Volunteer Newsletter - February 2024

Volunteer News The latest news and highlights for the Volunteers of Leicestershire & Rutland Wildlife Trust

SPOTLIGHT FEATURE

Spotlight On...

Anthony and Linda Biddle In each issue we will feature a 'Spotlight' on one of our volunteers.

In this issue two of our volunteers and trustees, Anthony and Linda Biddle, talk to us about their nearly 50 year of involvement with the Trust.

Anthony and Linda Biddle

SPOTLIGHT FEATURE

For nearly fifty years, Anthony and Linda Biddle have been involved in the LRTW, Anthony as a trustee, chairman of the Rutland Members Group and both he and Linda as volunteers mainly working at Rutland Water Nature Reserve. In fact they were planting trees around the reserve as the reservoir was being filled in the early 1970s.

Although always interested in natural history, actual involvement began many years ago when they were introduced to John Whall of Woodhouse Eaves by Peter Gamble, a great naturalist himself and a fully involved Trust member and trustee. John’s large garden adjoined Bradgate Park and contained active badger setts. They spent many hours badger watching and were able to meet other famous local naturalists during the time including the late Dr Jenny Owen, Ian Evans and others. After moving to Stamford they were drawn into local natural history activities and remain committed to nature.

In the mid-1970s Anthony became the secretary of a group of Rutland members helping to plan the re-routing of footpaths over the Hambletons which was being coordinated by the late John Garbett and Michael Fisher and assisted by the eminent botanist, Guy Messenger and others. The committee also began fund raising events including coffee mornings and market stalls and ran events for the Rutland membership.

Later this group became the Rutland Members Group and Anthony has been chair ever since. His role as trustee began in the late 1970s and over the years, he has held the posts of Vice Chair and Chair. Anthony is also the chair of the LRWT Conservation Committee made up of expert naturalists who themselves are volunteers and who are there to offer advice to the Trust on conservation matters.

As a trustee, Anthony has found much satisfaction in the development of the Trust from its early days based at West Street in Leicester when there were only a couple of full time employees, to its present position as a great Organisation fighting for and improving the nature conservation in the two counties.

The early development of Lyndon as a visitor centre and latterly the building of the Volunteer Training Centre have also been great Trust achievements, and both Linda and Anthony have had great pleasure in playing a small part in their success.

The Rutland members group and its small committee continues to flourish at its new home at the VTC, and hope to continue this success, although there is still plenty of room for more participating members.

Both Anthony and Linda are also members of the Rutland Natural History Society and Linda is currently both mammal recorder and Chair, a post that she has held for ten years.

After retirement from teaching science, she became part of the Trust volunteer team running the water vole re-introduction project at Rutland Water which began in 2010.

This has involved regular monitoring of water vole activity around the reserve and Oakham canal as well as monitoring the sites for mink. Following his retirement as Technical Director of an agricultural research organisation ten years ago, Anthony joined her in the continuation of this project.

However, the latest phase of their work, initiated by Tim Sexton, includes using trail cameras in baited tunnels and systematically recording the presence of small mammals around the reserve. There are currently five tunnels which are run for two weeks before being moved along the reserve foreshore and meadows. Each move involves studying the 2000 or so images from each camera to log the presence and identity of the mammals at each site. Assisted by Steve and Donnie Smalley, so far, 16 species of small mammal including water shrew harvest mice, badger and otter and even a polecat have been noted. the data will be used to produce a small mammal atlas of the reserve.

Both Anthony and Linda feel fortunate to be able to continue volunteering in their various roles with the Trust and encourage anyone wishing to contribute to the Trust’s work in any way to join the rest of the volunteers.

NEWS & UPDATES

Attenborough Nature Reserve

NEWS & UPDATES Staff Visit to Attenborough Nature Reserve Back in December the LRWT staff took a visit to the Attenborough Nature Reserve in Nottingham for a staff meeting. As well as our staff meeting this was also an opportunity to take a look around another Wildlife Trust’s reserve and see how other reserves are managed and looked after.

It was great for the team to meet together as a whole and we were treated to a guided tour of Attenborough Nature Reserve and Centre led by Tim Sexton and Fee Worton, both of whom used to work at the reserve, and volunteer Phil Carter.

Flooding at AWBC

Flooding outside the front of AWBC

Unfortunately 2024 did not get off to a great start as the new year saw an unprecedented amount of rain fall across our counties. This rainfall resulted in a number of floods, and roads quickly became rivers, completely cutting off access in certain areas. The roads were so bad that a number of staff had to spend the night at the Volunteer Training Centre in Rutland as the only roads leading away found themselves underwater and closed off to cars.

The Anglian Water Birdwatching Centre in Egleton also fell victim to the rain with the water levels outside the Centre got so high that access was completely impossible, and the Centre was closed for a number of days. The team at Rutland worked tirelessly to pump water away and sweep up the debris from the entrance so that we could reopen the reserve as quickly as possible.

VTC Library Are you looking for your next read? The VTC Library, which has been expertly created by Joan Brady and the gardening group, contains a plethora of books on all thing’s wildlife. The library includes both fiction and non-fiction and there is a register to sign your books out.

If you are over at the Volunteer Training Centre in Rutland why not have a peruse of the shelves and find your next book.

