Wheatear

The months are just flying by and our feet haven't had time to touch the ground.  The volunteers have completed repairing the viewing platform overlooking the wet meadow and have helped the Rangers replace the salt marsh fence at the Southern end of the reserve.  We've also been involved with some buddying up on other sites such as Fell Foot and working with the South Lakes Team, getting a glimpse of how other very different properties function.

It's been interpretation overload with looking into information panels, events posters, display boards and preparation for our summer events.  A giant hand made paper mache sand dune system is on show in The Mall shopping centre in Barrow in Furness along with some stunning poster of our wildlife.  A big thank you goes out to Lisa our interpretation officer who has taken all our requests in her stride and has done a wonderful job of making it look beautiful!

We've had a number of students on site over the past few months carrying out projects that will hopefully help is out in terms of management in the future.  One particular study is concentrating on the spread and control of invasive flora species.  Having been to visit North Walney and seeing first hand their efforts to control Rosa ragosa we are waiting in anticipation how this will conclude.

Common Blue

Wildlife sightings

The big draw for people this month was the Coral Root orchid with people coming from all over the UK to get a glimpse.

The butterflies are also coming into their own with records of orange tips, green veined white, common blue, small heath and dingy skipper being sighted. 

Our first record this year of a common darter was noted on the 21st May which seemed pretty early to us...could be a taste of things to come maybe????

Coral Root Orchid

The Isle of Man visable on one of our Natterjack evenings

Well April has been an incredibly busy month for us.  We've had regular patrols with the Police, with really positive results. A new interpretation panel has been erected in the car park with new safety and event signs. The NVC survey has also started and will hopefully be concluded the end of July so that we will have a map of the plant communities found on the reserve.  With the lack of rainfall on the reserve, we thought it might be a good idea to map the amount of water (or lack of it) in the slacks throughout the season.  This information can also be collated year on year to hopefully provided us with an overall picture of the hydrology of the site allowing us better management for the natterjack toads.

Talking of which, we now have thousands of tiny tadpoles still in their comma stage.  The first hatching happened on the 20th April however they didn't become free swimming until the 25th.  Most of the tadpoles even now are mostly inactive and this is due to the cold weather.  The overall count of spawn strings to date is 241, but there is still time!



Tiny commas, hatched on the 20th April

Natterjack toads are sometimes called the "running toad" and the reason being is that they have short back legs compared with the common toad.  This enables them to chase after their food such as this amazing Dor beetle.  These beetles are great little fellas for clearing up after our grazing livestock by munching on their dung!

Dor beetle

 Bugs are also a great source of food for the common lizard which also reside here on the reserve.  We have been seeing them dashing about since early April and this one managed to stay still long enough to take its picture...beautiful!

Common lizard

 As well as our usual birds on site we also had a visit from this Bar headed goose which was far from it home in the Himalayas, but is thought to be an escapee from somewhere a little more local!


Bar headed goose



So to our collection of summer migrants of willow warblers, wheatears and blackcaps we can add the whitethroat on the 24th April.  We also had an enormous flock of 180 Sandwich terns take refuge on Hodbarrow Rerserve across the estuary from us on the same day.

Well the sun has been shining here at Sandscale (well in between the rain showers) and things have been hotting up for the amphibians. The common toads started laying in early march and as you can see from the photo below are developing quite well. With the weather conditions being what they are, they might even hatch after just 5 days of being laid. Toad spawn is unlike frog spawn and instead of being laid in clumps it is laid in double strings. The common toad spawn will stay as a double string, however the natterjack will spread out into a single string.

The big star of the show are our Natterjacks, the reason for this is because they require such spoecific habitat that their numbers have been declining and we are one of the 60 sites it is found at. They are protected by British and European Law which means that both our rangers have to be licensed to manage them. The males started their chorus on the 24th which is the earliest it has ever been recorded and since then we have surveyed the scrapes to find about 170 strings of spawn.

To experience the best of our Natterjacks, come to one of our guided walks starting from the car park at 7.30pm Fri 20th and 27th April 2012.

Summer Was Ere!

Well the weather is hotting up and so are our preparations for the new season. We have attended our biannual ranger's day, where all the rangers from the Lake District and South East Cumbria and Morecambe Bay get together to find out what has been going on in the area with the other teams. We spent the day at Grizedale Forest which is owned and managed by the Forestry Commission and had the opportunity of wandering through the woodlands looking at what they have to offer.





