Dear All, If you have been down to Parkgate recently you may have been surprised to see a few changes to the landscape......
Through a joint project with Cheshire West & Cheshire Council, Neston Town Council, The Parkgate Society and the RSPB has been carrying out some habitat works on the marsh. Some Summers have seen mosquito numbers flare up and annoy visiting ice cream, eaters, birders and locals alike!
The team here did their research and found that in the Florida, USA where mosquitoes are also a problem they use open water techniques to reduce numbers. So, by opening up the previously stagnant areas of water choked with vegetation that the mosquitoes love to breed in we hope to reduce their population.
In addition, the partnership has been encouraging local residents to look after their nesting swallows, house martins, swifts and bats which can eat 1000's of insects per day!
A fantastic by-product of this work has been the creation of excellent pools for bird watching - Latest sightings in the area include 1 little stint, 1 turnstone, 75 ringed plover and 35 dunlin off the Donkey Stand plus 34 greenshank and 2 spotted redshank on the Boathouse Flash.
Also 1 hen harrier (ringtail), 1 yellow wagtail, 7 greenshank, 6 kestrel, 2 peregrine, 1 sparrowhawk have been seen on the Donkey stand flash.
Excellent results so far!
Those of you who have a tendency for noticing subtle things may well have already spotted a few strange blokes wandering around near to our developing reed-bed.
However, there is no need to worry as these contractors are putting together our "Marsh Covert" hide.
This hide will form part of the Burton Mere Wetlands site when it opens later on in September. It will overlook both the reed-bed and the back of "No. 1" pool as ingeniously been Dee-signed to enable views in both directions.
Anyway a picture says a thousand words so ... ... ...
Recent Sightings
IMF - green sandpiper, common sandpiper, garganey, hen harrier, hobby, peregrine
Burton Point - wheatear, hen harrier
POA - little tern, sandwich tern, offshore - gannet, arctic skua, guillemot