News
News from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
Marshside Reserve
10 YEARS OF MARSHSIDE RSPB RESERVE
EARLY DAYS
The RSPB took up its lease at the end of 1994 and I came to Marshside at the end of that year. Those early days were great fun, meeting lots of new people and keen volunteers and spending a lot of time watching and counting the birds!
Looking back at the first Management Plan for the reserve, our aims and objectives have not changed since that time. I was fortunate to start out with an internationally important site, stuffed full of birds and the objective is to keep it that way! In most cases, we have even managed to increase our bird numbers.
SKY-HIGH BIRD NUMBERS?
Most species have increased over the ten-year period, though some have dropped back from very high peaks around 2000. A typical example is the black-tailed godwit, a species that the reserve has internationally important numbers of.
Its not all good news though; pink-footed goose numbers have actually dropped and levelled out recently. This is because large numbers of geese now prefer Norfolk to Lancashire. Over there they find the sickly-sweet sugar beet is much more attractive than the more natural salt marsh grasses of the Ribble estuary.
The most striking increase has been in wigeon numbers. This attractive duck migrates south to the area in their thousands each year and the Ribble is the top site in the UK. Hardly surprising then, that the numbers at Marshside have boomed since the reserve was created.
Some of these changes in bird numbers may be coincidental and have nothing to do with our management of the area but in the case of the wigeon I am sure that the overall increase in numbers can be attributed to a number of improvements we have made; reducing disturbance, increasing water areas and getting the grass in good condition.
BALANCING THE NEEDS OF BIRDS AND PEOPLE
We want more and more people to come to Marshside to see the birds. But we need to make sure that the increasing numbers of people do not put the birds off! Over the years we have gradually helped to reduce the disturbance people cause to the birds. Access out onto the marshes is restricted and this means birds grow in confidence that the site is reserved for them. Visitors are encouraged to use regular paths so that the birds know where people will be. The visual impact of people has been reduced by the strategic planting of shrubs and the creation of some low banks. Two hides and three viewing screens enable people to get really close to the birds without frightening them. The best way to see how well this works is to visit the Sandgrounders' Hide where truly wild birds can be seen feeding and nesting within feet of the windows without the aid of artificial feeding.
DAMPING IT DOWN
Most of Marshside's birds are there because they like it wet of course. But the marsh is built on sand and when the rain stops falling, its surprising how quickly it dries out. We have been able to improve things a lot, especially for the nesting birds, by putting in water control structures. These stop the marsh completely drying out in the nesting season. As a result, our important populations of nesting waders are able to rear their young successfully.
The graphs show that we can keep the levels on Marshside 2 pretty stable whereas on Marshside 1 the level drops dramatically in the summer. This is because Marshside 1 relies on rainfall alone and has no other water supply. To cope with this problem we have dug several new shallow pools. These become life-lines for the baby birds when a drought hits us and can help the birds to rear some young in what would otherwise have been a disastrous year.
Improving the water levels has helped a number of new species to nest since the reserve began. Scarce duck species like teal and gadwall have begun nesting regularly. We now have the spectacular avocets nesting every year. These beautiful birds first nested in 2002 and Marshside is now the most important site on the west coast of Britain for the emblem of the RSPB.
DITCHES OR POOLS?
As well as pools we have dug a lot of new ditches and improved a lot of old ones too - more than 10 km of them in fact! You could see these ditches as simply very long pools - the birds do not mind what we call them! The ditches do several important jobs; they act as access routes for the ducks, they keep the soil moist, they distribute the water around the whole of the marsh, and they provide a feeding ground for many birds and especially the wader chicks.
Our lapwings are doing very well, partly as a consequence of this work. This is quite an achievement when you consider that lapwings have declined by 50% across the rest of England during the same period!
CHEWING THE CUD
You cannot please all of the birds all of the time. We may have increased the numbers of nesting lapwing and wintering wigeon but we are not so popular with the nesting redshank at the moment. The increase you can see in the graph for 2002 is because we suffered foot and mouth disease in that year. That meant fewer cows and that meant taller grass. As we can see that is what redshank like. To try and have the best of both worlds (and please our redshanks), we will be using electric fencing to create some cow-free areas for the redshanks in future years.
All of these improvements have been made to benefit our priority species; those of greatest conservation concern. Happily, lots of other species have benefited too. Reed warblers have increased as the reed itself has spread and stonechats and whitethroats enjoy the new shrubs. A greater variety of birds visit the reserve than ever before and rarities are more frequently discovered among them. Examples range from the tiny yellow-browed warbler to the big, white spoonbill. The spoonbill has now become an annual visitor whilst other rarities like the white-winged black tern are always going to be exceptional finds.
FUTURE PERFECT?
There is no reason to rest on our laurels - there's still so much to do! We have nice hides and more and more visitors to Marshside but not everything is as it should be for visitors to the reserve. The car park has actually got worse over the ten years! We will be working towards a better range of facilities for visitors to the reserve and taking things forward within the new Access and Interpretation Strategies that are currently being produced for the Sefton Coast.
We will strive to create even more opportunities for birds on the reserve's 110 hectares. We hope to increase the size of the reserve too and negotiations are underway with the Council to achieve that end.
This year should see the first stage in our planned introduction of natterjack toads to Marshside. This will help this Sefton Coast speciality to increase its range.
The 'Aren't Birds Brilliant' project will continue in conjunction with Sefton Council following its success at Southport Pier in 2004. This project is a great introduction to birds for lots of tourist visitors who can then go on to visit Marshside and the other great birdwatching sites along the coast.
Marshside still has room for improvement. It's a fantastic place for both birds and people and with your help we can make it even better in the future.
FACTS AND FIGURES
Marshside Nature Reserve is leased to the RSPB by Sefton Council.
20,000 birds (of about 80 species) winter at Marshside.
300 pairs of about 40 different species nest on the reserve
Brown hare numbers have increased since hare-coursing has been stopped.
Amongst the many plant species, early marsh orchid, marsh arrow-grass, sea radish, parsley water-dropwort, few-flowered spike-rush, marsh helleborine and common meadow-rue are among the most noteworthy.
Site Manager Tony Baker has been in charge since the reserve began.
Graham Clarkson, a native of Marshside, joined the staff this year as Aren't Birds Brilliant Officer.
Over 40 volunteers help the reserve run smoothly.
The hides at Marshside are open 365 days per year and are free of charge and one is heated!
The reserve is currently supported by Mersey Waste Holdings Ltd through the Landfill Tax scheme, the Mersey Waterfront Regional Park, DEFRA through the `Countryside Stewardship' scheme, Ibstock Cory, William Rainford Ltd., RSPB Local Groups and our wonderful members and volunteers.
Tony Baker, RSPB
Text taken from Coastlines Summer 2005
Home