Our regular ranger meeting took place at Acorn Bank where we worked together to transform an area of felled poplar trees into a wild play area....I don't know who will have more fun, the children of the rangers!

As well as other rangers, we have been meeting up with our Interpretation Officer to put together some information boards to explain the ecology of our Natterjack Toads and the way we look after them.

Back on the reserve, you might have seen us out with a big white globe above our heads and walking in strange patterns. Well against popular belief we haven't gone dune crazy we have in fact been mapping scub and water courses on site. We also nipped down to Plumpton Marsh to start mapping the erosion there too. All this information was collated using a real time GPS contained with in a rucksack with a handheld palmtop. The data will then be transferred onto the computer using Mapinfo and will be a great resource in the future to look at changes on site.

We've had the Mind group in again this month and our regular volunteers have been helping them out burning up the remaining bracken scrub we cut down last month. The regulars have also taken up the boardwalk nearest the car park and replaced it with brand new timber. We've had a number of comments from our visitors about how good it looks, so a BIG THANK YOU goes out to our Vols!

The Police have been visiting us as part of a new initiative to educate people the correct way to enjoy a protected site like Sandscale and also to crack down on the use of motorised vehicles on the beach and in the dunes.

Wildlife Sightings

As well as the usual practical conservation work the volunteers have been participating in Shoresearch to survey the rocky outcrops further out in the estuary. Our finds have included Common starfish, Shore crabs, a plethora of different sorts of shell fish and one of the biggest sea slugs our Marine biologist has ever seen!

Our first Natterjack Toad calls were heard on the 23rd March when the sun was out, it has unfortunately turned pretty cold and might mean they won't be out again for a few days.

As for our birds, the "firsts" are coming in already. The chiffchaff was heard on the 21st March, with a sighting of our first wheatear on the 27th March.

Our WeBS count totalled 2007 birds from 33 different species, with an amazing display from a pair of Peregrine Falcons taking advantage after we had flushed some ducks up.

Chocka Block Feb!

February has absolutely flown by here at Sandscale and the reason is because we've packed so much in. The biggest job on this month was the maintenance on the car park. Not only have we had contractors in to resurface it, but we have cut down the over grown sycamore coppice and shown the bracken the brushcutter. Our regular conservation volunteers were a great help in this as they were patient enough to control traffic as the trees came down, and got down to some hard core bracken raking and burning after we had finished cutting it.

We have been participating with Barrow's Wildside Project, an Access to Nature Partnership with Natural England, Cumbria Wildlife Trust and Barrow Borough Council. This month it involved running a weekend volunteer day repairing the revetments in the stream, clearing vegetation from the natterjack scrapes and encroaching grass on the boardwalks.

We had a great day and much more was achieved than we expected to be done on the one day. The volunteers worked like machines and certainly earned themselves their tea and biscuits! Thank you.

Today has been a day a bit out of the norm, as we have been celebrating the importance of volunteering and using this extra day the leap year has given us, by volunteering ourselves as part of the National Trust 'Local Leap' initative. We spent the morning at Barrow's Marsh Street Arches and Community Garden known as Green Heart Den. The Community Interest Company has developed a derelict area into a beautiful urban green space which is being used by local people to learn new skills and develop old ones, as well as local school children to learn about nature and the outdoor environment, or a space to relax in and enjoy.

We laid down some new top soil around the boundary of the plot and planted wild flower seeds. We also moved some of this improved top soil from its current position on a site adjacent to the existing garden ahead of new developments taking place for their project.

Wildlife this month

Throughout the year we collate bird records for the BTO Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS). February has picked up the Bar tailed godwit and the Golden plover, two species that are not usually recorded on survey day. Pintail are also regularly spotted in the estuary.

The 28th Feb was a good day for firsts as the first Dune pansy was seen out in flower and also our first sighting of frog spawn and turned over pond weed suggesting that newts have been laying too.

Set on the estuary of the River Duddon, with a backdrop of the Lakeland Mountains, Sandscale Haws is a stunning sand dune habitat with International importance.

