Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT)
 

National WWT News

The nene season comes to a speedy end

Posted on 15 April 2011 by Phoebe Young @ Slimbridge

Wow. Arriving back from Madagascar I was amazed to see so many Nene nests, with eggs totalling around 80 and some exciting new pairs to discover.

I couldn’t possibly have known however that not only would these pairs all lay early, but almost on the same day!

Nine families of Nene hatched within six days of each other, adding an instant extra third to our captive population. Not only is this a record breaking week, the fertility was amazing, with only four infertile eggs and two addled.

With so many happy families running around second clutches seem hardly possible, and so the season seems to have crunched to a halt…

Many pairs who in recent years had made pathetic attempts at nesting, suddenly got it right! Having nested within 2m of a bulldozer in 2010, 2011 brought AVH and AXU a lovely nest behind a stump in the North American.

BBC and BBH made a lovely nest against the south lake fenceline, and despite hatching out three healthy chicks, sadly lost them during a cold snap :-(

You may notice that many of our goslings are not on public display. You may think this a strange contradiction considering that we allow them to parent rear and self-incubate.

The process a Nene family undergoes from the point of hatch is pretty critical. We cannot touch them for around three days as they are too delicate to stress out.

On the third day we swoop in and collect Mum, Dad and the babes, and take them to a safe and netted grassy space where they can pass through adolescence without the threat of herring or lesser-black-backed gulls.

At around four weeks, I deposit the whole family soundly back in the Big Pen. From there they can choose their own juvenile haunts, and learn the joys of hand feeding!

Whilst it seems double the effort to do all this extracting, it creates far more sound individuals. A gosling able to grow up with its parents and siblings is not going to be very likely to want to inbreed, and as such will fly the nest at some point in favour of a mate.

Nene brought up together in captivity through hand-rearing do not have the benefit of identifying their parents, and inbreeding is not something to be encouraged! Hopefully the offspring of 2011 will provide another generation of Nene to populate Slimbridge for many years to come.

Nene families are currently visible in the Big Pen, Loop fields and in the Loop side-pens.

And so until 2012, I might give Nene a rest and get on to talking about something new!

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Seven days to go

Posted on 4 April 2011 by WWT Martin Mere

Andy has taken the opportunity to take a few days off just prior to the launch of the canoe safari and the Easter holidays so I thought it would be a good opportunity to report each day on the final progress of the canoe safari. I haev asked Pete our Maintenance Manager to let me know each day what is happening to count down to the launch.

I have also attached below a picture of Nene goslings that are starting to spring up around the grounds.

Victoria Fellowes: Marketing Manager

Today at the safari the play area has arrived! It will be fitted today and tomorrow with today mainly being the layout and digging of holes to concrete tomorrow. After the play area is fitted we will then be puttign bark down underneath. Pete is also waiting on a call for the delivery time of the kiosk that will need to be fitted out this week and make sure the electrical items are working properly. The canoes are due to arrive tomorrow so everyone needs to keep their fingers crossed!

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The end of Gardening Month

Posted on 25 March 2011 by WWT Martin Mere

This weekend is the last weekend that we are doing gardening activities as Gardening month comes to an end.

We have had a really great March, especially in the last couple of weeks as the sun has been shining.

I have had a few queries regarding how my vegetable garden is progressing. The sun has made a lot happen recently: the leeks have started to germinate and the broad beans have started pushing through the soil producing leaves – so in a few weeks I can get them potted up. I planted some garlic cloves earlier in the week and I will be planting two types of onion tomorrow. So yes it is progressing well and I have enjoyed sharing my gardening knowledge with our visitors.

I hope you had a nopportunity to visit over gardening month but we are now officially in duckling season as the first of the Nene goslings were spotted this week – I will aim to put some pictures of them on my diary early next week.

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Love is in the air!

Posted on 8 March 2011 by Liv Iles @ Arundel

I don’t really know where to start this week, so much has happened and everyone is excited and smiling. Yesterday we were delighted to hear that the first of our Nene eggs have hatched. BHT and BAT, recognisable by their large leg rings, are the proud parents and are nesting at the back of the North America pen with their two goslings so keep your eyes peeled for them next time you visit! Two more pairs of Nene are still incubating and the Coscoroba Swans I mentioned last week are now sat on five eggs. These swans have never bred successfully at Arundel. They did lose one egg last week when it rolled out of the nest, it looks like it may have been pecked by a Jackdaw or some other corvid species but maybe 2011 will be their lucky year!