VTC Library

NEWS & UPDATES

Chris Wood

NEWS & UPDATES

Remembering Chris Wood

by Tim Mackrill

We were shocked and deeply saddened to learn of the death of Chris Wood just before Christmas. Chris had been a volunteer with the Rutland Osprey Project for more than a decade and spent countless hours monitoring the Manton Bay nest and sharing his love and passion for Ospreys with anyone who came into Waderscrape hide. Chris was a gentle and understated man, yet over the years he developed an extensive knowledge of Ospreys thanks to the many hours he spent in the field observing and photographing them at Rutland Water and elsewhere in the local area, usually with a cup of tea and digestive biscuits in hand. He also provided valuable help to maintain artificial Osprey nests in and around Rutland, and generously purchased trail cameras to aid remote monitoring of these sites.

Chris didn’t just restrict his Osprey viewing to Rutland. Each winter he followed the birds to their wintering grounds in West Africa, making frequent trips to The Gambia and Senegal. He had a particular interest in reading colour rings, logging birds from all over Europe and 35 from the UK alone.

Perhaps Chris’s most memorable sighting came in December 2013 when he found 5F at Tanji Marsh in The Gambia. This was a particularly special moment for Chris because this female Osprey had fledged from a nest near Rutland Water the previous year and his was the first sighting of her since she left on her first migration.

Ironically, when 5F returned to the UK, she settled in Wales rather than Rutland, initially at Pont Croesor in the Glaslyn valley, and then at Llyn Clywedog where she bred successfully for the first time in 2020. Chris followed 5F to Wales, becoming a regular visitor to view the Glaslyn Ospreys and later to Llyn Clywedog, becoming good friends with the people monitoring and protecting the Ospreys in both locations. Indeed, Chris’s sightings of Ospreys from all over the UK – 25 from Scotland, three from Rutland, three from the Lake District, two from Kielder Forest, one from Wales and one from Poole Harbour – meant that his brilliant fieldwork led to friendships with people working with Ospreys in many places. In fact, he was with Joanna Dailey from the Kielder Osprey project when they found one of Joanna’s birds at Esperanto Lodge in the Casamance region of southern Senegal: another very memorable moment.

Chris leaves a considerable legacy thanks to his dedication to monitoring Ospreys in the UK and West Africa, and the brilliant photos he took. He would often joke that the Ospreys intentionally stood on the wrong leg when he was trying to read their leg ring, but he thought nothing of waiting several hours in the blazing West African sun, in order to clinch the identification of a particular individual. As long as he had his trusty flask of tea to keep him hydrated. The friendships Chris made along the way are testament to what a fun, kind and generous person he was.

He will be missed greatly by those of us who share the passion he had for this wonderful bird.

NEWS & UPDATES

Microscope ID Club

High water levels at AWBC

LRWT at Attenborough Nature Reserve

NEWS & UPDATES

Volunteers and Business Partnerships As part of our ongoing community engagement, we are always looking to build connections and partnerships with local businesses. Projects, such as Nextdoor Nature, have seen us reach out and inspire, enable, and empower people to get more involved with nature. In particular we have been able to empower communities that may not otherwise engage with nature. Having seen the difference this can make to them, we would love to be able to do more!

One of our main goals is to increase the diversity of ways in which people can spend time in nature spaces in and around Leicester, accepting diverse ideas and perceptions of what is ‘nature’. As a Wildlife Trust, we know that a focus on nature and the natural environment brings benefits towards mental and physical health, increasing a sense of pride and ownership. It can also help to bring people together by creating a common ground and goal for those of different backgrounds, developing a more cohesive environment.

Business partnerships leaflet

To enable us to build on our recent successes, we are looking to develop partnerships with local businesses as we build up the networks of support and funding needed for the work to really take root in communities. If you are part of, or are involved with, a local business that share our values and goals and want to help us then please get in touch by emailing: jbrailsford-finnis@lrwt.org.uk

Microscope ID Club Aquatic Invertebrates play a vital part in the freshwater ecosystem. They are also invaluable indicators of water quality, with healthy communities indicating clean water with low impact from pollution and nutrient enrichment.

Aquatic invertebrates have been studied in detail at Rutland Water in recent years, in relation to water quality within the eight Lagoons.

The Microscope ID Club session, led by Tim Sexton - Senior Species and Recording Officer, have a short introduction to the survey work done at the Nature Reserve and then learn how to identify one particular group of aquatic invertebrates. These sessions run on the last Wednesday of the month, over at the VTC. Anyone is welcome to attend and this is completely free. Get in contact to find out more about these sessions.

Tim Sexton leading the Microscope ID Club

NEWS & UPDATES

Water Vole - have you seen any signs of activity? - Tom Marshall

NEWS & UPDATES

Water Vole recovery project – sightings We are undertaking a water vole recovery project in partnership with the Environment Agency, and we need sightings of Water Voles or field signs from the last 12-24 months.

Water voles have undergone one of the most serious declines of any wild mammal in Britain during the 20th century. This decline has largely been due to habitat destruction and the introduction of the American mink, a predator that can decimate water vole populations. If you have sighted a water vole, or signs of water vole activity, then please record this and help our recovery project.

