Had a few hours at Pwll Penarth this morning and was horrified to see that the reserve has been cut back with only a few tiny areas left for the snipe and water rail to take cover so guess they will spend most of the time on the far side of the reserve where we cant see them from the hides.
From the second hide a Reed Bunting showed briefly.
Also from the second hide Goldcrest and Bullfinch were showing well but the light was not great
Also 5 snipe were visible but to far out to take anything other than a record shot 4 snipe in this photo, Hope they move to cover soon.
The Water Rail is quite happy in the open as it swam across in front of the first hide shame it never showed when Mark turned up.
And a quick visit from the Kingfisher was nice only got 2 photos of neither were any good but thought I would post anyway.
It's a shame I agree, Only cover untouched when I visited earlier this week were the reeds blocking most of the view from the first hide!...I'm hoping snipe will still feed along the margins of the peninsula though. This is where they roosted last year with fantastic views, but probably won't do so now its been manicured.
ReplyDeleteLovely image of the Water Rail, with cracking reflected reeds.
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ReplyDeleteI like the Bunting shot. Also hope the Snipe get some cover.
Really getting fed up of seeing wildlife habitat everywhere being hacked.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the scrub clearance on the reserve may currently seem harsh, it is part of essential habitat management to maintain the site for all the species using the reserve. Scrub is cut on rotation each year, creating a variety of areas for wildlife. Without intervention, the site would soon be willow carr and little else.
ReplyDeleteTammy Stretton, Conservation Officer
Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust
Question then Tammy - as one of the target species (I think) is the Little Ringed Plover why are all of the islands left vegetated? Is it not possible to make a couple of them gravel islands?
DeleteAlso this is a similar debate to that we had over LCyD earlier this year and on which discussions continue - having met with Clive and Abi we are now a bit clearer on what the Trust are trying to achieve and they now understand and have responded to some of our concerns. All of this discussion could be avoided could it not if the management plans/target species list were published on the MWT website - as the LCyD plan was being rewritten in the early part of this year I assume that is now complete and could therefore be published. Why not place a laminated copy in the respective hides?
What all of this unfortunately has done is leave a few people feeling a bit disenchanted and I know some have cancelled their membership of the Trust - obviously you don't want that to continue and I don't think this is or should be too difficult to fix.
I'll email you this as well in case you don't pick it up on the blog.