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Moor Green Lakes Group Annual Report 2015 MOOR GREEN LAKES NATURE RESERVE TWENTY THIRD ANNUAL REPORT 2015 1 Copyright © 2016 Moor Green Lakes Group Moor Green Lakes Group Annual Report 2015 2 Copyright © 2016 Moor Green Lakes Group Moor Green Lakes Group Annual Report 2015 MOOR GREEN LAKES NATURE RESERVE TWENTY THIRD ANNUAL REPORT: 2015 CONTENTS Page Chapter 1 Introduction.…………….…….…………………….….……………………. 4 Chapter 2 Site Management and Ranger Report 2015.….….….………………………. 5 Chapter 3 Report on Birds for 2015……………………..……………………………..10 Chapter 4 Moor Green Lakes Ringing Project 2015.……….………………………… 14 Chapter 5 Nest Boxes Recording 2015………………………………………..……… 20 Chapter 6 Report on Dragonflies and Damselflies for 2015………………….………. 25 Chapter 7 Report on Butterflies for 2015……………………………………..………. 27 Chapter 8 Fungus Surveys and Forays 2015…………………………………..……… 31 Chapter 9 Report on Moths for 2015............................................................................. 35 Chapter 10 Mammal Report for 2015……….………………………............................. 40 (Unfortunately there is not sufficient data this year for a Botanical Survey report.) APPENDICES Appendix A Profile and Map of the Reserve………………………..…………..…...….. 41 Appendix B Moor Green Lakes Group Team………………….……….…………..…... 43 Appendix C Moor Green Lakes Nature Reserve Reference Library……………............. 44 Appendix D Notes and Guidelines on Bird Recording………..…….……………......…. 46 Appendix E Annual Bird Report for 2015.………………………………………...……. 48 Appendix F Check List of Bird Species 1990 – 2015…….………...………….….....…. 65 Appendix G Eversley Gravel Pit - Wetland Bird Survey Counts……...…….....…..…… 71 3 Copyright © 2016 Moor Green Lakes Group Moor Green Lakes Group Annual Report 2015 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO THE TWENTY THIRD REPORT OF THE MOOR GREEN LAKES GROUP Adrian Hobbs, Chairman Welcome to the Moor Green Lakes Group (MGLG) annual report for 2015. The report provides a record of the wildlife at Moor Green Lakes and details the conservation work performed. Once again, I am indebted to Iain Oldcorn for editing the report. The report details the information gained from the many wildlife surveys carried out by our group of recorders. As in previous years, the Reading and Basingstoke Ringing group have made regular visits to the reserve to ring the birds active at the site. Their ringing report is also included. The essential maintenance of the reserve is carried out jointly by the Blackwater Valley Countryside Partnership (BVCP) and volunteers from the MGLG. Without their dedication to the many necessary tasks, the reserve would get out of control, become overgrown and unmanageable. Stuart Croft, the BVCP Countryside Ranger, leads his team, supplemented by volunteers on Tuesday work parties and Peter Scott, Simon Weeks and Tony Elston lead the volunteer work parties on Sundays. More volunteers are always wanted, so if you want some healthy outdoor activity in wonderful surroundings, join the volunteers. When food for the birds is in short supply, we supplement it. We are indebted to Terry Patton who keeps the bird feeders stocked during these periods. At the beginning of the year, the fence between the car park and the adjacent bridle path was replaced. The opportunity was taken to straighten both the fence and the bridle path, enhancing both. The car park height barrier had sagged over time, becoming difficult to open and close. Additional supporting stays were installed to counteract the weight of the barrier. We are indebted to our local fruit propagator Slavey Slavchev for supplying fence posts, ground anchors, manpower and the use of his Back Hoe to install the fence and support stays. Following the official proceedings of the AGM, Mike Coates, Farnham Heath Project Manager for the RSPB, gave a presentation on RSPB activities. Mike had hoped to be able to speak about the RSPB’s future intentions regarding Moor Green Lakes and the adjacent sites at Manor Farm and Fleet Hill Farm. Unfortunately, this was not possible, as the agreement was still awaiting signature by CEMEX. For this year’s Open Day the weather was less kind but there was still a good turnout of visitors. The various walks and demonstrations proved popular although few small mammals were found in the mammal traps this year. It has proved to be a difficult year for small mammals. As usual, the visiting children had great fun with the Pond Dipping and the bird ringing and nest box displays were as popular as usual.. As always, the report is full of interesting information and I trust that you find it both enjoyable and informative. I look forward to meeting many of you at our future events. 