We were trying to get a photo of the newborns but Mum was keeping them tightly under wraps! I’ll try to get a picture for my diary next week but if you get one and would like to email it to me I’d be very grateful! olivia.iles@wwt.org.uk

Yesterday I was duty manager and it was a wonderful evening to be doing the ‘walkround’ at the end of the day. I always take longer than everyone else as I like to stop and talk to all the birds, but yesterday I think I took about an hour! I started off at World Wetlands, feeding the collection birds with the bag of grain I pinch from admissions on my way out to the grounds. I love feeding the Maned Geese (also known as Australian Wood Ducks), they are so feisty and the first to come up along with the singleton Nenes. The Swan Geese and Chiloe Wigeon are also favourites but I love them all really. Until recently I was too scared to feed the Magpie Geese which is ridiculous. They are actually very sweet with the exception of Basil, the largest male who still scares me when he chases me!

So I carried on my travels eventually after Suzie caught me cooing over the birds and stopped briefly to say hello to the Marbled Teal on the Iraqi pen. Have you seen the Garganey males recently? They are looking amazing, such incredible plumage. Incidentally, these birds will be moving onto North America on Friday as the exhibit is having a makeover. They will move back in September once the planting has established and the breeding season is over.

By this time I was already running late so I marched past the Woodland Lodge Hide and Treecreepers play pod before heading along the reed bed boardwalk. I checked Wetlands Secrets for Moorhens (they creep in and knock everything over) and popped into the Scrape Hide where I sat for a few minutes watching about 40 Teal dabbling in front of the Lost Reedbed area. No time to lose, I was off again, the Trumpeters honked as I went past, they were mating last week too so will soon be nest building on the island again. Next stop, the Sand martin Hide before heading off up the Tranquil Trail to the Ramsar Hide where I sat for a while enjoying the evening sun. A long-tailed Tit was gathering cobwebs off the outside of the hide to take back and line it’s nest. Such busy little birds, they never fail to bring a smile to my face. Suddenly I was aware of movement right in front of me and a small, tawny striped wader appeared at the water’s edge, picking it’s way along rooting in the mud. A Jack Snipe! So exciting! I didn’t realise how small and delicate they were as I’ve only seen them through scopes and binoculors. I must have sat there for about 20 minutes, rooted to the spot, feeling so lucky to see this special bird close up. Lapwing also started to display against the pink evening sunset, absolute bliss.


Lapwing in Flight by Paul Stevens

Then I tore myself away and raced to the Lapwing Hide as I was running late for my circuit training class!

Working at WWT you’re constantly surrounded by people saying ‘did you see the…?’ and we’re working on sharing these sightings with our visitors. Always ask at admissions for latest news as there’s bound to be some interesting snippet of information.


Male Reed Bunting by Paul Stevens

Back in the office today I was a little upset to hear that my ‘pet’ Water Rail, Walter, will probably leave for Eastern Europe in April. I’d just assumed that the Water Rails stay to breed but apparently those that over winter here tend to migrate during the Spring. I do hope he’ll come back to my bird table in the Autumn again, the standard of fare is highly rated!


Female Reed Bunting by Paul Stevens

Finally, Paul captured some cracking shots of the pair of Reed Buntings on my bird table. The male still needs to colour up a little as his head is a little patchy but the female is beautiful with her distinctive eye stripes.

Have to dash as it’s 6pm and my tea is calling.

Speak soon, Liv

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Spring has sprung!

Posted on 2 March 2011 by Liv Iles @ Arundel

Don’t you just love this time of year! Arundel is beautiful throughout the seasons but the start of Spring fills us all with excitement and anticipation as signs of new life start to pop up all around the grounds.

Look out for our new column in the Chichester Observer written by our Grounds Manager, Paul. His weekly piece follows his walks around the reserve, highlighting seasonal changes and offering an insight into the secret side of Arundel. I thought I’d poach an excerpt from this week’s column to give you a taster…

“Continuing up the path I check the black thorn hedge for eggs of the brown hairstreak butterfly. These eggs overwinter on a branch fork between new growth and the past years growth. The bright white eggs are small and have intricate elaborate structures. Get a magnifying glass for an up close amazing view. The black thorn is budding now and will soon be white with flowers. The leaves appear in April, ready to feed the brown hairstreak caterpillars. Brimstone butterflies were spotted onsite last week. They hibernate as adults, the males appearing earlier than the females. The story goes that the word butterfly is derived from the ‘buttery’ bright yellow appearance of the males. The females are more greenish yellow in hue and lay their eggs singly on the leaves of buckthorn shrubs.”


Brimstone Butterfly by Paul Stevens

“I hear a peregrine cry a mating call from the hanger above the reserve and watch him displaying for his mate before dropping down into the hanger. With the binoculars I find him, spotting his slate grey back parked in a dead tree. I stay and scan for the female I know must be nearby. My patience is rewarded as I find her in another tree 20 yards down, ripping at prey, white feathers drifting downwards. She is larger than the male, as is the case with most female raptors, and can bring down larger prey like pheasants and mallards. He will hunt small ducks and both will easily grab pigeons. The male soon flies over to join her and watches her eat.”

