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Our work here
Hodbarrow Lagoon is the largest coastal lagoon in north-west England. Terns nest on the artificial shingle island in summer, while wildfowl and waders breed and overwinter. The surrounding scrub and grassland is also home to songbirds, rare plants and natterjack toads. The RSPB is managing all these habitats for their wildlife, while maintaining modest facilities for visitors.
Terns for the better
We are managing the lagoon island to sustain breeding numbers of little terns, common terns and Sandwich terns, and aim to increase little tern productivity. Work involves restricting plant growth and controlling the population of large gulls. We also use signs and patrols to restrict access during the breeding season, both on land and from boats, and fence the nesting area during March to keep out predators.
Working for waterfowl
We will work to maintain suitable conditions for at least 175 wintering red-breasted mergansers, as well as wintering teals, coots, little grebes, redshanks and dunlins, and breeding great crested grebes. This involves maintaining 50.4 ha of standing water, whilst preventing human disturbance, removing alien plants and monitoring daily for pollution.
Scrubbing up
We will maintain our mosaic of scrub and grassland for the benefit of breeding songbirds, including whitethroats and skylarks, and important plants such as dark-red helleborines and bee orchids. We will create a varied age structure by cutting scrub annually and removing encroaching saplings.
We will also control scrub on the calcareous grassland, and will maintain 25% heather cover on acid grassland. Regular mowing will help us maintain appropriate sward heights, and we will leave 5–10% of the area as bare ground.
Ponds for toads
We aim to re-establish breeding natterjack toads in our shallow pools. This involves retaining water until July, with open feeding areas and bare banks for hibernation sites. We will also control aquatic vegetation, cutting back marginal growth and removing alien species, while maintaining 100 square metres of threatened pillwort.
Finding out more
Constant monitoring work helps us to manage the reserve. We monitor breeding terns and wintering wildfowl, as well as counting breeding great crested grebes and songbirds. We also monitor natterjack toads and count rare plant species annually.