August Update
A month for dragonflies, a new boardwalk, habitat works and a new project starting soon..
Photo credit: Jon Barrett
We have had an exciting month for dragonflies on the reserve. On 9th/10th August, we held our Dragonfly Festival Weekend, bringing together the local community, wildlife experts and artists. Activities included a dragonfly sculpture trail coordinated by local artist Alison Jacobs, walks and talks with Somerset’s County Dragonfly Recorders, pond dipping, willow weaving, crafts, stalls and more. A big thank you to the children of Otterhampton Primary School and the Combwich Art Group for decorating two beautiful flags for the festival, as well as to all the volunteers and helpers over the weekend. 
A new dragonfly species was recorded for Steart Marshes over the Dragonfly Weekend, demonstrating just how important citizen science is. The species was a Lesser Emperor. It is thought sightings are becoming more common in England as the species is shifting its range due to climate change. 24 dragonfly species have now been recorded at Steart Marshes.
Photo credit: Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lesser_emperor_(Anax_parthenope)_male.jpg
On the saltmarsh, a new boardwalk is being constructed. This will enable visitors to become fully immersed in this unique habitat. It will be open to the public soon – watch this space!
We have also started work to enhance the saline lagoons at Otterhampton Marsh to create more suitable breeding habitat for ground-nesting wading birds, such as avocet. We are deepening the lagoons, reprofiling existing banks, creating additional islands, and upgrading the tidal inlet system.
Both the boardwalk and saline lagoon works have been funded by our Species Survival Fund ‘Wetter for Waders' project. The fund was developed by Defra and is being administrated by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
We are also delighted to announce that we have also just been awarded funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund for a new project - Steart: Connecting Coastal Communities. This will focus on engagement and learning, and we will tell you more in the next update. Look out for new viewing platforms being constructed soon! Plenty more to come in the next couple of years.