There are a couple of ways you can record your sightings: You can record water vole activity directly to the NatureSpot website https://www.naturespot.org.uk/ Or you can email us at info@lrwt.org.uk So please do get spotting and let us know your sightings.

Water Vole - Tom Marshall

Team Wilder Pins Can you help us as we try to fill out the map of our Actions for Nature Have you been planting bulbs ready for Spring?

Have you added a bird box to your garden?

Pin your action for nature and be part of Team Wilder today!

Team Wilder is a growing community of people from across our city, two counties and beyond, who are taking direct action for nature. Anyone can be part of Team Wilder by taking even just 1 action for nature.

Pinning your actions for nature on our map not only helps to show the all the amazing activities everyone has been doing, but it also helps inspire others to take action too. Combining our individual actions can create positive changes in the wildlife around us. Go to https://www.lrwt.org.uk/team-wilder to find out more and pin your actions.

Team Wilder - Map your Wild Actions

STAFF UPDATES

Drystone Wall Course

Hedgelaying Course

Andy Schofield, Ben Jackson (BBC Radio Leicester), Helen Fairhead, and Paul Trevor

NEWS & UPDATES

Courses & Events You can now view and book on our courses that are run from the Volunteer Training Centre in Rutland. We run three different 2-day courses: Hedgelaying Weekend for Beginners Dry Stone Walling for Beginners Botanical Art Course Hedgelaying Weekend for Beginners On this course you will have a brief introduction to the ancient art of Hedgelaying, learn what it involves, when to hedge-lay and how. You will also get the opportunity to lay your own section of hedge.

Dry Stone Walling for Beginners Dry Stone walls can stand for decades. This twoday course will give you the basic principles of the craft of stone wall building or repair and give you an understanding of the construction of a field wall.

Hedgelaying Course

Botanical Art Course Try your hand at art whilst connecting with nature on our new courses with professional botanical artist Dawn Wright. Dawn's workshops are suitable for both beginners and improvers.

Attendees will learn about the art of botanical painting the science behind this fine detailed technique.

Due to the popularity of the courses, we will be running more this year, and we would love to see you there. Our courses get great feedback from those who have attended. The full details, including how to book, can be found on our website: https://www.lrwt.org.uk/events Our hedgelaying course was also recently featured on BBC Radio Leicester. Presenter Ben Jackson came over to Rutland Water and took a look at the hedgelaying process whilst finding out a bit about the Reserve. Ben Jackson spoke to our hedgelaying instructor Andy Schofield and learnt a bit about how to lay a hedge and how Andy got involved with hedgelaying. Ben also spoke to both Paul Trevor and Helen Fairhead and they both shared some information about the Reserve and the work of the Trust.

Botanical Art Course

NEWS & UPDATES

Tim Sexton with the RWNR 2022 Annual report

NEWS & UPDATES

RWNR 2022 Annual Report We were all extremely excited when, in December, we received the delivery of the Rutland Water Nature Reserve Annual Wildlife Report for 2022.

The report summarises the survey and monitoring work that has taken place that year.

Record numbers of animals were observed including over 124,000 wetland birds, over 14,000 individual moths, 572 species of beetle, 25 species of butterfly, and 17 species of dragonfly.

The survey and monitoring work is a huge undertaking each year and the results feedback into the management of the Nature Reserve and provide evidence for the favourable condition of the SSSI (Sites of Special Scientific Interest). Staff were supported by a team of dedicated volunteers, totalling over 2,000 hours of recording in the field.

Rutland Water Osprey

As well as the vast number of observed animals, some highlights for 2022 included: 11 breeding pairs of Osprey rearing a total of 22 chicks, the largest number of active nests recorded in a single year.

Rare fungi found at Rutland Water - included Marasmius limosus, which is a parachute type of fungi found on reeds, of which only 39 records appear in the UK Marsh Harriers Breed for the First Time at Rutland Water A record year for Otter sightings The largest count of Teal in 25 years You can purchase the RWNR Annual Report from both the Lyndon Visitor Centre and Egleton Birdwatching Centre at Rutland Water. The report not only goes through the amazing highlights, but also goes into details about all the incredible species that can be found here. A massive well done goes to Tim Sexton and the whole team who created this amazing report.

Highlights from the RWNR Report

NEWS & UPDATES

Wild About Our Reserves Appeal Our Wild About Our Reserves is still ongoing, and will be running until the end of February. We are looking to raise £100,000 to help ensure the wild spaces of Leicestershire and Rutland will be enjoyed by everyone for years to come.

Here are just some examples of what is happening on the reserves and why we need your help: Restoring woodland at Cloud Wood Cloud Wood has long been known as one of the best sites in Leicestershire for flora, and welcomes many visitors throughout the year. However, much of the Ash, which makes up a large portion of the trees at the Wood, has succumbed to dieback. We are looking to remove a proportion of this, which would leave the area free for replanting. It is essential that these be replaced with native species, such as Elm, Lime and Oak, to secure the future of the woodland here, to be enjoyed for years to come.

