Wildlife at Hale Duck Decoy Summer 2015
                                  June to August

Only a limited number of visits were made to the decoy during this period because of the flooding. In early June Rob brought in additional help from an outside source to advise us on this ongoing problem. They thought the problem lay in a build-up of silt from leaf decay in the ditches and following his advice a new piece of plastic was inserted into the drainage system. This plastic has holes which allow the water to pass through but blocks the transportation of twigs, leaf litter etc. It seems to have worked and the flood is already subsiding although it does require regular maintenance. On 1st July a work party went down to tidy up the pathways and paint the seating area in preparation for a visit by the group from France on 4th. The Friends of Pickerings Pasture had one of their monthly work-parties at the Decoy on 20th July for some further work. A start was made to remove the debris from the drainage ditches, weatherproof  the fencing area by the bridge and to generally tidy the site up. This work will continue. (See: Clean up at Hale Duck Decoy.)

Flooding has been a major problem for over a year.

We were away for most of June but a visit on the 8th July revealed at least 20 cormorant’s nests in the oak trees: most containing young of various sizes. On the pond was a female shoveler with seven half-grown young and a female tufted duck with six small young. Also present were sixteen mallards, a little grebe, three coots and four young moorhens. In the woodland, besides a party of long tailed tits and fifteen goldfinches, there were several chiffchaffs and blackcaps feeding whilst two grey wagtails fed in one of the ditches. Out on the marsh a large crèche of about 180 young Canada geese were present with a few adults.

Cormorant feeding young in the nest.

Tufted duck & four of her ducklings.

Little grebe.

Great-white & little egret roosting on the far bank.

On a visit on the 17th a great white egret and a little egret were found roosting on the pond edge, at least forty two fledged cormorants were scattered around the pool and trees. There were also five grey herons and on the pond were twenty six mallards, two tufted ducks and five teals whilst overhead a young buzzard was circling - mewing. On the moat a common sandpiper and a grey wagtail fed on the mud.

A good selection of butterflies were recorded including twelve gatekeepers, two meadow browns, three commas, one small tortoiseshell, a large white, a green-veined white and, most importantly, two purple hairstreaks indicating the colony has survived the flooding even though one of their main oak trees succumbed to the dampness.

Purple hairstreak.

The next visit was on the 25th when the great white egret was again present with the little egret. Some cormorants’ nests were now empty but many fledged young were about. The teal numbers had increased to twelve, with many mallard present too. Only two young shovelers could be found. The little grebes were feeding well-developed young. Amongst the long-tailed tit flock were two willow tits. This species has not been seen locally for over fifteen years and nationally is a species of high conservation concern. A kingfisher was seen flying along the moat.

Butterflies were again in evidence in quite good numbers; more purple hairstreaks were seen, a red admiral, a speckled wood and at least twenty gatekeepers. Two members of the FOPP cleared out more silt from one of the ditches. Two brimstone butterflies were seen on 29th July and the shoveler still had her seven youngsters.

Young shoveler.

A young little grebe.

Willow tit.

Grey heron feeding young.

On the 8th August an adult female marsh harrier was hunting the marsh by the decoy, always a grand sight to see. In the woodland two willow warblers and a sedge warbler were seen. Only a couple of the cormorant’s nests still contained young, although twenty three birds were in the trees or on the pond. A brown hawker and a common darter were seen patrolling the ditches. For the last week or so the great white egret has been seen going onto the decoy to roost just before dusk on most evenings.  

Finding barnacles at the base of one of the posts was unexpected.

Wild yellow loosestrife is very different to the garden variety.

Purple loosestrife.

Marsh pennywort,

Carr Lane Pools also had its share of problems this quarter. On the 4th June the local farmer had to clean out the sewage ditch in the area and, unfortunately, cleared out the whole area of the Ramsbook as well. Many of the breeding species were disrupted by this, although some did manage to rear their young. The major problem was that the work drained the pools. It was a sad sight and was only relieved when the high tides flooded the fields again in August. However many of the species are not so keen on this high level of salinity and it will be while before they pools are back to their full greatness again.

