Birds
The breeding season has now reached its climax. To date,
late May, we have conducted 7 Common
Bird Census (CBC) surveys and will probably finish with 2 more. The idea of the CBC is to build up a picture
of the main territories of birds which are present during the breeding season.
This is done species by species. While I am walking round the reserve over a
standard route, I am marking on a large scale map what I am seeing and hearing.
Below is what my scruffy map looks like. The codes tell us
what the identified bird is, where it is and what it is doing. This takes about
one and a half hours and I try to do it before the roar of commuter traffic
builds up, the garden and building machinery springs into action and the early
morning dog walkers arrive. There is one
map for each visit. And now for the exciting bit. Some rainy day(s) at the end
of the season, I will create a new map for each species (maybe 15 of those?!)
showing the history of where and when birds of that species have been active
over the breeding period. This information can then can inform us when we come
to our habitat management strategy.
The
order of arrival of the warblers has been Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Willow Warbler
then, after a gap, Whitethroat.
So
far, we know about at least 4 Chiffchaff and 3 Willow Warbler territories in
what is, after all, quite a small reserve (7.4
acres). I have seen Linnets on
more than one survey including a pair diving promisingly in and out of the
gorse. Of course, the frustrating thing is seing other interesting birds and
bird behaviour around the reserve but NOT during the official survey time
window. These ones don’t count - still great to watch though!
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| Whitethroat |
Maintenance
While the breeding season reaches its conclusion we have
restricted reserve maintenance to
essential path work.
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| View from Cleaver Heath |
The view over the
Dee is so enticing that many visitors think they may get an even better view by
walking ‘off-piste’ into the heather,
quite often while following an inquisitive dog. We have scratched our heads
over how to deal with this. There is a similar problem when the main path gets
muddy and those anxious to complete their dog walk without getting their shoes
dirty take to the grass and heather thus creating a network of new unwanted
paths. We don’t want to introduce barrier rails, barbed-wire fences, no-entry
signs or whatever. So, here are some stop gaps measures we are currently taking.
We have transplanted a couple of bramble plants which should
quickly grow and discourage use of the nascent paths while the heather recovers
behind them. Dogs tend to avoid bramble. Also, while we await approval to
continue the successful stoning of the wetter parts of the main path, we have
tried to indicate the correct route with some birch limbs across extra routes
awaiting recovery.
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| Newly planted brambles |
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| Birch across the incorrect path |
Natural Futures Project
Some good news for the Reserve is that our bid to The
Natural Futures Small Grant Scheme has been successful. The scheme is administered by the Cheshire
Wildlife Trust as part of its major Natural Futures programme funded by the
Heritage Lottery. The £1000 grant made to Wirral Wildlife helps provide us with
some kit to improve Cleaver Heath for both its human and avian users. Constant
re-cutting of the invasive birch and non-native plants/bushes/trees can soak up
a lot of volunteer effort but only to modest long-term effect. We now have some
Tree Poppers which allow us to remove saplings complete with their root systems
with minimal disturbance to the surrounding precious Lowland Heath plants.
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| Tree Poppers |
We
also now have the wherewithal to store securely, and apply safely, herbicides.
We can use these to stop regrowth of stumps and, via local spraying, deal with
invasive plants which have crept into the Reserve over its boundaries.
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| Chemsafe |
Cleaver Heath has a modest amount of woodland fringe which,
together with the managed scrub areas, provides cover and nesting opportunities
for birds, both resident and visiting. As yet, we have provided no nesting
boxes.
The new grant has
allowed us to acquire some new low-maintenance ‘Woodcrete’ boxes. Our
volunteers will help us install these next winter ready for the next nesting
season. The plan is to see what difference this makes to the woodland bird
population which of course is being monitored annually via the Common Bird
Census.
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| Bird box |
The Natural Futures programme had
already provided funding for me to get the necessary chemicals certification
for working with the herbicides. One main motivation for this was to have
quicker, on-site, access to stump treatment following the painstaking cutting
activities of our volunteers. In
following seasons, they can move on to new areas without having to re-visit
last year’s work.
Signs of growth
We have been encouraging a small, but spreading, Bilberry
stand in one of the managed scrub areas. It looked particularly attractive a
few weeks ago as it came into bloom.
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| Bilberry |
Also growing apace is the natural hedge which we
planted in February 2014.
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| Hedge planting February 2014 |
In May 2017 it now looks as shown below.
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| Hedge May 2017 |
Note the Oxeye
Daisies thriving in the ex-carpark area along with a veritable jungle of
potential nectar-source plants. I foresee a new maintenance task coming as the
hedge starts to entangle passing pedestrians on Oldfield Road.
Our summer plans, once the nesting season is over will
include bracken spraying; cutting back the path edges which are starting to
grow vigorously; completion of a survey of all plant life in the reserve. Most
of the latter was carried out last year by our team of botanical experts –
another area where I am on a steep learning curve. A small region of dense
scrub at the North West end of the reserve remains to be checked out. The birds
are currently, and quite rightly, showing indignation at any intruders who
might wish to trample though their territories.
The bracken is already starting to encroach on the heather
as shown here.
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| Bracken |
There are other areas where it has over the years totally dominated
the other Lowland Heath plants. It has been previously sprayed in recent years
but will need re-spraying to complete the suppression process if heathland
regeneration is to be successful there.
Alan Irving
Warden Cleaver Heath
