All About Birds at Saltwells NNR

We could not ignore that the birds at Saltwells NNR have become more active this week. Consequently, we decided to abandon our planned activity of winter tree identification, to watch and listen to birds at Netherton Reservoir and Razza Bank, in between grassland restoration work for our JMA conserve challenge. A buzzard glided through the woodland as our faithful friends the robin and great tit gave us a very noisy greeting. With spring song and the sound of squeaky bicycle wheels in the air, we walked across the car park to the footpath leading to Razza Bank. We saw coots on nests when we walked past Netherton Reservoir. A little grebe also put in a brief appearance before diving beneath the reservoirs surface, clearly unimpressed by us disturbing its peace and quiet. Before starting work we inspected our work area. An eagle-eyed member of our group spotted an incomplete nest in the scrubland close to where we had finished working the previous week. We immediately put plan b into action, focussing on cutting back sparse bramble in the centre of the grassland, well away from the hedgerow and scrub to prevent disturbance. We downed tools to pick up binoculars to watch cormorants on Netherton Reservoir and a spectacular show provided by three buzzards soaring above. Back at college we wrote up our JMA record books and shared todays experiences by reading aloud to our group. Next week, it is half term. Our students have worked hard making steady progress towards all challenges of the John Muir Explorer Award. Well done to you all and keep up your good work. 12 hours complete 38 to go!