Despite the ice and snow over the Christmas period - which has only just thawed up here by the way – there’s plenty of interesting wildlife around the reserve.
Brown hares are particularly noticeable near the main visitor centre with the undulating grasslands to the north of the reserve a hare hot spot. Early morning and dusk are the best times to see them though be aware that during the day this mammal will often go unoticed as it keeps out of the cold winds in its well concealed form.
Suprisingly for this time of year, adult great crested newts were active in the partially frozen waterbodies. An adult female was recently seen moving amongst the dead reed stems in a ditch. Newts are normally tucked away in refugies when temperatures are so cold! Three palmate newts were also observed in a temporary waterbody in the woodland areas.
Birds are particularly noticeable at this time of year as trees and scrub remain bare and leafless. Grey partridge have been seen throughout the grasslands whilst approximately 20 lapwing were seen in the damper meadows. With most of the waterbodies now thawed, goldeneyes and teal were back on the main lake, whilst on the south lagoon, 2 tufted ducks are a common sight. Skylarks were heard displaying during a brief mild spell earlier in the week – a welcome sign of spring following the unusually cold a wet winter. Throughout the woodlands the birdwatcher is spoilt for choice. Great, blue, coal and long-tailed tit are all regular visitors, particularly to bird feeders. The patient bird watcher may even catch a glimpse of the great spotted woodpecker, two pairs bred at Watchtree during 2009! treecreepers, redpoll, tree sparrow, robin, blackbird and wren are present. Fieldfares and the odd redwing are never far away during the winter and even if you dont see them, these ’overwintering’ members of the thrush family can usually be heard in a nearby field or hedgerow.
Buzzards are very common at the moment as are kestrel and sparrowhawk. The sparrowhawk was seen flying a couple of feet above the ground along one of the former concrete runways – no doubt trying to catch a meadow pipit or linnet unaware.
The fox has been seen on a number of occasions recently and the prolonged covering of ice revealed that this cunning mammal regularly used the frozen waterbodies as a short cut. A confused picture of fox and hare footprints on the lake edge looked like these two mammals played out Watchtree’s very own version of ‘dancing on ice’ – no doubt the outcome was full marks for the fox!
Visitors should also notice some subtle habitat changes this year as areas of meadow (those with poor species diversity) have been re seeded with additional devil’s-bit scabious – the larval foodplant for the rare marsh fritillary butterfly. Watchtree have just begun a captive breeding programme and we hope that all being well, this butterfly will grace the meadows at Watchtree in years to come…watch this space….indeed why not visit us?