interest, and more than 70 people came along, which we considered a huge success. The events are free of charge to all who attend; however, donations and use of our café are encouraged. Following the success of our first event we introduced a monthly trail run, and later in the year extended it to a 5k and 10k distance. The 2017 Trail Run Series is now sponsored by Jardine Finan, and the £300 sponsorship fee has been used to produce banners and promotional artwork.

Our highest attendance at a trail run was 142 and we would like to include a special thank you to all the marshals that help out at these events.

Nature Sessions and Guided Walks

As part of the organised and promoted events programme we have included nature sessions and guided walks, such as pond dipping days, bird watching walks, and astronomy evenings. These events have been running regularly for many years but have benefitted from the introduction of the programme, which has included a professionally designed tri-fold A4 leaflet.

New Regular Events

In 2016/17 we launched three new regular events, which are organised and run by volunteers. These include Ready Steady Mums, run by Emma Porter, Watchtree Walkfit, run by Ruth Harland, and Wool at Watchtree, run by Claire Hoe. Each of these events was devised by the volunteer and was a result of them coming forward and offering to create and lead the groups. Sessions were free of charge or levied a small donation fee, and were very well attended, and each of these events has now become an integral part of our 2017 events programme.

Education

Since 2015 we have been running a new online based education portal, which allows schools to take better control of their visits and relieves the need for Watchtree to provide a member of staff for each visit. The portal has had mixed success since it was launched, as some schools like to be able to do their own thing, while others prefer the option of having a session leader provided. On a number of occasions we have offered schools a third party instructor to run their sessions; however, due to the extra cost no school has taken up this option.

Regular forest school sessions took place during the holidays run by Barnados, who are based in Wigton. These sessions allow children from under privileged areas to access the outdoors and learn about woodlands.

The Watchtree Kids Club was held in the 2016 Easter and summer school holidays, and offered an alternative to childcare. Two sessions were run per week; Mondays for 5 to 9 year olds and Tuesdays for 10 – 15 year olds. We discovered during the Easter sessions that whilst the younger age group was popular, the older age bracket was difficult to promote and we only received two bookings. The cost of running the older ager session was therefore higher than the income generated, clearly something we could not sustain. Overall, the Kids Club income and expenditure showed a deficit at the end of the year, but with lessons learned we are confident it can be a success longer term.



Staff & Volunteers

Staff

The achievements and visitor numbers in 2016 prompted the decision to employ a full time member of staff on a one year fixed term contract. As we strive to achieve sustainability, this decision was not taken lightly; however, we recognise that in order to achieve all that we aim for this extra investment is essential. Recruitment took place over the winter period and in February we welcomed Daniel Richards to the Watchtree staff team. Daniel’s previous experience in cycling, volunteer management and fundraising make him an ideal fit for the role and we look forward to having him on board throughout 2017/18.

We also employed Erik Shaddock, Charlotte Gray, and Janna Bennett, as part time café/reception assistants throughout the summer, and Samantha Massey to run our Kids Club sessions. Due to high demand we kept Janna on until December.

Volunteers

As a charity organisation our ability to both attract and retain volunteers is one of our greatest achievements. Improved recording of volunteer hours this financial year has provided evidence of over 6000 hours committed in a variety of roles; this is equivalent to employing at least four full time members of staff.

All volunteers are equally valuable; however, a number of individuals provide a stand out contribution worthy of recognition:

Front of House Team – Ruth Higginson, Senga Grave, and Pat Heggie have been manning and maintaining the café and reception for some time. Recently, they have assisted in the development of the café by focusing on the recruitment of new volunteers to achieve seven day cover.

Estates Team – David Foster, David Common, David Allison, Mervyn Cowling, Alan Smith, Lawrence Rowley, Derek Hetherington, and David Irving continue as the core of our estates team, although they are often joined by others. The maintenance and development of the reserve is a role in which they all take great pride and its sustained success is entirely due to their efforts. The variety and volume of work they have accomplished has saved us a considerable amount of money.

Watchtree Wheelers Team – Ian Ludlam, Senga Grave, Andy Shaddock and Ray Graham; despite being a small team, the wheelers volunteers are highly skilled and knowledgeable and together with our staff members provide an excellent service for all of our cycling beneficiaries. As mentioned earlier, the Watchtree Wheelers is a successful and highly commended project of the reserve, and it is also one which takes a great deal of manual input to run and maintain.

