In the last couple of weeks I have spent quite a bit of time at Middle Marsh Nature Reserve (the new Local Wildlife Site in North Ormesby, Middlesbrough).
With the help of volunteers from the project I work for, I have been extending the woodland path along the beck so that now it is possible to walk along it from the "Yellow Bridge", underneath the A66 flyover, to the Shepherdson Way Bridge (which goes towards Middlesbrough Dock and the football stadium).
Near the end of the path I have put some bird feeders and we are in the process of constructing a screen out of stems and branches of willow and other flexible woody plants, to allow people to watch the birds without disturbing them. Even while we have been doing this several Great, Blue and Long-tailed Tits have been coming down to the feeders, along with Robins, and at least one Coal Tit.
As well as this fairly small-scale work, which can be done manually by volunteers, this week we have had mechanical diggers in, in the wetland part of the site, to excavate a series of ponds in the reed bed. This work is being funded by Middlesbrough Council. Currently they are still working on the first, and largest of the ponds but we are hoping that this will be finished in the next week and two or three smaller ones also completed. The hope is that this will result in a mixture of permanent and temporary standing water, of different depths which will provide habitat for a diverse range of wetland plants, insects (including dragonflies and water-beetles) and birds. I have written a bit more about this, and posted some photos, on the Middle Marsh Facebook page so instead of posting them here again I will post the link for the page and you can go and have a look if you would like to Middle Marsh Nature Reserve Facebook page
On Friday I was down at Middle Marsh supervising the diggers, along with Ian and Annemarie from the Tees Valley Wildlife Trust (who have been giving loads of time to this and without whom the pond project would be a lot less ambitious), and I took a short walk along the woodland path. Halfway along, I heard a series of loud, piercing, high-pitched calls and looked up in time to see a Kingfisher flying up the beck channel, just above the water.
This lovely little bird, bright blue above and orange below is an occasional visitor to Middle Marsh. The last one I saw was on New Year's Eve and it seems likely that this is the same one. Its presence is a good sign as it indicates that the water quality is at least good enough to allow small fish to survive.
There are 114 species of kingfisher in the world, varying in size from the tiny African Dwarf Kingfisher (10cm long) to the crow-sized Laughing Kookaburra of Australia.
Our species is called the Common Kingfisher. It is one of the smaller species, measuring about 16cm from bill-tip to tail tip, and it occurs across a very wide area including most of Europe, parts of North Africa and large areas of central and southern Asia. They feed mostly on small fish (but will also eat insect larvae and other invertebrates) which they hunt from a perch 1-2 metres above the water.
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| Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis), Ormesby Beck at Middle Marsh Nature Reserve, Middlesbrough. 18th Nov 2020 (photo by Colin Conroy) |
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