Shapwick Heath Newsletter April – June 2016 Volunteer and Reserve News Avid readers and fans of the newsletter will no doubt remember that I ended this section in the last issue with news that the new crowdfunded Tower Hide would soon be opened, so it seems fitting to start this issue with the words: It is with great pleasure that Natural England and the Shapwick Team can announce that the new Tower Hide is now officially open! The finished Shapwick Tower Hide on its opening day in April. The hide now hosts a large number of visitors every day who enjoy fantastic views across the wader scrape and 70 acres reedbed. ISA carpentry did a smashing job on the construction of the project, but not without some technical issues. The boys worked exceptionally hard to keep to the deadline for the opening ceremony, working weekends, and even on one occasion, working more than 24 hours in a single day. The hide, with its unique appearance and design, offers fantastic views across the scrape, and the reedbeds of 70 acres, and has already proved to be a popular visitor attraction. As usual though, work has not been confined to Shapwick Heath. The volunteer team spent most weeks in April and much of May up at Rodney Stoke woods, repairing many sections of drystone walling that had collapsed over the years. Getting to site was difficult, but working on the steep slopes was more so. But as ever, the intrepid team did a sterling job. Getting back to ole Shappers, a new volunteer group has been set up specifically to survey parts of the site, and to monitor changes in habitats and species over time. This is particularly important on our mire restorations where data collected comprises a baseline survey and will help to ensure the right management is in place to restore these areas that are in less favourable condition. As well as site surveys, several species specific surveys have been carried out across the NNR suite, including once again, a survey for the rare violet oil beetle on our Mendip sites. Seven adults were found, and several celandines in the woods were covered in hundreds of the larvae, called triungulins. Water vole surveys and continuing surveys for bittern flights have also been carried out across Shapwick. Mendip reserves: Dry-stone walling at Rodney Stoke NNR, the finished footpath at Ebbor Gorge, previously a mud bath and violet oil beetle enjoying the Spring sunshine. Aside from the addition of the spectacular new Tower Hide at Shapwick, one of the biggest pieces of work carried out must be the repair of the footpath at Ebbor Gorge. The footpath crosses a small valley before exiting the reserve on the north western side and is a naturally wet area with many springs and at least two small streams. Over the years, at the footpaths lowest point, silt has built up, and the ground turned into a quagmire. The decision was made to try and fix the problem permanently, rather than just addressing it short term. An excavator was hired, and the silt dug out until a solid layer of clay/stone was reached. The sides were built up with gabion baskets, pipes laid to carry the water from the various streams and springs, and the whole section filled in with about 20 tons of stone. The access is now dry and free of mud. The construction will be monitored over the coming months to make sure that it functions properly. With the Glastonbury festival happening during June, the Somerset weather does its usual thing, and mid-June is a mix of hot sticky sultry days, prolonged heavy showers, and summer storms, resulting in the perfect growing conditions for weeds. This is the time of year when staff and volunteers don the brushcutters, and try and keep the footpaths clear, a thankless task made worse by the endless horse flies and other biting bugs. This year has also had the team out and about repairing large sections of fence across the reserve. Several sections have been repaired at the Ashcott plot, a section along Kent drove, and a very long section at Skinners wood. Fencing will continue throughout the summer. Wildlife Highlights A dry and relatively warm April, with the wind coming up from the continent, saw the start of the influx of summer migrant birds here at Shapwick. Across the reserve two ospreys were present, along with sightings of a small flock of whimbrel at Canada Farm and several common tern on Noah’s Lake. The water level on Meare Heath was again lowered, as it is annually to expose the scrape. During spring this is a welcome stop off for a host of migrant birds, passing through on their way to their breeding grounds further north. Highlights this season included: ruff, redshank, greenshank, dunlin and ringed-plover, along with our ever present flocks of lapwing and black- tailed godwit. A female bittern making a feeding flight and a rare shot of a cuckoo, both taken by volunteer Rob Balch Following the booming bittern monitoring sessions during March and April volunteers have been spending long hours recording feeding flights across the reserves. These flights at first seemed down on previous years, however after much discussion the likely cause seems to be that there is so much food near to their nests now that they are not having to travel very far and therefore feeding flights are not picked up so easily. Despite this, monitoring has identified several nests, with those recorded likely to be an underestimate of the actual number out there. Great-white egrets and marsh harriers also seem to have had a successful breeding season. Other spring highlights on Shapwick have included a white stork which was sighted over the reserve on a number of occasions and remained in the general area for a couple of weeks. Up to two glossy ibis have been visiting us all through the season and were regularly coming into roost in the trees on Noah’s Lake, along with the great-white and little egrets. Cranes have flown over the reserve at regular intervals and the first hobbies started to turn up in mid-April following the return of our swallows, house martins, sand martins and swifts. Cuckoos were calling from the very start of spring, right across the whole area. Otters have been sighted best from Noah’s hide with some good views of a large male dog otter on the scrape in June. Slow worms and grass snakes have been seen in abundance; however adders seemed to have had a slow start in the cold spring, whereas common lizards have been sighted more regularly, especially in our mire restoration areas, which is a very encouraging sign. Clockwise from left: Grass snake, scarce chaser dragonfly, white admiral butterfly, green tiger beetle. Photos from Rob Balch, Deon Warner, Bill Urwin and Julie Merrett Butterflies were in abundance in April however numbers tapered off rapidly during May with a sharp change to more unsettled cooler and damper weather. Peacock, small tortoiseshell, red admiral, green-veined, small and large whites, common and holly blues and ringlet have all been recorded. One of our more charismatic and rarer butterflies, the white admiral, started to emerge in mid-June which was a surprise as this is a few weeks earlier than usual. It can be seen along the woodland rides, especially along the Sweet Track and the path to Meare Heath hide. The Argent & Sable moth was on the wing from late-May onwards and a few may still be seen at the time of writing. Damselflies seem undeterred by the damp weather with every conceivable species of blue, along with large red and banded demoiselle seen in abundance along the South Drain. Dragonflies recorded have been: hairy, four-spotted, broad-bodied and scarce chaser, emperor and black- tailed skimmer. Other invertebrate highlights of our monitoring this spring have surely been the green tiger beetle and water spider (a nationally scarce species and the only British species of Arachnid that actually hunts under water) and a rare staphilinid beetle, all found in our mire restoration areas. During a weekend in May, Shapwick played host to a field visit from the Dipterists Forum, who are a national body that monitor and record flies. A huge variety of these insects were recorded - with some nationally rare species being found on the reserve. These healthy populations go to show that our habitat management on Shapwick is paying dividends in biodiversity across the site. That’s it for this quarter, keep looking… you never know what might turn up! Mark Huntington, NE volunteer. Article: Habitat Management for the Argent and Sable Moth adapted from Rob Petley-Jones’ June ‘Invert of the Month’ article. The Argent & Sable (Rheumaptera hastata) is one of those classy moths which is doubly blessed by being reasonably unmistakable and which can also be seen during the daytime. Its unique black-and-white chequered pattern makes it difficult to confuse with other species, though the abundant Silver-ground carpet moth (Xanthorhoe montanata) flies at the same and may cause some confusion for the unwary or inexperienced. Argent and Sable moths will easily fly in bright sunshine and have a habit of popping off trees in front of the observer and flying tantalizingly along, to land just out of reach of nets or cameras. A pair of close-focusing binoculars can be invaluable in confirming identification! The Argent & Sable can be seen from late May until early July in a variety of habitats such as damp woodlands, lowland bogs and moorland, where its larval food plants bog myrtle (Myrica gale) and young growth birch (Betula spp.) grow.