field grasshopper - Darin Smith

egret

egret • www.cvlbirding.co.uk

What to watch out for in August

Grasshoppers and crickets are always fun to discover and a trip to Dolebury Warren will be rewarded with views of some of the best examples of our local species. Stripe-winged, mottled, common green and field grasshoppers are abundant across the sun baked slopes of the fort. In areas containing longer grass and scrub both speckled and dark bush crickets sing alongside their larger cousin, the great green bush cricket.

It’s generally a quiet time for song birds but its worth spending a little while looking around Chew Valley Lake to see the start of the autumn migration. From Herriot’s Bridge or Heron’s Green a patient observer could be rewarded with views of returning common or green sandpipers. Little egrets may be seen, their brilliant white plumage looking pristine against the green colours of high summer. Mallard and teal numbers will grow as young birds begin to join the visiting migrants.Towards the end of the month the drop in water level will expose large areas of mud and waders such as ringed plover, dunlin or even wood sand pipers will add to existing numbers.

Along the coast at Blakes Pools and Walborough the wading bird numbers which feed across the mudflats begin to increase as birds such as dunlin and curlew leave their breeding grounds and start to migrate south for the winter.

brass rubbing

wild waste garden

the Mill

Reserve of the month

Willsbridge Mill

The summer holidays are here and there’s plenty for all to do at our Willsbridge reserve. Keep your eye open for the events at the Mill (link to Get involved) here in August, but come any time to Willsbridge Valley.

The valley at Willsbridge Mill contains many habitats and is made even more special since the creation of the Heritage Sculpture Trail. Children can enjoy taking brass rubbings from eight leaf-shaped waymarker plaques placed at points of wildlife and historic interest around the valley. Rubbing sheets are available at leaflet dispensers in front of the Mill but remember to bring a supply of wax crayons with you!

This walk starts at the entrance to the mill, an impressive building with a converted barn dating back to the early 19th Century which has been the Trust’s main education centre since 1985. From the outdoor classroom area climb the flight of steps up to the teaching pond. At the pond, the patient observer can see frogs and newts as well as azure damselflies balancing on emergent reedmace. Continue along the path with the pond to your left and after 10 metres turn sharp left onto the Heritage Sculpture Trail and through a fieldgate. Follow the surfaced path up the gradient that leads between the woodland edge and the pasture, which is now grazed with horses. Plants such as lousewort, betony and black knapweed have been recorded from this grassland during the summer.

Pass the ‘giant ant hill’ sculpture on your right and go through an opening onto the old dramway. Turn left and continue along the track, looking out for a sculpture on the right which celebrates the valleys busy industrial past when horse drawn trucks carrying locally mined coal travelled along the dramway. After about 100 metres turn left over the viaduct. The area to the right before this turning is good for warblers, with blackcap recorded in most years. On rare occasions nightingale have also been recorded during early May at this corner.

Turn left again once you have crossed the bridge, this path leading you back alongside the Siston Brook and back to the mill. Views of this stream are often rewarded with glimpses of dipper, a dumpy looking wetland bird that feeds on insects found under the surface of good quality water. Along this path too is an old quarry, an exposure of reddish sandstone over 300 million years old. Lines of pebbles are visible within the quarry faces, representing the bottom of ancient river channels. On the in-filled tops of these channels are thin coal seams with the fossil remains of club mosses which grew in the tropical forests of time.  Examples of fossilised trees and their roots can also be seen.

Continue along this path which follows the edge of the valley’s main piece of woodland. Notice the sculptural seats and steps on the right that herald the entrance to the wood. Look out for names of the trees found in the wood which have been carved into the steps. Before you return to the mill spend some time exploring the new Wild Waste Garden, a project demonstrating how household waste can be put to creative and imaginative use and just one more way in which this whole site inspires children through our education work.

For details of how to get to Willsbridge Mill and more information on this reserve click here...

 

Offers

Special permission!
If you enjoyed reading about Chew Valley Lake on this month’s Member’s Page you can make your visit even more special by obtaining a permit to the bird hides that are scattered through the reserve. Visit www.bristol-water.co.uk/leisure/bird-info.htm for further information.

And as a Trust member you can get closer to wildlife on our other reserves where access is restricted because of their sensitivity or for health and safety reasons, by applying for a permit. Application forms are available by contacting Kirsty Forsberg on 0117 917 7270 or email kirstyforsberg@avonwildlifetrust.org.uk.

Permits are needed to visit

Avonmouth Pools
Bathamption Oxbow
Blake’s Pools
Clapton Moor (part)
Cleeve Heronry
Littleton Brick Pits
Max Bog
Monk Woods
Priory Farm
Tickenham Hill (part)
Weston Moor (part)