Patchwork Challenge and other bird news at Parc Slip; A Guest Blog from Paul Parsons

This year I decided to do a Patchwork year list, joining a few of my birding friends in signing up for the challenge at this webpage. The idea of the Patchwork challenge is to go out birding in your local patch, with an element of competition! 

Robin (Paul Parsons)

Whilst my friends all chose coastal areas to maximise numbers, I decided on Parc Slip due to it's close proximity to my home in Maesteg and the lure of the new wader scrapes and hide.

New wader scrapes at Parc Slip (Paul Parsons)

I have set a target of 100 species for the year, hopefully with the bonus of a rarity or two along the way. The challenge allows for a 3KM square area, so my mapped patch includes some areas just outside the reserve in the form of Bedford Park and Craig yr Aber.

January was a very wet month but most of the common birds were seen along with Kingfisher, Cormorant, Treecreeper, Water Rail, Red Kite and Bittern. There were flocks of 30+ Teal, 25+ Lesser Redpoll, 16 Goldfinch and 30+ Siskin and I ended up with 43 species by the end of the month.

Lesser Redpoll (Paul Parsons)

February started off very wet too and highlights were Crossbill, Great Black Back Gull and Cetti's Warbler. My first returning Lapwing was seen on 10th and a singing Skylark marked the end of the wettest winter on record on the 16th. A flyover Stock Dove on the 25th brought my list up to 55.

March started with a crisp frost on the 1st and Peregrine Falcon and Tufted duck were new additions to the list. I missed a pair of Mute Swans that were seen on the 5th but were chased off by Canada Geese. A flock of 11 Bullfinch were seen on the 6th along with my first moth of the year, a Hebrew Character on the Visitor Centre door. 

Bullfinch eating Hawthorn buds (Paul Parsons)

The new hide was under construction on the 7th and the sun brought out Peacock and Small Tortoiseshell butterflies, spring had sprung!

On the 8th a female Goshawk drifted over the North wetland but was mobbed and chased by a Peregrine before I could get my camera out. Lapwing numbers were up to 16. Chiffchaffs were new in on the 11th and a flyover Kestrel took my list to 60 on the 13th. 

Green Woodpecker (Paul Parsons)

This week I have seen nothing new, although Woodcocks have been seen by two other birders.

Migration is under way and the next few weeks could turn up something good and hopefully, Sand Martins will return to the reserve this year.

Paul Parsons

Would you like to write a guest blog for the Parc Slip Blog? Contact Rose with your idea. 

Music for Wildlife!

On Friday 28^th February, we were privileged to be joined at Parc Slip by local music teachers Angharad Edwards and Thomas Morgan and their students for an evening of music in aid of the Wildlife Trust.

Angharad, Thomas and students- thank you all! (Liz Gordan, Mad Apple Designs)

We were treated to a wonderful array of harp and piano music, from Bach and Purcell to Saint-Saens  and Ravel, from the very talented students, Angharad and Thomas.

The concert was very generously held in aid of the Wildlife Trust and from ticket sales and a raffle, Angharad and her students raised over £250 for the Wildlife Trust! 

Here at Parc Slip, with help from NRW, we have recently created a new series of ponds and wader scrapes which cover 3ha of formally improved agricultural fields. The new scrapes will benefit a host of wetland species; particularly Parc Slip's breeding Lapwing population as well as other waders and wildfowl. 

Artists Impression of new wetland at Parc Slip

To increase visitor enjoyment and give the best view of the new wetland, we are currently in the process of building a new elevated bird hide, which will stand 3m high and give a fantastic view of the wildlife that will be moving in. The new bird hide is not cheap (£20,000!) and we are hoping that anyone who hopes to use the hide will consider donating towards the costs of building and maintenance. 

A taster of the view from the new hide...

The money that Angharad and Co. raised will be put towards the costs of the new hide. A huge thank you to Angharad, Thomas and their students for helping us with our conservation work for wildlife. You can contact Angharad, who is available for lessons, on email.

If you would like to donate towards the new elevated bird hide, you can download a donation form from this page and return it to 

Parc Slip Elevated Bird Hide Fund, Freepost RRJG-XCUZ ZUHU, The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales, Nature Centre, Fountain Road, Tondu, Bridgend CF32 0EH or ring alternatively, give us a ring in the office on 01656 724100. 

Thank you! 

Badger sculpture named after celebrity anti-cull campaigner, Queen's Dr Brian May

Following the installation of the new badger sculpture at Parc Slip Nature Reserve, the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales, who own and manage the nature reserve, ran a competition amongst its members and on Facebook and Twitter to name the badger. There were many fantastic suggestions, but there was one name that won by a landslide.

Over the last few years, badgers have been the subject of hugely controversial persecution in the struggle against bovine TB. There is no denying that bovine TB in cattle is a significant problem which causes considerable anxiety for the farming community.

The scientific evidence shows that culling badgers is not the best option to achieve a reduction in bovine TB. Despite the evidence, pilot culls still took place in Gloucestershire and Somerset took place in 2013. These culls have proved to be unsuccessful, failing to meet quotas or to reduce bovine TB.

Badger Jon Hawkins

Queen’s Dr Brian May has been a high-profile campaigner against the badger culls since the very start, doing a huge amount to raise awareness and support for the petition against the cull.  By popular demand, the badger sculpture has been named ‘Brian’ in recognition of the fantastic work Dr Brian May has done to help our British badgers.

One of our young volunteers Rudi Bright on Brian the Badger!

The Wildlife Trusts believe that vaccination of badgers combined with more effective testing of cattle, stricter controls on cattle movements and greater bio-security on farms offers better long-term prospects to agriculture at a reduced cost to the taxpayer.

