Fugelmere Marsh works

There is lots of work going on in Fugelmere Marsh at the moment. The Hart Countryside Rangers alongside lots of volunteer groups have been clearing the willow and alder scrub, and cutting the reedbed.  We do this to stop the trees drying out the reedbed, also the reeds need to be cut on a 7 year rotation as each year the dead stems fall over and create a dense mat so new reeds struggle to grow.

This is a very labour intensive job as the footing is very wet, the reeds need to be strimmed, raked and then burnt.

JDB Contractors are also in Fugelmere Marsh felling the last of the trees next to Sandy Bay.  This area was once part of the pond, but unfortunately it became filled with silt, redds grew and now it is secondary woodland.  By felling the trees, scrapping back the top layer and creating watland pools we will hopefully encourage lots of exciting wetland plants and animals :D I cant wait to see what turns up!

Bird Ringing Demonstration

Would you like to learn more about bird ringing? We will be holding a bird ringing demonstration at Hazeley Heath on Sunday 29th September 8:30am - 10am

Weather dependant. Drop in anytime. No charge. Parking available on Bracknell Lane (B3011) in the lay by on the right. Parking Limited

Meet us in the Hart Countryside Gazebo.  Once parked head into the reserve and continue through the trees until you reach a crossroads in the open, turn left and you should hopefully see the gazebo.

A great bat walk at Fleet Pond

We had another wonderful evening on Friday's Bat Wlk at Fleet pond with a good turn out of over 20 keen adults and children. Rangers Rachel and Izzy guided them around Fleet Pond which again did not disappoint and with a warm dry evening there was plenty of bat activity throughout. What a brilliant place Fleet pond is for bats! Along the woodland paths we saw and heard Pippistrelles and possibly Brown long-eared bats. This bat has a faint call and exceptionally sensitive hearing, tricky to spot by eye as it often fly's high in the tree foliage. Then around the far side of the pond closer to the waters edge we had an impressive display from Daubentons. These bats are know as 'water bats' as they swoop down across the waters edge using their large feet or tail to catching insects on the waters surface. We could hear the echolocation 'raspberry bursts' on the bat detectors they make when they are very close to and catch an insect. We followed their flight patterns across the water with our torches.

Fairy rings

Can you see the fairy ring of fungi? They are called fairy rings as people believed the fungi grew where the fairies had danced.

Fungi have an underground network of filaments called mycelium similar to roots. The toadstool or mushroom is just a fruiting body which pops up generally after rain and releases spores before dying back.

A fairy ring is created by mycelium growing outwards in a circle, this uses up nutrients in the soil starving the grass and causes the grass to go brown and a mushroom is produced on the outer edge of the mycelium. Once the mycelium in the centre has used up all of the nutrients it dies and puts the nutrients back in the soil and the grass grows back.

As long as they don't reach a barrier they can grow upto 8inches outward per year! One ring formed in France by the fungus Clitocybe geotropa is almost a half mile (600 m) in diameter. This ring is thought to be 700 years old.

SSE Volunteers

SSE Energy Supply crew team number 2 had a day on Chestnut Grove Reed bed with Ranger Rachel on Friday 13th. Despite the date we did not loose any of them in the marsh.  Many thanks to Michael, Geoff and Mandy for their time and help on the day.  It was a great day even though it rained most of the time, the SSE team were determined to cook their burgers for lunch and against all odds, wet vegetation and rain managed to get a good fire roaring.  We made a nice hole in the encroaching scrub and removed a lot of the reeds to encourage thicker growth for nesting birds in future years.  If you are walking the area don't forget to look out at the new view created. We need to clear more , but a great start!

Batty about Fleet Pond

Rangers Will and Rachel had a great batty evening on Saturday when up to 30 adults and children turned up to the first Fleet pond bat walk! We were so lucky with the weather, it cleared enough so that volunteer Spike could contribute his astronomy knowledge adding to the frenzy of bat activity all around the pond.  Great bat friendly weather condition's enabled us to see and hear at least 3 species of bat.  All participants had a great evening, all new to bat detecting and some new to Fleet pond.  We had time to chat a bit about the exciting work that has been going on there and how the wildlife is thriving.  We are looking forward to Friday evening for the second bat walk, fingers crossed we are lucky with the weather again!  Ranger Rach.

Crane flies

Autumn has set in and lots of crane flies have emerged. There are 300 species of crane fly in the UK they are also known as daddy long legs. Crane fly larvae are called leatherjackets and they are a crop pest feeding on grass roots but are great food for birds. Crane flies are nocturnal and are often attracted to lights. They are a member of the fly order Diptera which means 2 wings. The second pair of wings are reduced to knob ended clubs which can be seen in this photo these are called halteres and help with stabilising flight. The number of wings is a great distinguishing feature between hover flies and wasps as hover flies only have 2 wings where as wasps and bees have 4.

Tree Pipit

We went out ringing on a Hart Countryside Site and caught this beautiful Tree Pipit. They are very similar to a meadow pipit but they have a shorter hind claw, heavier bill, pink legs and fine streaking on the breast. The Tree Pipit is quite rare as it has declined drastically over the past 25 years.