Marketing and Social Media – Senga Grave and Verity Ironmonger; heard far more than they are seen! These two volunteers have greatly improved the content of our social media and marketing, a task that would have been time consuming and expensive without their input.

Regular Event Coordinators– Emma Porter, Claire Hoe, Ruth HarlandWatchtree Nature Reserve Ltd. Great Orton, Carlisle, Cumbria. CA5 6NL

Tel: 01228 712539E-mail: [email protected] Web Site: www.watchtree.co.uk Company Registration No. 5214585 Registered Charity No. 1127029


Looking Forward

2017 got off to a great start with a grant of £50,000 from Sellafield towards our Trails Development Project in March. Work is already underway with this project, as we have instructed Savills to draw up a full specification which we can put out to tender in May. Further funding will be required but until the tender is complete the exact amount remains unknown, although we have identified a number of potential sources for the extra funds.

Work to improve our elemental garden area is a priority for the year, and the estates volunteer team have made great progress dismantling and rebuilding the raised beds so that they are more manageable and accessible to all visitors. These will now be planted up with nectar rich shrubs to attract invertebrates, particularly butterflies, moths and bees. Further plans for the area include repairing the raised pond and adding two water features, and we aim to gain support from local businesses to bring this to fruition.

Later in the year the team will continue with work associated with the woodland management plan and fell a further 5% of the trees in Pond and Pow Woods. Timber from the first phase of felling will be used to make charcoal, recycled and used in our elemental garden, or left lying in the woodland to create deadwood habitats.

The café will continue to develop, and with a recent influx of new volunteers the possibility of preparing food in our own kitchen, as opposed to buying it in, is becoming a possibility. This will increase the profit margins of items such as sandwiches and also reduce food waste. We have invested in the kitchen to bring it up to a standard suitable for food preparation with guidance from Environmental Health.

For the Watchtree Wheelers the focus will be to increase new, ex-hire and donated cycle sales to develop this income source. Currently, although we do sell a handful of bikes each year, this is not something we actively promote, and cycle associated trade could go a long way to sustaining our second staff member position.

Watchtree Directors have approved a small budget for summer staff, as in 2016. This will allow us to ensure adequate cover during the busier months to both manage visitor access and continue to work on new projects, such as the trails development.

Finally, we will continue to nurture our volunteers and support networks to make the most of our community’s good will. With such substantial support we are confident that the reserve will continue to flourish through 2017, 2018 and beyond.

Thank you, from all of the Watchtree Team

Appendix 1 - BBC Countryfile Visit

On Sunday the 5th of February, local beauty spot; Watchtree Nature Reserve, will feature on the BBC1 prime time show Countryfile. Filming took place for the special ‘Feathered Friends’ edition of the show in mid-January. Producers were attracted to the reserve due to the impressive



murmuration of starlings which perform their enchanting displays over the lake and reed bed every evening.The show is presented by Cumbria’s own Helen Skelton, who returned to the county for filming. As well as the starling displays Helen and the crew were shown around the other aspects of the reserve.

They spent the morning with Watchtree Director and Wildlife expert; Frank Mawby, who highlighted the work of Watchtree’s volunteer work team. They are currently focusing on woodland management, which involves thinning and coppicing some trees to create a greater diversity of habitat for wild birds and other animals. Frank said “The amount of work carried out by volunteers across the reserve is staggering, yet we still have a back log of jobs to complete before spring! The window for habitat management is narrow as we don’t want to be disturbing the woodlands when we get into bird breeding season, which is only a month or so away” he added “Our volunteer team are a great bunch; I’m essentially a volunteer myself and I think we all get allot out of it. It’s a weekly social event for us all, but it keeps us fit too! We’re looking for new volunteers all the time, if anyone is interested in joining us they should get in touch”.Later in the morning Helen and the team explored the reserve and chose some prime locations to film the presenting parts of the show. This was quite a challenge as noise from the wind turbines and volunteers using a wood chipper were causing some grief for their sound man!