Cleaning the ditches & emptying the pools.

Nevertheless there have been birds reported throughout the season with some interesting species amongst them. A hobby was seen occasionally during the first week of June and the first of many visits by a marsh harrier was of a male hunting over Ramsbrook on June 4th. This species now breeds in Cheshire and they are increasing their presence on our side of the river each year. Both the adults were seen on trips across to hunt either the Hale Marsh or the pools, although the female was more frequently seen. The first juvenile bird was spotted on 9th August hunting unsuccessfully this time.  

Both buzzard and kestrel sightings have been consistent throughout the period, as they both breed in the area. Towards the end of August up to three young kestrels were guaranteed to be seen hunting the pools! Although not actually in our area a red kite seen heading in our direction on 9th June indicates that such species are being seen more frequently. We heard rumours of several other sightings within a fortnight: possibly a young bird looking for a territory. An immature female peregrine was on prey in the field close to Carr Lane on the evening of 25th August. It was eating the remains of a black headed gull. Three buzzards were perched close by and two attacked it, driving it off the prey before flying off with it leaving the peregrine perched on the fence posts.

A hovering kestrel.

Grey herons and little egrets were often seen. Canada geese used the pools sporadically to roost and preen – at one stage the pools were quite white with their moulted feathers. Two greylags were spotted with them occasionally but forty eight, including four white birds, seen in a nearby field on the 21st August was an unusual sight.  

Canada geese preening on the pools.

Greylags including one of the white birds.

The young shelducks.

Early in June a pair of shelduck was on the pool with a brood of ten and another brood was seen in early July. The hybrid ruddy shelduck hung around the pools until 3rd June. No young shovelers were seen at this stage although we think the female took her brood onto the Decoy. However a brood of five, recently fledged, were back on 10th August with the female but we had seen two young alone on the Decoy the previous day. They looked as if they were coping well on their own. They were seen on and off throughout August. Five teals were seen on 11th July and by mid-August the numbers began to rise with twenty three on 13th and 34 on 15th. A mallard was seen with six ducklings on 3rd August and another with three smaller young joined her on the 5th. Both were noticed occasionally during the month but were usually hiding in the reeds. The highest count of mallards was twenty.

Little ringed plovers were regular in the early part and reappeared later in August. Their numbers varied too: singletons more frequent in June but up to ten were seen August, although they changed daily. Sixteen ringed plovers were seen on 1st June, dropping to one the following few days. A couple of dunlins were noted on the first 4 days of June and a single golden plover on 24th August. Single black-tailed godwits were seen during the first days of June but on 6th June there were 225, 108 on 9th and 480 on 14th. However no colour-ring birds were spotted. Redshank chicks were found on 14th June and the odd greenshank dropped in: with a party of three on 14th August. Throughout August lapwings were consistent in good numbers with a high of 70 on 12th.  Another consistent visitor in August was ruff with up to nine on 14th but with a steady stream of different individuals during the month. Other waders of note were a green sandpiper on 7th July and our first autumn wood sandpiper on 19th August. Two snipe were discovered on the 9th August.

Little-ringed plover.

Ringed plover.

Redshanks often stand on fence posts.

Green sandpiper.

Swallows and house martins regularly hawked over the pools and on 4th August there was a movement of swifts. On 19th a kingfisher took up residence on the Ramsbrook near the marsh bridge and on the same day several sand martins were flying up & down the brook hawking insects. A grey partridge was noted in mid-June and the sighting of a juvenile cuckoo on 30th July was exciting. Six stock doves were seen on 7th August and 180 starlings feeding in the fields were notable. During the last week up to five yellow wagtails were found in the flocks of pied and white wagtails. On 31st two wheatears and a whinchat showed up, sitting on the fence posts as usual.