History of the Site

The name Sandscale Haws takes its name from the Norse Sandra (sand), skali (temporary hut) and haws (hills) and refers to the age old practice of wintering sheep on the dunes, the temporary huts being the shepherd's accommodation. It has been occupied by humans from the Stone Age with finds such as arrow heads, scrapers, anvil stone and a polished axe found amongst the dunes. The land formed part of the land holding for the nearby Furness Abbey in the 12th and 13th Century and the woodland covering was cleared to be used as farmland. The site was used as a warren with the the introduction of rabbits at this time. There is still evidence of the Ridge and Furrow working on an area known as Red Gutter, which could date from 1500s just before the farm fell into dilapidation with the dissolution of the Abbey.

From 1540 until 1955 the area was owned by the owners of some of the Roanhead mines which included the Duchy of Lancaster, Lords Sherbourne and Thomas Woodburn.

During the war the Black Watch infantry used the dunes for training and the Lowsy Point Cabins (now fishing cabins) were requisitioned as their quarters. Around the site you will find the remains of brick buildings; these were tank decoys which were in the shape of the Barrow docks. Filled with water and with lights shinning down from above they would have created a decoy and drawn bomber planes away from the heart of Barrow in Furness.

After this time the majority of the site was bought by British Cellophane which used the area as a rough shoot. The rest of the area which included the car park and nearby dunes was kept by the Woodburn family who allowed local people access to the sea.

The National Trust took management and bought the site in 1984 with funds provided from Operation Neptune, a National fundraiser to acquire coastal sites.

The Importance of Sandscale

Sandscale Haws includes seven coastal habitats which are considered internationally important. They are embryonic shifting dunes, shifting dunes along the shoreline with marram grass (known as yellow dunes), fixed dunes with herbaceous vegetation (grey dunes), Atlantic decalcified fixed dunes (dune heath), dunes with creeping willow (dune slacks), humid dune slacks and finally, Atlantic salt meadows (established salt marsh).

The site is also a vital support to the Duddon Sands SPA for wintering and passage waders such as curlew, dunlin, sanderling, redshank and knot.

Natterjack Toads

Six species of amphibians are found on the site - common frog, common toad, natterjack toad and the three native newt species (great crested, palmate and smooth). The site is particularly important for the natterjack toad which is protected under European law. It is considered to be endangered in five countries (including the UK) and has declining numbers in many more. Sandscale is ideal for this amphibian as it has abundant breeding pools in which the long spawn strings are laid and in which the tadpoles develop, and also well grazed grassy areas and bare sand over which the toads can hunt their invertebrate prey. Many of the breeding pools are seasonal and dry out in the summer and this helps to keep invertebrate predators under control. Natterjacks spend the winter months hibernating in burrows within the dunes.

Plantlife

606 plant types including subspecies and varieties have been recorded from the dune system and surrounding habitats so there is plenty to talk about. Sandscale is one of the most important sites in the UK for the Coralroot orchid. This plant has very little chlorophyll in its stem so there is limited photosynthesis. Instead it has a symbiotic relationship with a fungi that lives at the base of the stem. Without this fungi the plant could not survive.

The Dune Helleborine is endemic to the UK and has a high tolerance of heavy metals of which Barrow is known for, from its history of iron ore mining. Other notable species include the Green Flowered Helleborine, Grass-of-Parnassus and the round leaved wintergreen along with other highly specialised coastal species.

Fungi

Sandscale has been ranked as one of the most important coastal mycological sites in the British Isles. Over 200 species have been recorded including a species new to science in the 1990s which is still awaiting a full biological description and name. To date it has only been found on Sandscale and North Walney.

Invertebrates

At Sandscale we have three red data book (RDB) species, two on the Provisional RDB list, three nationally rare (Na), twenty eight Nationally Scarce (Nb), ten regionally rare (Nr) and an impressive 160 species having a localised distribution in mainland Britain. In recent years several species of dragonfly have been recorded for the first time and who knows what else awaits discovery here.

Management

The site is cared for by two National Trust Rangers, Neil Forbes and Jo Day. We work closely together to maintain the site in favourable condition as set down by Natural England. The main priority is to continue the long-standing grazing regime to arrest successional development that would eventually lead to dense scrub and loss of many of the important wildlife species. The grazing livestock and the rabbit population retain the dune system in the early stages of succession with a high density of plants which support the vast numbers of invertebrates which in turn support many other creatures including breeding birds and the natterjack toads. The site has been grazed for at least 800 years and it is this that has created such as diverse environment.