This is the first blog post where we will provide more informal updates about activity in and around Wichelstowe. Our first topic is the introduction of bird detectors!
We carry out a programme of regular ecological surveys at Wichelstowe for protected species but we have also been looking at ways to record more common and notable species and how they are using the habitats we’ve created.
We know that Wichelstowe has a rich history of bird life and we are keen to understand which species are making both the built areas and the green spaces their homes. The built areas at Wichelstowe have been designed to include a large number of street trees and hedgerows which as they establish should attract wildlife and bird nesting bricks have been built into homes.
The first step in keeping track of bird species living at or visiting Wichelstowe is the trial of some bird song monitors. An acoustic sensor installed adjacent to the canal in the District Centre listens for bird songs and compares them against a global library and identifications are logged for long-term monitoring. You can take a look at the Bird Weather website to see the results yourself here Middle Wichel Canal :: BirdWeather
The records do need a bit of sense checking as we soon realised that the barn owl detected at the end of the school day was actually the high pitched squealing of children playing and not our first owl! We have subsequently checked in with ecologists Keystone and adjusted the settings so that only those recordings with a high level of confidence are reported. Rest assured verification of recordings is undertaken before they are used for formal monitoring and reporting.
The findings from our first few weeks are that Robins are our most common visitors along with Mallards visting the canal and the Common Magpie. The latter was no surprise as they are frequent visitors to our office and are make their presence known both with their bird noises and the clattering of their feet on the metal roof! We were also not surprised to see another noisy visitor, the Canada Goose, make the list as well as Buzzards who we frequently spot in the area.
We’ll continue to provide some updates on any interesting records and what are the most common birds visiting Wichelstowe over the year.
