Friends of Marton Mere - Quarterly Volunteers Report - 2022 Q1

Date of Report: 28th April 2022 Marton Mere has been a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) since 1979 and a Local nature Reserve (LNR) since 1991 A fabulous, accessible green space for Residents, Tourists, birders and naturalists alike, the site and Fylde Bird club share a rich history, with many Bird Club members being heavily involved in the site becoming an SSSI and LNR and in having a record of bird, mammal, insect and plant observations over the last 70 years.

The site itself is Council owned and its designation as a SSSI means that the site has to have a Management Plan in place; this plan ensures that the condition of the site when the SSSI was awarded (1979) remains consistent over time and that all habitats are managed to maintain this.

In the main, the Management plan is updated and managed by the Council, the majority of the works are co-ordinated by the Council but actually undertaken and delivered by Volunteer groups who attend the site on Tuesdays and Thursdays, all year round.

The advent of Covid in March 2020 meant that these groups failed to meet for a considerable period of time and regular works that would take place didn’t and this lasted for almost 18 months.

As a result, there is quite a backlog of maintenance work and habitat management work that needed to be done and thankfully both sets of volunteers are now working through that backlog.

The Council recently appointed a new Volunteer Co-ordinator, Alec Lynott, who will look after all volunteer groups across Blackpool and has his office / a desk in the Marton Mere Visitor Centre, located on the Holiday Park.

A number of your fellow Fylde Bird Club members volunteer at the Mere and we thought it would be well worth providing a quarterly update on works that have taken place, events that have been run / scheduled to take place and any other items of note that may be of interest; to follow is a summary that covers the period January 2022 through to April 2022:1.

Although all dogs on the site should be on a short lead, many are not and many of those loose dogs access scrub and reed-beds well off the paths and cause nuisance and disturbance to all flora and fauna. One of the main tasks completed over the period is the creation of natural barriers alongside the footpaths that will help to prevent this from happening.

The main focus for this work has been along the North-eastern side of the Mere, towards to the Staining Nook link.

In total, around 50m of Blackthorn and Hawthorn was laid (as a living hedge) from the gate to the junction where you can choose to go left or right around the Mere (known affectionately as Toad Triangle).

A further significant section of around 100m of dead hedging has also been created to both sides of the footpath that goes from this junction, in a westerly direction. In order to create this dead hedging, all materials were harvested from the existing willow scrub, mainly consisting of White Willow (Salix alba and Grey Willow (Salix cinera).

Although these living and dead-hedges have only in place for a relatively short time, in all areas where this work has been done there is no further evidence of dogs or people leaving the path, which is great news.

The harvesting of the Willow and the removal of several dead limbs has had the adfded benefit of allowing more light to reach the ground area and already many plants including Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris), Yellow Flag Iris (Iris pseudacorus) and Hemlock Water Dropwort (Oenanthe crocata), are benefiting and the shrubs/trees from which the willow was harvested are already regenerating.

Northeast Corner Hedge Laying / Dead Hedging / Plants

2.

Anti-social behaviour, Litter and vandalism are also all too common across the site and prior to starting each workday, the volunteers will carry out a site wide litter-pick. This will normally result in 2 or 3 bags of litter per morning and can consist of all manner of items including bottles, cans, bags, wrappers and much more – the hides themselves usually contain quite a lot of litter as they are used for impromptu parties where no-one seems to take anything that they bring!

Vandalism is also an issue with damage to access gates and fencing being the most common; this tends to be caused by people who wish to access the site with motorbikes and quad bikes and quite a bit of volunteer time is taken up repairing or replacing damaged sections or simply securing the gates and fences until such time as the Council can affect a permanent repair.

On the 1st of March, we attended site at 8am to find smoke pouring out of the windows and roof of the Woodland Hide (Feeding Station) where a large amount of paper and wood had been set alight – it was quickly extinguished and thankfully no damage was done; it does however just go to show what level of damage can occur.

On a positive note, after discussion with the Council, the Police have stepped up patrols around the site (Police HQ in Mereside is a bonus) and over the last few weeks, several motorbikes and scooters have been confiscated.

Fence repairs following Vandalism

Continuing with the anti-social behaviour theme, the Dragonfly Hide (South side) of the Mere and adjacent to the Holiday Park, was the hide / area that was most frequently damaged / vandalised and was also heavily impacted by litter – this was in part due to it being well hidden from view due to the nature of the shrubs and trees as well as the lack of adequate fencing and barriers to prevent access to the Mere.

In order to try and combat this, a considerable amount of work was done removing a number of dead trees, raising the crowns of the Hawthorn and Blackthorn trees in the area and creating dead hedging along the full length of both sides of the access path to the hide.

This has had many benefits, not least of them being that the patch and hide are now clearly visible from the Holiday Park and as a result, since this work has been done, very little litter or damage has occurred in this location.

Large woodpiles were also created in the now relatively open areas and spring bulbs and plants have already started to emerge in this area.

The edge of the mere was also cleared of some of willow and a muddy margin is now present that would be suitable habitat for species such as Spotted Crake (Porzona porzona) – we can only hope!

Volunteers have also made a dozen nest boxes along with signs to notify people of ground nesting birds; these have been affixed to trees in this area as well as some others being installed adjacent to the Woodland watch hide.

The open water channels that are present in front of the Dragonfly and Bird Club hides had also begun to reduce in size / width due to the spread of the Common reed (Phragmites australis) and the volunteers donned their waders and used the rake to clear these channels back to their usuall width, affording far better views of the Mere from these hides.

Work around the Dragonfly Hide and Reed Cleaning at Dragonfly and Bird Club Hides

3.

Finally, after a 2-year hiatus, the first Guided walk to take place on the Mere took place on Sunday 24th April and was attended by 15 people – some who had travelled from Burnley and Morecambe respectively just for the event. The walk was led by Len Blacow with Carol and Owen Fawcett proving an excellent supporting cast on flower, plants and lichens present along the walk and with Janet Bramhall and myself proving additional support and making sure we didn’t lose anyone!

Everyone attending the walk thoroughly enjoyed themselves and to a person were of the opinion that they “simply didn’t realise just how good a site this was”. The conditions we had for the walk were dry and bright and there was a very strong easterly wind – however, despite the wind, we still managed to visually observe 48 species of bird.

We also bumped into a visitor from Northern Somerset who was up visiting his son in Kirkham; he was a very experienced birder himself, and his first quote was “how many places can you go and see / hear 8 species of warbler within 15 minutes of arriving!” He’d had Willow, Sedge, Reed, Cettis and Grasshopper Warblers with Blackcap, Whitethroat and Chiffchaff as well – He was annoyed with himself that he’d never spent time on site before!

Hopefully this gives the Bird Club members new and old, a reminder of the work that goes on at this wonderful location. If you want to find out more about the Friends of Marton Mere or even do a bit of volunteering, please take a look at their Facebook page which can be accessed here https://www.facebook.com/martonmerereserve

The Friends of Marton Mere