Cloud Wood

Purchase of a new Tern Raft for Hobley Lake, Cossington When nesting on the shoreline, Common Terns are at risk from humans, foxes, mink and predatory birds such as crows. Tern rafts provide a safe habitat away from predators and threats, and over the years have been credited with the success in the increased number of common tern numbers. Both Common Terns and Black Headed Gulls are on the Amber List, used to highlight birds whose conservation status is of moderate concern. A new tern raft costs £6,000, but as they are made from UV tolerant plastic and come with a 30 year life span would provide a safe habit for breeding terns for many years to come.

This year your support will have an extra impact with matched funding! Thanks to the generosity of one of our donors, all gifts to the Wild About Our Reserves Appeal will automatically be doubled until we reach our £100,000 target.

Full details on how to donate, and some of the projects we are looking to do, please visit our website: https://www.lrwt.org.uk/appeals/wildabout-our-reserves-appeal We are extremely generous of any support you can give, thank you.

Katie Jobbins and Tim Sexton building a Tern Raft

NEWS & UPDATES

Christmas jumpers on display at the Rutland Water Volunteers Christmas Party - clockwise from top Matt Scase, Laura Brady, Beth Fox, AJ Meakin, Helen Fairhead, Katie Jobbins, Matt Heaver

NEWS & UPDATES

Common Lizards at Rutland Water There has been an exciting discovery over at Rutland Water where common Lizards have been spotted for the first time in Over 15 years!

In 2007 there was a project to translocate over 50 common lizards to Lax Hill, in the heart of Rutland Water Nature Reserve, from a proposed development site at the Wing Water Treatment Works. A team of volunteers from the Nature Reserve laid down corrugated tin sheets across the development site, which absorb heat and create provided shelter for the lizards. They then collected the lizards over a period of a few weeks through the early summer.

Common Lizard - Tim Sexton

The lizards were moved to the south-facing side of Lax Hill on the Nature Reserve, where a suitable receptor site had been created using piles of rocks within an existing area of acid grassland and gorse scrub. Despite their best efforts to save the lizards, the project was initially considered to have failed as in the years following the translocation, no lizards could be found during surveys.

However, in the summer of 2023 we had numerous sightings of both adult and juvenile lizards at a number of different locations around Lax Hill, proving the success of the project after all. The common Lizard (Zootoca vivipara) is widespread in Britain, although it is considered to be declining due to habitat loss. They can be found in a range of different habitats including woodland, heathland, moorland and grasslands. Also known as the Viviparus Lizard, they are unusual among British reptiles in that they give birth to live young rather than laying eggs.

Look out for them on sunny days in the spring and summer months where you might find them basking in the sun on a wooden fence post or on bare ground or rocks.

View from the top of Lax Hill

NEWS & UPDATES

Volunteer Health & Safety We know these two words can often conjure up a heavy sigh but they are so very important to any organisation to ensure that we are acting in the best interests of our staff and volunteers and ultimately keeping everyone as safe as we possibly can.

This sometimes results in changes being made, one of which was the new emergency contact card system for our volunteers. The need for introducing this new system is to ensure that your emergency contact is informed and that any medical conditions you may have are relayed to the emergency services, if needed. Whilst working out in the field we needed a system which was fail-safe where we are not reliant on a phone signal or the internet to be able to access this information.

Manual Handling includes operating a post driver

More recently, we have introduced some manual handling training which is a requirement for anyone who lifts, pulls or pushes objects within their volunteer role. We deliver this training to help protect our volunteers and is a compulsory training requirement. The recording of this webinar is now available to watch on the Volunteers’ Hub for anyone who was not able to attend on 17th January.

We will be administering some additional training for volunteers over the coming months and more details on these will be sent out nearer the time.

We hope that everyone will work with us as we implement these training sessions and quite often the training can apply to areas outside of a volunteer role too so can be quite useful in everyday life.

Thanks, Helen Fairhead Volunteer & Events Coordinator

Manual handling is also important when using a ladder

CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS

Cherry Wood

CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS

Leicestershire and Rutland Ancient Woodland Inventory update: call for volunteers Can you help? We are looking for volunteers to help survey woodlands this spring as part of an update of the Ancient Woodland Inventory for Leicestershire and Rutland.

Launde Big Wood

Ancient woodland in England is defined as a site which has been continuously wooded since 1600.

This rare and important habitat was last mapped in the 1980s. The update involves more accurate digital mapping and includes sites smaller than 2ha which were omitted from the original inventory. As well as previously designated ancient woodland we have identified many small candidate woodlands omitted from the original inventory. We are seeking help with surveying as many of these woods as possible. Don’t be put off if you think you haven’t got the necessary identification skills – surveys can vary from simply visiting a wood and taking photographs, to noting down ancient woodland features using a simple form, or to a full plant survey if that is what interests you. We would also like to hear from people who have investigated the history of their local area and have documentary evidence of woods in existence before the year 1800. To volunteer and for more information please contact Andy Lear andy.lear@wildlifebcn.org Thank you.

Andy Lear The Ancient Woodland Inventory (AWI) Update project is a countrywide, multi-partner funded project with an estimated cost of £2.5 million, over 3-5 years. The project has received funding from The Woodland Trust, DEFRA, Natural England and MHCLG (now DLUC).

The Leicestershire and Rutland Ancient Woodland Inventory update is being hosted by the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire Wildlife Trust working in collaboration with LRWT. Andy Lear is a former LRWT conservation officer who lives in Oakham and is familiar with many of the woods across the area.