After lunch the crew spent some time with the reserves Access and Recreation Officer; Ryan Dobson, who was please to tell Helen all about the community’s use of the Reserve. He said “We’re a nature reserve and that’s always going to be most important to us, but what makes Watchtree unique is the mix of activities within the reserve which now help to support it. We have specially adapted cycles for people with disabilities as well as a huge range of standard bikes and go karts for families to hire. We host monthly trail running events, a number of new groups including ‘Active Walking’ and ‘Ready Steady Mums’ both of which promote the health benefits of a regular brisk stroll. We even have a knitting group that meets in our café! The real magic is that each of these groups and activities add a little money to the charity pot and allow us to sustainable maintain the nature reserve itself.”The main event of the days filming came at dusk, when all of the team hope the rain would hold off and the starlings would perform! As crew filmed the murmaration Frank explained to Helen why the birds perform this strange behaviour and how important they were the reserve.


http://www.watchtree.co.uk/helen-skelton-countryfile-team-visit-watchtree/#image-2638


“Although it may seem that starlings are abundant here, their species is in decline right across Europe. Many of the birds in this roost come from Scandinavia, we know this as we recovered a dead bird from the roost which had a Norwegian ring. We contacted the BTO with the ring number and discovered it was ringed on the 18th of July 2014 as a young bird on the South cost of Norway. This really demonstrates the accuracy and importance of bird ringing for species monitoring, data from the BTO for all bird species is used to aid conservation and habitat management.One thing that’s concentrates the starlings in a Cumbria in winter is livestock farming, you will often see them foraging amongst cattle and sheep, especially on permanent pasture.”

Following the program on Sunday night the reserve will be hosting 2 special events on the Saturday the 11th and Sunday the 12th of February. Both events will include a guided walk to view the murmaration followed by a display of starling photography taken at the reserve and discussion about the birds behaviour. More information regarding the event can be found at www.watchtree.co.uk or on the reserves Facebook page.Access to the reserve is restricted to Members after 5pm, so anyone wishing to view the murmaration should take out membership; which also supports the reserve, or attend one of the special events.


http://www.watchtree.co.uk/helen-skelton-countryfile-team-visit-watchtree/#image-2639


Appendix 2 - Wildlife Report 2016

Wildlife Report 2016

The grasslands are one of our main habitats and we continue to manage them as hay meadow and grazing in the autumn/winter. The haymaking and grazing was once again licenced to three of our neighbours. The grassland monitoring report from R. Jerram finds that the meadows whilst not achieving the floristic composition of the original 2002 habitat plan have stabilised and are acquiring some diversity. The areas of top-soiled runway perhaps give the best display of the habitat we are trying to achieve. Developing habitat for the Marsh Fritillary butterfly remains a key objective but the main problem is establishing its food plant the Devil’s bit Scabious; it is showing well in small areas. Our volunteers continued with the hedge laying programme. We aim to provide areas of wild bird food crops and insect pollinator crops and with this in mind three fields were ploughed and sown with nitrogen fixing clovers to help prepare the soil.

We have a new woodland management plan approved by the Forestry Commission. We commenced work in the autumn and over the next three years we shall be carrying out a 25% thinning of the woodlands, mostly the Scots Pine and Larch. We shall continue to manage in the hope that Red Squirrels will eventually make a home here but the Grey Squirrel is a considerable threat to this plan. Our main aim now is to manage the woodlands for diversity of both the habitat and species. Thinning will let the light in to encourage ground cover and to maintain a good diversity for our extensive range of breeding birds and insects. As these woodlands grow we are seeing birds moving as the woodland structure changes, Willow Warbler, Blackcap, Garden Warbler, Song Thrush, Lesser Redpoll, Bullfinch and Whitethroat are particularly sensitive to habitat structure changes.

The wetland habitats are developing extensive reed beds and in the Wetlands the trees are dominating the water edge. We are continuing to coppice them on a long rotation. The Great Crested Newt continues to flourish and we have large numbers Smooth and Palmate Newt and lots of Frogs and Toads. Our pond life is abundant as the regular pond dipping sessions illustrate.

The most under-rated habitat is the old concrete runway areas, but it is especially interesting for its plant community and associated invertebrate especially the Dingy Skipper butterfly and its food plant the Bird’s foot Trefoil.

