A Visit to Marsh Lane Nature Reserve

On Wednesday it was cold but sunny so B and I decided to go for a walk at Marsh Lane Nature reserve which is located not far from Henley in Arden and Berkswell.

The reserve is located in the flood plain of the River Blythe. A Company, now known as CEMEX, started to extract sand and gravel from a 75 acre site in 1995 and extraction continued until 1999. The land was then restored by a company then called RMC Aggregates and the land owners Packington Estates and the site was opened to permit holders in July 2001.

The habitat consists of 3 main pools, several smaller pools, reedbeds, woodland, grassland and some agricultural land. One field is used to grow crops which will yield seeds for finches and other birds. There are 8 hides and by May 2018 the site had listed 203 different bird species.


Unfortunately by the time we arrived there were some very dark, angry looking clouds on the horizon so we made a quick dash to the hide overlooking Railway Pool.

Within minutes of arriving at the hide it was raining very heavily indeed.

Siden Wood - I have never actually been to this part of the reserve.

Lapwings

Lapwings and Coot

The sun finally re-appeared.

We eventually made our way back along the path

Gorse tends to flower throughout the year hence the expression "when gorse is not flowering kissing is out of fashion"meaning that gorse is always in flower somewhere.

Car Park Pool

Owl nest box - I do know that several pairs of Barn Owl nest on the reserve.

Great Reedmace

Reed Pool - a Bittern has been seen regularly but I didn't realise this until we got back to the car park and checked the sightings book! Should have read it first!

Before leaving we visited Car Park Hide which is right by the car park and overlooks a different part of Car Park Pool.

Cormorants and Grey Heron

There didn't seem as many different species of bird as I have seen in the past at this time of year but I did add twelve new species to the year list.

Sadly, the dreaded HS2 Phase 1, if it goes ahead, will cut across a corner of this reserve although not the part we visited today. In fact, in many places locally there are signs of HS2 preparatory work and HS2 depots :( Some of you may recall I wrote last year about a visit to Pools Wood which is in the path of HS2 and will eventually be erased. The good news is that so far the wood is still standing but I am not sure for how long. Yesterday I noticed little red flags lining the grass verge which looked exceedingly ominous!!



All photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera. The birds were that far away that the few bird pictures were taken on full zoom.

A Visit to Marsh Lane Nature Reserve

Marsh Lane Nature Reserve is located near Berkswell and is adjacent and in the flood plain of the River Blythe - a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). Some of you may recall seeing a section of the River Blythe when I've visited Brueton Park in Solihull in the Spring. A company (now known as CEMEX) began extracting sand and gravel over a 75 acre site in 1995 and extraction ceased in 1999. Following this the land was restored by what was then called RMC Aggregates and the owners of the land - Packington Estates. The site was opened to permit holders in July 2001.

The habitat consists of three main pools, several smaller pools, reedbeds, woodland, grassland and some agricultural land - one field is used to grow crops for finches to feed on. There are eight hides. At May 2018 the site bird list stood at 203 birds.

I became a member about 5 or 6 years ago following conversations with several birders at Brandon Marsh NR who all praised the site. It has the huge advantage of being only about 20 minutes from home by car and there are several car parks all behind padlocked gates so it was somewhere I felt happy about birding alone before B retired. The other good feature about the reserve is that it is always quiet - yesterday we saw just one other person. Sadly, I haven't been so often recently for one reason and another but I do hope to visit more this year (the site is good for butterflies and dragonflies in the summer).

The light wasn't good for photography being very dull and gloomy and there aren't too many bird photos - they were either too distant from the hides or too flighty out in the open!



The feeders in the car park were full of Blue and Great Tits, Gold and Greenfinches, Robin, Blackbird and Reed Bunting.

We set off along the North Causeway which contains two hides overlooking pools/reedbeds.

Gorse was flowering profusely and there is an old saying that when gorse is out of bloom kissing is out of fashion which refers to the fact that gorse is always in flower somewhere throughout the year.

View of Car Park Pool from one of the reedbed hides - we saw a pair of Little Egrets here.

Walking towards Oak Hide - we say two Jays flying across the grassland.

Railway Pool from Oak Hide where we saw Teal, Tufted Duck, Shoveler, Mallard, Lapwing and Coot.

Distant Lapwings and a pair of

Mallard.

While walking by Railway Copse we saw a flock of Lesser Redpoll feeding on Silver Birch seeds and Alder cones. I nearly managed a photograph but a train nearby frightened the flock off as the camera was focusing!

A pair of Bullfinches were feeding on these berries - again too distant for a photograph.

Railway Pool

Siden Hill Wood - I've never been to this part of the reserve which has a separate entrance and car park. Perhaps a visit this year.............

A railway line runs along one side of the reserve - which reminds me that the dreaded HS2 line will cut across a corner of the reserve I believe (not the part we visited yesterday.

We retraced our steps and popped into Car Park pool hide where we saw Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Cormorant, Wigeon, Black-headed Gulls, Moorhen and Goosander.

It was a very enjoyable couple of hours birding with 25 species seen - a good start to the 2019 year list :)



All photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera.

Marsh Lane NR

Last Thursday B and I made a long overdue visit to Marsh Lane Nature Reserve, near Hampton-in-Arden. It is usually fairly quiet there as it is members only and habitats include a number of pools of various sizes, reedbeds, meadows, woodland, grasslands and meadows and a river.

Pathway from the car park towards several of the hides.

One of the smaller pools - there were lots of dragonflies whizzing around but too far away to identify.

This is Car Park Pool from one of the hides - lots of coots on the water.

We saw many butterflies, in fact, I could kick myself now that I didn't do a Big Butterfly Count while there. Species seen included Large Whites, Small Whites, Large Skippers, Small/Essex Skippers, Ringlets, Gatekeepers (the most numerous species), Small Copper (new for year), Comma, Speckled Wood and Red Admiral. The real highlight came just as we were leaving and, as I opened the car park gate, a Marbled White flew past me. I knew they occurred in small numbers on the reserve but this was the first time I had seen one there.

Worryingly, I did not see one Peacock - have seen very few locally this year.

Not many butterfly photos as they were far too active.



I did try hard to get close-up pictures of Skippers so I could check antennae to see which were Small and which were Essex but as you can see the photos just weren't good enough.

Skippers

Ringlet

Gatekeeper

Blackberries starting to ripen and

some are already ripe.

We spent some time in Oak Hide which overlooks Railway Pool watching a

Little Egret.

At one stage it came closer to the hide but there was vegetation in the way.

Common Sandpiper (a juvenile, I think) - not the best of photos (heavily cropped).

Cinnabar moth caterpillars on Ragwort.

Railway Pool - view from Railway Hide. We spent some time talking to another birdwatcher who had been twice to see the nesting Bee-eaters in Nottinghamshire - a great coincidence as we had put off our visit the previous weekend and were now planning to go in a few days time.

Wildflowers lined the paths.

Rosebay Willowherb

Bedstraw

Purple Loosestrife

Greater Plantain

(If any id's are incorrect please don't hesitate to let me know).

Soldier Beetles

Seedheads by the car park

Garden

I uploaded this photo in mistake - garden photos followed on from the Marsh Lane visit. I decided I may as well leave it on.

A hornet mimic hoverfly Volucella inanis on Astrantia flowers