Great Merrible Wood

STAFF UPDATES

Elizabeth Jordan - Trainee Reserves Officer

Greetings everyone! I’m so excited to introduce myself as I step into the Trainee Reserves Officer role. I’ve already seen a few volunteers over the last couple of weeks and I’m doing my best to remember all the new names and faces. I look forward to getting to know you all better!

Elizabeth Jordan - Trainee Reserves Officer

As some of you already know, I’ve just moved back to the UK after spending two and a half years living in Houston, Texas. While over there I was working for Memorial Park Conservancy as Programming and Events Coordinator. Within that role I helped lead cultural community events, wellness and sporting activities and share my passion for nature through environmental education. While I loved working in this role, I’m so excited to return to the British countryside and pursue my passion for hands on reserves management. I have a varied professional background, having worked for many years in hospitality, doing everything from bartending, to managing front of house and working as a chef.

Meanwhile my interest in nature has persisted and I’ve taken every opportunity that I can get to get outside and volunteer with conservation organisations.

In 2019 I participated in a practical conservation internship with the RSPB in Kent and realised that this is the job for me! I absolutely loved being outside in all weathers, working with volunteers and seeing the direct impact of the work that we were doing.

In my spare time I enjoy I’m really excited to get to know the reserves around Leicestershire and Rutland.

Elizabeth Jordan at Ulverscroft

STAFF UPDATES

Garry Boorman and Elizabeth Jordan at Tilton Cutting - Nick Crowley

Ulverscroft heathland - Nick Crowley

Icicles on the ivy at Tilton Cutting - Nick Crowley

Cutting at Tilton Cutting - Nick Crowley

STAFF UPDATES

Laura Brady - Engagement Manager - Lyndon

I hope this message finds you well and that you have enjoyed a wonderful winter season filled with warmth, joy, and hopefully not too many floods! As the chill begins to fade, I am excited to announce that the Lyndon Visitor Centre will be reopening its doors on Monday, 4th March. It's an exciting time for us as we prepare to welcome the arrival of the ospreys! (I hope it's slightly warmer for them by then!) You should have all heard from us about the upcoming rota for both the visitor centres and the osprey monitoring shifts, so do get in touch if you have any questions.

George Smith - Osprey Information Officer

I am delighted to share that this year, I'll be joined at Lyndon by the returning George Smith, who brings with him a wealth of experience and passion. Additionally, I'm very happy to share that we will be welcoming our very own Matt Scase as the new Lyndon Visitor Centre and Events Assistant! If you haven't met Matt in person, you are sure to have had some contact with him, as his current role is supporting Helen Fairhead on both the volunteer administration and also the Nextdoor Nature project! He is also responsible for putting together these fantastic newsletters.

From our new team here at Lyndon, we extend our warmest welcome to all our volunteers, whose commitment and enthusiasm make our efforts possible. Together, let's make the upcoming osprey season at Lyndon unforgettable.

Matt Scase - Visitor Centre & Events Assistant

STAFF UPDATES

Sunrise over lagoon 4 at Rutland Water

STAFF UPDATES

Tim Sexton - Senior Species and Recording Officer

Scanning the Air Waves for Wildlife A novel method for tracking the movements of wild birds and other animals has just gone live at Rutland Water Nature Reserve!

MOTUS Opening

The Motus project is a collaborative global initiative to track the movements of birds and other small flying animals using radio telemetry tracking. Birds, bats and even creatures as small as butterflies and hornets can be fitted with tiny tags which emit a radio signal, meaning they can be tracked in real time - shedding light on some of the incredible migration journeys these animals make.

Motus connects a community of conservation organisations, scientists and researchers through a network of monitoring stations situated at key wildlife sites across Britain, Europe and beyond.

Launched in Canada in 2014, the network of Motus stations is now well established in North America and continental Europe. There are over 1,400 monitoring stations in 31 countries across 4 continents monitoring some 30,000 individuals of 285 species! However, the UK has only recently joined the movement and Rutland Water Nature Reserve is the latest site in the country to join the community by installing a Motus Station of our own.

Nathusius Pipistrelle Bat - Tim Sexton

STAFF UPDATES

As an internationally important site for overwintering waterfowl, it is hoped that the Motus station at Rutland Water will enable us to understand more about the movements of some of our more secretive winter visitors, which cannot be easily monitored through traditional monitoring projects. It will also enable us to monitor tagged animals from other projects from across the UK and Europe.

MOTUS Station

The Motus station at Rutland Water Nature Reserve was funded by a host of local wildlife groups in the East Midlands including Leicestershire and Rutland Ornithological Society, Rutland Natural History Society, Rutland Local Wildlife Group, Leicestershire Bat Group, Rutland Water Ringing Group and Derbyshire Bat Group along with corporate support from Anglian Water – raising a combined total of £5,000.

Using Motus, a project to study the movements of the Nathusius’ Pipistrelle Bat, one of the UK’s only truly migratory species of bat, is due to start at Rutland Water in Spring 2024. We have been ringing Nathusius’ Pipistrelles at Rutland Water for some years now, using traditional methods, but it is hoped that radio frequency tracking will provide even more information about their migration routes and help us find out whether they are breeding here – something we have suspected in the past, but haven’t been able to confirm.