Birds

Our bird records are extensive the main sources being from Liz Still who carries out a breeding bird survey, now in its twelfth year, and from bird ringing and nest recording. The main highlights of the season were the sighting of a Goshawk and the capture and ringing of a Yellow Browed Warbler. A remarkable 67 Willow Warbler territories were recorded (a territory defined by the presence of a singing male and it should be noted this does not necessarily mean a pair are present). Skylarks are not well established with 21 territorial males recorded. It was a thrill to have a pair of Lapwing breed again and rear a single chick. During the winter it is possible to observe 20 to 30 species on a visit and we continue to feed the birds at three main feeding stations.



We have over 35 species of breeding bird at Watchtree and during the season 87 nests of 25 species were found and submitted to the BTO (British Trust for Ornithology) Nest Record Scheme. The total included 18 Great Tit nests in our nest boxes that fledged 114 chicks and judging by the ringing re-traps they had an excellent survival rate. The Tree Sparrows however, had a poor season and only produced 50 young. Song Thrush nests numbered 11 and as usual they were heavily predated and only 10 young fledged. We believe an Otter wreaked havoc amongst the nesting water birds in May, especially the Coot, Moorhen and Little Grebe. The Coots gave up but after the animal left the Moorhens and Little Grebes raised chicks. The ringing group captured a total of 933 birds of 37 species of which 532 were new, 243 were ringed as nestlings and 158 were re-traps (birds previously ringed by us) or recoveries (ringed by us or another ringer and captured or found dead). Notable recoveries were: one of our Mute Swans ringed as a Cygnet in 2007 and seemingly now resident at WWT Caerlaverock where it has been recapture every year since 2014. A Starling was found dead at the reed bed roost and had been ringed in SE Norway in 2015. We also had one of our Lesser Redpolls re-trapped at Catteric Garrison and we capture three, two ringed at Yorkshire sites and one in Angus, Scotland. The Starling roost returned in the Autumn and the spectacular evening ‘murmurations’ were viewed by many visitors including in February Helen Skelton and the BBC Countryfile team.

A more detailed ringing and nest recording report and a summary of the breeding bird survey will be available on the web site in due course.

Butterflies and Moths are extensively monitored and are important indicators of the health of our environment and indeed climate warming. Fifteen new species of moth were recorded, the highlights being a Treble-bar (20 years since last record on Solway Plain area). Larval food plant is St. John's Wort. Ptycholoma lecheana (First VC70 record, fifth Cumbrian record (last record 2008)) Rhyacionia pinivorana (Fourth VC70 record). A conifer species. Small Yellow Underwing – First recorded at Watchtree in 2014, these were the first confirmed VC70 records since 1970. A grassland species restricted to areas where the flower Common Mouse-ear and Field Mouse-ear grow.Lead-coloured Drab – This species has been trapped each year at Watchtree since 2011, with a maximum of 12 trapped in 2015 and one in 2016. Previous to these records, there had been only 2 post-1980 records in VC70. This species is dependent on Aspen trees, several of which were planted at Watchtree in 2002.

The Speckled Wood butterfly, which has only recently arrived in N Cumbria, is a new species for the site and two generations were noted so it is probably now resident breeding. Overall though it was not a great year for butterflies. The Dingy Skipper is doing well, although there was no increase in numbers or distribution in 2016. The Wall did much better in 2016 than in previous year. These two species can often be seen on the old concrete runways.

The Watchtree wetlands provide a very clean water habitat for a host of invertebrate the most obvious being the Dragon and Damselflies. There were however fewer Black Darter than in previous years. The ‘constructed wetlands’ is now really good for these insects and the largest of the species the Emperor Dragonfly, which is now resident and only arrived three or four years ago. The Great Diving Beetle is abundant in the water bodies and its larvae is a voracious predator perhaps accounting for the variation in dragonfly populations. We maintain a healthy bat population and



several of the bat boxes are well used by Pipistrelle Bats. Daubentens Bats can be seen hawking insects over water at dusk.


Documents

Introduction - Watchree Nature Reserve€¦ · Web viewAnnual Report 2016/171 Watchtree Nature Reserve Ltd. Great Orton, Carlisle, Cumbria. CA5 6NL Tel: 01228 712539 E-mail: [email protected]