Volunteer day on the saltmarsh
Last week, we were busy out on the merse with our volunteer group. It was an amazing day with the sun greeting us and skylarks and meadow pipits accompanying with their raucous.
fence on the saltmarsh
It is an interesting time on the merse as we have many of these locally breeding birds establishing territories, while some migrants are still hanging on. We had flocks of golden plover and barnacle geese surprisingly close to our working areas, although we weren’t out here to admire the beauty of the saltmarsh alone, we had an important job to do.
barnacle geese (closer than they look!)
Due to the dynamic nature of this tidal habitat we have a lot of vegetation growth and washed up deadwood that interfere with our fences. Our task involved clearing all the debris from the fenceline. These fences are crucial to our habitat management on the merse as they allow us to restrict the movements of grazing cattle to the upper saltmarsh. This portion of the saltmarsh benefits from the grazers by regulating sward height, increasing botanical diversity and preventing the transition to a scrubbier habitat type.
The team enjoyed our time on the saltmarsh. I’m looking forward to the survey season kicking off to get more sunny mornings out on the merse!
Words and pictures by Charlie McGrath