Help us fund badger vaccination on our reserves 

Badger being released after vaccination on Wildlife Trust Reserves Tom Marshall

Friends of Parc Slip, Saturday 22nd Feb 2014

On Saturday 22nd Feb, Friends of Parc Slip met to do some practical conservation work on the nature reserve. Friends of Parc Slip is our weekend conservation work party who meet once a month on a Saturday to help the Wildlife Trust manage the nature reserve. This could mean anything from cutting down trees to building bug hotels.

Some of Friends of Parc Slip with Bugingham Palace

On Saturday 22nd February, we were working on the ditch running along the haulage road. Scrub has slowly been encroaching on this ditch over the years, shading the water and leaf fall is leading to the ditch filling in. We were removing the trees from within the ditch channel to prevent shading and drying out. 

The gang working in the ditch

The scrub that was removed was cut and used to build dams along the ditch. Hopefully these works will mean that there is pools of water in the ditch throughout the summer which will be perfect for breeding invertebrates, such as the scarce blue-tailed damselfly- the larvae mature at a faster rate in warm pools.

Large Red Damselfly Vaughn Matthews

 Breeding amphibians will also make use of the increased water in the ditches over the next few months. 

Rudi with the Dam of the Day! 

The result- a dam with a pool of water behind it

The next meeting of Friends of Parc Slip is Sat 22nd March, anyone welcome! http://www.welshwildlife.org/events/friends-parc-slip-2014-03-15/

Return of the Lapwing

Our first reports of returning lapwing came to us from Paul Parsons on the 10th February- complete with photo of the lapwing sitting on the island at the Northern wetlands, which was cleared of vegetation late last year in order to increase the suitability of the island for lapwing.

First reported lapwing of 2014, Paul Parsons

The lapwing, Vanellus vanellus, is in the plover family, which is known for its broad wings which are notable in flight and its amazing 'pee-wit' call. They breed in a variety of habitats, one of which is waterside meadows, such as the Lapwing field at Parc Slip. Over winter, lapwing are not seen at Parc Slip as they disperse to winter feeding grounds.

Flock of Lapwing in November 2013 taken above Parc Slip on Mynydd Ty Talwyn

The works that have taken place in the Lapwing field over winter to improve the habitat suitability for lapwing have included scrub clearance to increase the grassland and remove perching places for predators, cutting of the field in early February to decrease the sward height by local farmers Will and Rob and the installation of our lovely highland cattle, Mac, Hamish and Dougal.

Hopefully, all the habitat improvement will enable the lapwing to successfully breed again this year and we'll have more of these little guys running around!

Lapwing Chick Mike Snelle

The latest sightings have been of a flock of 12 lapwing on the 19th and 20th of Feb, circling the field and chasing off buzzards from the area- all good signs. Fingers crossed for the next few months for our lapwing!

Frog Spawn Season; what should you do?

The onset of the warmer weather in February brings the start of the amphibian breeding season and the welcome appearance of frog and toad spawn in Britain’s ponds. We spotted the first frog spawn in our ponds at Parc Slip this year on the 4th February.

The Parc Slip Frogspawn!

If you are lucky enough to have spawn in your pond, we have a number of pointers for you to help you look after your amphibians.

Firstly, you can work out what species you have; frog spawn is laid in obvious jelly-like clumps, like in the photo above, whereas toad spawn is laid in long chains which are often more difficult to see. Report your sightings to your local records centre- knowing where the animals are can help with their conservation. The local records centre in the South Wales area is SEWBReC.

If your pond looks like it’s over flowing with spawn, do not worry, there’s no such thing as too much frog spawn! It’s a harsh world out there; it’s thought that only one in 50 eggs laid will survive to adulthood, so you won’t ever be over run with frogs!

Frog with spawn in our Conservation Managers garden last year

The crucial thing to note is that it is very important that you do not move spawn between ponds. Unfortunately, there are a number of amphibian diseases in the UK, such as Ranavirus and Chytrid fungus that can decimate amphibian populations and lead to local population declines.

Another issue is invasive non-native pond plants, including Crassula helmsii (Australian Swamp-Stonecrop), which are extremely damaging to biodiversity and can result in the pond being filled in.

Movement of frogspawn from pond to pond can spread these diseases and invasive plants to new areas. Unfortunately, this has been the case at Parc Slip, with a pond being completely over run with Crassula. This is probably as a result of movement of materials into the pond from another infected pond. Please help us to prevent further invasions and do not transfer materials into the ponds. And start spreading the word to stop the swap of spawn! 

Crassula helmsii in our infected pond

Have you seen any frogspawn yet?

Highland Cattle Become Conservationists at Parc Slip

So anyone out walking on the Nature Reserve recently may have noticed that we have employed the help of some four-legged conservationists this month to help with the management of the nature reserve!

Two of our Highland Cattle- Dougal and Hamish

The ‘Lapwing Field’ at Parc Slip is now being grazed by Highland cattle, owned by our local farmer, who often works with us to manage the nature reserve. This breed is often used in conservation grazing due to their hardy nature. The cattle will be improving the habitat for lapwing by grazing which will create the short turf favoured by the species. 

Lapwings are a bird that often frequent farmland and wetlands, named for their broad wings which are unmistakeable when the bird is in flight. The bird is also known as a ‘peewit’ in recognition of its robotic sounding call! When it comes to breeding, lapwings like short turf, which is where the Highland cattle come in.

Lapwing by Ian Rose

The lapwings will also benefit from churned up areas of ground, which provide nesting sites, and the manure which will provide insect food for the developing chicks.

It's lovely seeing the cattle on the nature reserve and we hope the lapwing will appreciate them too!

Mac and Hamish