4 Copyright © 2016 Moor Green Lakes Group Moor Green Lakes Group Annual Report 2015 CHAPTER 2 Practical Site Management Report 2015 By Blackwater Valley Countryside Partnership (BVCP) These notes relate to the following map which group the tasks by activity (colour of key in brackets), to show where the practical site management has been achieved. Clearing and mowing paths (yellow) In addition to work maintaining access to the reserve along the public footpaths and bridleway, the internal routes for rangers, volunteers, surveyors and cow-lookers have been cut back. From November we started a series of days to chainsaw and chip overhanging branches on the Blackwater Valley Path by the river, which needs doing every few years to reduce the tunnel-effect. Chipping BV Path by river Grazing – goats and cows The volunteer tasks combined with the goats continue to be an effective way to suppress the bramble growth on Long Island, so we can encourage over-wintering wildfowl in the low sward. The cattle are very useful at keeping the meadows open and reducing scrub encroachment of the remote lake edges. We herded adventurous escapee cows on a few occasions, which obviously thought the grass on the adjoining paddocks were greener. Our active management of Moor Green Lakes helps to provide a mosaic of different habitats and increase biodiversity. Vegetation cleared / treated (green) Water-side scrub was cut this year including on west and north west Colebrook Lake North, south west Long Island and by both hides and bird-viewing screens. The herbicide treatment which is used were possible has been very successful at reducing regrowth. This year we had a couple of tasks in the north east corner of Long Island, to expose the scrape for invertebrates and open up volunteer access where we moor the pontoon from the mainland. View west of vegetation cutting to expose scrape on north east Long Island 5 Copyright © 2016 Moor Green Lakes Group Moor Green Lakes Group Annual Report 2015 Hay cut meadow (orange) Volunteers help us with hay-cutting areas that are not cattle grazed, such as the bird-feeder paddock, in front of Colebrook Hide and south west of Long Island. Here successive cutting and removal of hay has reduced nutrients for the vigorous grass, and promoted a low sward for wildflowers and a view from the hide. Regular bramble clearance on central north Grove Lake now means we have a south-facing wildflower meadow rich in Betony. Our volunteer hay cut helps promote this important habitat in addition to the light cattle grazing. Removed island vegetation (brown) To maintain exposed gravel nesting sites, we cleared vegetation from Tern and most of Plover Islands with the debris ferried off to form habitat piles. Vegetation was cleared from scrapes and bunds in front of both hides and south west Long Island, to provide wader foraging niches and better views. Fencing (pink line) We were lucky this year with only a few occasions where cattle or neighbouring horses escaped, repairing 100m of fencing compared to 500m last year. Since fence posts can rot quickly in the highly acidic ground water, I expect fencing repairs will increase again in 2016. Hedge-laying (purple) A 31m section of the hedge was laid by the footpath to Colebrook Bird Hide. The double row of saplings was planted with this in mind, so it was great to finally lay the hedge and provide a dense screen. The hedge will be trimmed for a couple of years to encourage dense lower growth and then allowed to grow up into a natural screen. This is far better than a fence since it also provides foraging and breeding niches, like the bird nest we found in the hedge we laid last year. Volunteers showing off their hedge-laying by Colebrook Hide Projects (pink dots) The volunteers undertook lots of discrete projects which are listed on the map key including; installing the refurbished Grove sign board to the car park, bat and barn owl surveys, herding escapee cows, pulling Himalayan Balsam, chain sawing fallen trees and extending the car park by cleverly shuffling the bridleway. The Open Day was a great success with lots of activities including bird ringers, wildlife walks and pond dipping. 6 Copyright © 2016 Moor Green Lakes Group Moor Green Lakes Group Annual Report 2015 Practical tasks 2015 © Crown copyright and database rights 2015 Ordnance Survey [100019180]. 7 Copyright © 2016 Moor Green Lakes Group Moor Green Lakes Group Annual Report 2015 BVCP Ranger Report 2015 Stuart Croft, Countryside Ranger, BVCP In 2015 we spent 50 ranger days managing Moor Green Lakes which exceeded our Cemex income of £9,270 by £2,700. This doesn’t include the 10 ranger days spent managing the public rights of way around Moor Green Lakes and Manor Farm. The number of volunteers has decreased slightly from the previous year by 6%, but the number of tasks has increased by 26% to 43. This shift in practical work on site is more beneficial to the reserve, since we can tackle a greater breath of small and responsive tasks, such as herding escapee cows and clearing fallen trees. Many of these tasks have been organised by MGL volunteers such as pulling Himalayan Balsam pulling, refurbishing a signboard and re-aligning the bridleway to extend the car park; which are useful to free up ranger time for machine tasks.

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