Spring is most certainly in the air in the collection areas too. Three pairs of Nene are sat on eggs in the World Wetlands and North America exhibits, fingers crossed they will have more luck than last year when heavy rain and spring tides caused water levels to rise, flooding out nests leaving them abandoned. Last year, one female Nene was bred successfully and she is now all grown up. She won’t be looking to pair up until she’s about 3 or 4 years old but she has made friends with a couple of the younger males now that she’s no longer with her parents.

A couple of weeks ago the Scaly-sided Mergansers provided a talking point during the daily diving bird feed. They were rather publicly showing their love for eachother throughout the whole feed which I’m told had a fairly young audience that day… I think some parents may have had to have the ‘birds and the bees’ talk following their visits!

The beautiful Coscoroba Swans are also sitting on eggs, as of yesterday she had two. Last week, they were delighted when Sam, our new Grounds Supervisor, provided them with a pile of chopped reeds. They immediately got stuck in, throwing the reeds around to construct their nest on the same island where they nest every year. Sam was very amused to find that when they turned their backs a Puna Teal snuck in and made herself cosy in the huge nest, I think she was evicted fairly sharpish!


Coscoroba Swan by Tony Hughes

On leaving work late last Thursday I encountered a large toad sat in the middle of the car park. She sat there frozen in my headlights and allowed me to pick her up and move her to safety. When I came into work the next day I mentioned it to Paul and he smiled, pleased to hear that the toads were making their annual trip back to the reserve to spawn. Apparently they have a few favoured places including the entrance pond and Wetlands Discovery. I didn’t realise that toads can live for around seven years and it’s amazing to think that some may have returned to Arundel year after year. Paul sent me this lovely photo taken a couple of years ago when one female found her way into the box where the milkman leaves our deliveries!


Female Toad by Paul Stevens

Right, I think I’ll go and grab some lunch, I might take a stroll out to the Sand martin hide where two pairs of Lapwing are becoming a permanent feature so fingers crossed they’ll breed again too this year.

Liv

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No rest for the wicked!

Posted on 11 January 2011 by Liv Iles @ Arundel

Sorry I’m a little bit late writing my diary this week, work has been non-stop recently and I don’t like to feel too rushed when I’m trying to think of interesting things to tell you!

Our financial year ended in December so we have all been beavering away getting invoices in on time to close last year’s budgets and move on to 2011. 2010 was a great year for Arundel, the work in the grounds and visitor centre has been fantastic and lots of new members joined WWT. The new shop looks really good and the cafe has also seen great improvements (I test the cake regularly) with some beautiful weddings held during the summer.

2011 will be a year of taking stock. No major projects are planned so we’ll be working on improving our existing exhibits and the services we offer for visitors. The team are primed and ready to go with some great events planned and we’re recruiting some brilliant new volunteers to help engage our visitors even more.

We know that some of the work carried out on site can come as a bit of a shock from time to time. The grounds team have recently taken out trees along the back of the World Wetlands and North America pens. This work has been done to allow more light into the exhibit so that a more diverse plant population can establish. We have a tough time getting plants to establish in these areas as the Nene are total vandals and destroy any young plants but we’re going to try a different tactic this year! This does unfortunately mean that the fox proof fence is more visible at the moment so we’re going to try and camouflage the posts until the pollarded willow starts to sprout and mask it again over the coming year.

The ground levels in the World Wetlands pen have also been altered in places as some areas used to get particularly wet. We really struggle in these pens when the water levels rise as all the land disappears. The geese in particular need grazing and all the birds need a break to prevent them from becoming waterlogged. Also, one pair of Nene nested in the wettest spot and their nest was flooded out so we’re trying to improve conditions for breeding birds. We’d like to raise the banks more in the future so if you hear of anyone who has any topsoil to donate we’d be very grateful!

Another minor change in these pens has been the addition of perches for some of the ducks, particularly the tree nesting birds such as Whistling Ducks, Mandarins and Carolina Wood Ducks so look out for some good photo opportunities on your next visit.

The other recent change took place in the Visitor Centre. Just before Christmas we were fortunate to get the go ahead for some redecoration in the Gallery. Our Facilities manager, Sue Payne, found a local firm who did the work after hours last week so Sue and I took turns working late. The late nights in the office were a useful time for typing up staff appraisals, having read my diary you will have noticed I have a tendency to get carried away writing!

The disappearance of the turquoise paint has made a great improvement to the Gallery however Sue and I had the unenviable task of choosing the new colours! We knew that the window pillars needed to return to their original dark colour, framing the views across Swan Lake but the colour of the doors and other pillars was undecided. We didn’t want anything too dark or too bright and clinical so we went for a ‘mushroomy’ colour with a bit of warmth. The verdict is still out amongst the staff but I think most approve now it’s finished. Let us know what you think, but only if you like it!

Right I’ve got to dash as someone very kind has donated a second hand kitchen for our staffroom and I’m collecting it in my horsebox!

Speak soon%

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