It is now hoped that further funds can be raised to purchase tags to monitor other species here. A feasibility study for a Motus project to monitor Jack Snipe, a secretive wading bird that visits the UK in the winter, has already begun this winter with the hope that we can start tagging birds in the winter of 2024/25.

Jack Snipe - Chris Dover

STAFF UPDATES

Isabel Raval - Charnwood Forest Regional Park Project and Surveys Officer

Charnwood Forest Landscape Partnership Scheme Project Update Activities for the Charnwood Forest LPS projects have been largely desk-based in recent weeks while we have been working on our reporting for the Grasslands Project; however, we have had a couple of great opportunities to get outside for the Wildlife Recording Project.

Abandoned harvest mouse nests

At the end of November, Helen O’Brien led a walk on harvest mice for us at Castle Hill Country Park (which lies at the south-east edge of the Charnwood Forest Geopark). Thanks to the keen eyes of the attendees, five abandoned nests were identified, making this site a new record for the species.

Then, in December, we had some creative fun before Christmas and held a wreath-making morning in the old buildings at Charnwood Lodge.

We used only natural materials, weaving willow for the base and decorating it with all the nearby evergreen trees and shrubs that we could find (of course, making sure not to pick too much of anything!). It was very impressive to see what everyone made.

At the start of January, I joined the BSBI’s New Year Plant Hunt in Loughborough, which takes place annually all over Britain and Ireland, and aims to count how many flowering wild/naturalised plants can be found on a walk in a few hours at the new year. We ended up absolutely drenched from the heavy rain but still thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!

Wreath making at Charnwood Lodge

STAFF UPDATES

In the coming months, we are planning to collaborate with Andy Lear at sites within the Charnwood Forest Geopark for the Leicestershire and Rutland Ancient Woodland Inventory survey work (see our call for volunteers earlier in the newsletter). If you would like to be added to our Wildlife Recording Project mailing list to hear more about how to get involved, then please email iraval@lrwt.org.uk, or if you would like to take part but in other areas of the counties, then please visit the LRWT Volunteering Opportunities webpage.

Launde Big Wood

It is strange to think about now on a murky day in January, but in two months’ time the butterfly surveying season will be restarting! This runs for six months: from April until September. The transects that we support were set up a few years ago in collaboration with Richard Jeffery, VC55 recorder for butterflies, as part of the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme, where each transect is surveyed by volunteers every week.

The sites are: two transects on private land near Markfield/Newtown Linford; two at Charnwood Lodge; one outside the Charnwood area at Fosse Meadows near Sharnford.

If you are keen to get involved at any of these sites, then please contact iraval@lrwt.org.uk.

There are also about 25 other locations around the county where transects are set up for the UK BMS, so if you are interested but not local to those we collaborate on – all is not lost! We can put you in touch directly with Richard to find a transect for you.

Green Hairstreak Butterfly - Jim Higham

STAFF UPDATES

On the moove

STAFF UPDATES

Katie Jobbins - Assistant Reserve Officer

The great livestock shuffle-about of 2023

Cattle herd at Rutland Water

The cattle have had a lovely summer and autumn munching away on our wet grassland and lagoon margins ensuring the provision of important foraging areas for insects, mammals and birds, as well as removing vegetation to reduce the buildup of nutrients. With these important jobs finished for the year, they then need to be mooved to their winter grounds at the other end of the reserve. This involves many strategically placed volunteers blocking pathways and a very shouty person with a bucket to beckon the animals down the right tracks. The cattle are generally very well behaved, and this time was no exception and we all made it to our destination in one piece, other than my own sore throat from hollering.

The sheep are kept busy over winter with their task of keeping the grass around the new lagoons short for grazing wigeon who love tightly grazed open grassland. The groups of Hebrideans are moved around regularly, depending on which areas need it most.

Hebridean sheep at Rutland Water

STAFF UPDATES

AJ Meakin & Beth Fox - Trainee Reserve Officers

Making the cut On November 5th we started our chainsaw training course. This is an important qualification to have when working in conservation and land management. As many of you will know – we spend a lot of time cutting back and coppicing on the reserve to prevent succession.

We started our week by learning all about chainsaw maintenance, how the various parts work, and safety features. By the end of the week, we were confident taking apart and reassembling the components of the saw.

AJ Meakin Bittern - Trainee hide reedbed Reserve- Officer before

On day two, we learnt to crosscut timber, and this was our first real go at using the saws. There were several techniques to learn, and this gave us a good feel for how the saw felt to use and to build our confidence.

We were then straight into felling trees! Our instructor taught us eight different felling cuts over the next three days, with each having its different purpose for various trunk diameters and depending on whether the tree is leaning in a certain direction. It was an intense week with a lot to remember, but we both felt very proud of ourselves, having managed to fell a variety of trees safely.

Matt kindly took us to practice for a few days before our exam on the 20th which went very well. On our exam day, we were expected in the morning to take apart and answer questions on the various components of the saw and reassemble it (correctly!). The afternoon involved us demonstrating two different felling cuts and processing the cut timber safely.

We are very pleased to say that we both passed, despite being very nervous!

TROs coming to a coppice block near you! xo

Beth Fox - Trainee Reserve Officer

STAFF UPDATES

Tree stump

STAFF UPDATES

Matt Heaver - Reserve Officer

Damp coppicing

Coppicing

With the onset of winter, my attention turns to the habitat management around the reserve. This year we have focussed heavily on the wetland areas and adjacent scrub patches. Generally, wetlands work better as low scrub areas as wetland birds can become nervous around areas of cover as predators can use these to wait in ambush. The wet meadow at Rutland Water can be a great area to look for species like Curlew and Teal in the winter, but between Harrier and Snipe hides, an area of Willow coppice has been neglected and allowed to grow very tall.

With this in mind we went to have a look at coppicing this area with volunteers. The first task was cutting through the thick blackthorn (everyone’s least favourite thorny plant) to get to the willow in question. The volunteers did a great job clearing the Blackthorn and Hawthorn out of the way so the chainsaw operators could get into the willows and start coppicing them. This took several weeks as each willow coppice was so large, but we persisted and had a lovely view over the wet meadow and Lagoon 1 for our troubles. Me and Simon even got distracted one morning by a Bewick’s Swan that flew over and landed on the lagoon, a rare visitor here at Rutland Water.

Bewick’s Swan - Derek Moore

STAFF UPDATES

Access could also be tricky as we had to remove a fence to get into the coppice block but patch it up each evening so the cows didn’t escape and investigate what we had been up to. As I am sure you are all aware, it has been a very wet autumn and winter so far. We started this task by driving right to it in our ATV’s. By the fourth week, we were having to wade through a waterlogged meadow, while carrying all our equipment so thankyou to everyone who persevered with the task at hand.

Stuck in the mud

Once we had finished at Harrier hide, my next task was to clear willow out of the reedbed on lagoon 3. If willow is left in a reedbed for long enough it dries it out and becomes unsuitable for wetland species. Paul pointed this task out and I took it on thinking how hard can it be! Within 10 minutes me and the volunteers found out there was a rather large ditch separating us from the thickest willow scrub patch. Not to worry, I went back for some planks and we made an impromptu bridge which still stands, despite the recent floods.

The next challenge was setting fire to green willow, a notoriously difficult job. Step forward Andy who managed to get a fire going from scratch with nothing but willow on 3 separate occasions. Well done! It wasn’t all about burning though as we managed to save 200 or so willow binders for use in hedgelaying on the reserve.

Did I mention, the wet weather yet? I also spent one memorable day extricating the Polaris ATV from the side of a ditch after a colleague, who shall remain nameless, managed to get it stuck. A hard enough job, not helped by the torrential rainstorm that moved in during the afternoon.

Many thanks to the volunteers who offered to help us get it out. We managed it, but I don’t think anyone had a dry piece of clothing left on them by the end of the day.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and we look forward to seeing all our hard working, amazing volunteers in 2024!

Hedgelaying

STAFF UPDATES Fee Worton - Community Organiser

In collaboration with Leicester College Art and Design work experience students and Insecta Collective CIC we are hosting an event exhibition in the Highcross, Leicester, between 22 - 24th March 2024. We are encouraging everyone to get involved by submitting your biodiversity, environmental and climate themed artwork to be showcased within the exhibition.

Firstly, there is a postcard competition, open and free to anyone under the age of 18 - please see instructions on the image. The submissions will be displayed in the exhibition space and there will be prizes for the best three, judged by visitors. Each postcard will have a message to a local MP and we will send the postcards onwards after the event.

Please pass on to your young people and to any schools, churches or community groups that you might be affiliated with. We hope to have a wonderful display of artworks and messages that might inspire and provoke action. Closing date 11th March 2024.

‘Our Earth’ - Open call for artwork

The second element of the exhibition is an international open call for biodiversity, environment and climate themed artwork by amateur and profession artists, young and old, anywhere on Earth. These will be digital submissions projected into the space at the exhibition. Free entry for age 18 and under and £5 per submission for those over 18. Closing date is 4th March 2024. To enter please visit Insecta Collective's website: https://www.insectacollective.com Again, please let your fellow artists know about the opportunity to have their work showcased as part of our collaborative event highlighting people's passion for our planet.

The event will also be host to some workshops and walks as we engage with our community around local and global issues and inspire people to connect with, and take action for, nature where we live and work.

Event details will be available soon but pencil us in for a visit!

If you would like to know more, please do not hesitate to contact Fee Worton, Nextdoor Nature Community Organiser fworon@lrwt.org.uk

‘Our Earth’ Postcard Competition

STAFF UPDATES

Chris Hill - Reserves Officer

Some of our readers may remember the Grade II listed Cossington Mill restaurant across the road from the nature reserve.Adjacent to the River Soar, in its time it was the place to be seen. As you devoured your prawn cocktail you may have spotted Frank Worthington supping another pint of double diamond or Englebert Humperdinck singing by the grand piano. I named Mill Wood after this establishment because it couldn’t be more different.

Break time at Tilton Cutting

Mill Wood at Cossington Meadows is a wonderful, diverse mosaic of rough and wet grassland, ditches and blackthorn and willow scrub. In the spring it warbles with warblers and in winter woodcock shelter in the dappled light.

Although grazing prevents the scrub dominating, coppicing the south-facing ride edges is essential to maintain those warm ‘soft edges’ so important for a lot of wildlife.

November saw volunteers spend a couple of days in here.Instead of stacking the brash to rot, the volunteers cut metre long stakes to push into the adjacent meadow where they will hopefully burst into life next Spring, creating more habitat in what is a featureless field.

At Tilton Cutting in December we had a productive day coppicing along the railway line.

Conditions were beautiful with crisp, clear blue skies but very wet and a couple of places were unpassable even with wellingtons.

At Wymeswold Meadows, it was time to eat, drink and get extremely dirty. By now, ground conditions on our reserves are at their most miserable and I’m always surprised how many dedicated volunteers attend. Somebody had reversed into a field gate, breaking it in the process, so that needed replacing and a new strainer post was required in Middle Field.

Elizabeth, our new TRO lost one of her wellies in the thick, clayey mud.

Welly rescue at Wymeswold Meadows

STAFF UPDATES

Clearing the bunds - After

STAFF UPDATES

Paul Trevor - Senior Reserve Officer

Hi Folks, As ever at Rutland Water it’s been a busy few months with the Habitats team working hard on a huge variety of tasks. I’ve had a relatively busy couple of months also, but not all of it on the reserve. Back in November we welcomed baby Margot into the World, so my brain capacity has been slightly reduced as a result of some sleep deprivation. Nevertheless I’ve also managed to get some really useful tasks completed.

Clearing the bunds - Before

With the help of the habitats team and volunteers we achieved some great results working on clearing the bunds along the main drain between lagoons 1 and 2. Removing the willow, blackthorn and bramble has opened up this area making it more appealing to our overwintering wildfowl. A more open habitat allows the birds to detect predators sooner and increases connectivity and flight lines between lagoons 1 and 2.

I also oversaw some excavator work on lagoons 6 and 8, and on the wet meadow. This work involved using a 14t excavator to clear vegetation which had accumulated within the open water areas of the lagoons, and removing silt, mud and vegetation from the shallow ditches and pool within the wet meadow. Without this periodic work we would slowly lose some of the more varied aspects of these habitats and see a reduction in available habitat types within the landscape.

We’ve also spent the first week of the New Year having a good clear-out and tidy of our workshop and yard along with some maintenance and resurfacing of the yard, access tracks and ditches.

Although not as exciting as habitat management, this work really does enable us to achieve more through working more efficiently.

Springtime will soon be upon us, so me and the rest of the team must focus on trying to get all the remainder of our winter tasks complete before the breeding season returns.

14t excavator

STAFF UPDATES

Digging, ready to plant

Tree supports going in

A well-deserved lunch!

STAFF UPDATES

Juliette Colaço-Fournier - Assistant Reserves Officer

Tree planting at Holwell

The East team have been busy over the last few months preparing for and planting a new woodland at Holwell Nature Reserve. The new woodland will be roughly 6 hectares of a mix of native species and will connect the established woodland within the nature reserve and an existing woodland south of the reserve, creating a corridor to enable wildlife to move freely between the areas.

Over the 2023-24 tree planting season, contractors have planted 10,000 trees and a mixture of our dedicated volunteers, staff and members of the local community have planted over 3300 more.

The David Cock Foundation and the Forestry Commision have generously funded the project which has enabled us to plant over 13,000 trees and create a 10 year management plan to maintain and ensure the success of the woodland.

Tree planting at Holwell

STAFF UPDATES

Tree planting at Holwell

VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR

Helen Fairhead taking part in a hedgelaying course

Helen Fairhead - Volunteer & Events Coordinator/Project Lead (Nextdoor Nature-Team Wilder)

A final word from Helen our Volunteer Coordinator I am sure you will agree that Matt has done another amazing job in pulling together an informative and picture-perfect issue of activity from across the Trust and wow!!! what fabulous work is happening and I hope that seeing all of this gives you a massive sense of pride as this is teamwork and we could not do it without you.

As we look ahead to 2024, there will be lots of activity to look forward to with our Lyndon Visitor Centre reopening in March, our Osprey season, a new ancient woodland survey and our Nextdoor Nature project in Leicester continuing to thrive as we head towards our ‘Team Wilder’ way of working (more about this in our next issue).

As Matt Scase will be moving over to his new role as Visitor Centre & Events Assistant at Lyndon from February, if anyone is interested in a voluntary support role working with me in our offices (or home work) to support the administrative function of our volunteer training centre such as helping manage our events and courses including any social events, H&S, assisting with the administrative side of our volunteer work and on our data management system, funding opportunities, supporting our weekly gardening group and other activities as they arise, then please do get in touch.

I would also like to take this opportunity of thanking Matt Scase for all his hard work since joining us in May and I am thrilled that he has been offered the job to work at our Lyndon Visitor Centre and wish him all the best in his new role.

It is exciting times for us as we grow and develop our work and we really look forward to seeing you and working with you all again this year.

Stay up to date with all trust news, follow us on @Leicswildlife Front cover image is volunteer Terry Hall, tree planting at Holwell Reserve, taken by Juliette Colaco-Fournier Back cover image is volunteers tree planting at Holwell Reserve