Latest news update from the Rangers
On the 30th September 2017 the Rangers had a visit from the Culcheth Cub pack, who helped them with some coppicing work as part of their Conservation badge. This signalled the start of their Winter work programme for Winter 2017 / 2018 . If all goes to plan, visitors will see a lot of cutting back along pathways throughout the reserve this time. The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) money has been secured for the ‘Newtopia’ project, which is Rixton Claypits contribution towards the Carbon landscape project. We are hopeful that work will start in January 2018.
The 12 rams that have been on site throughout the summer will be replaced by lambs and ewe’s for Winter grazing. Regulars to the reserve will have noticed that only the top meadows have been grazed this time. This is because the Rangers are trying different grazing techniques to see which work best on the site. Unfortunately they still have problems with people allowing their dogs in with the sheep and wish to remind people who might not be aware that this is an offence! The sheep belong to a farmer who earns a living from these animals. They can become stressed and lose condition, chased into brambles where they become tangled, end up stuck on their backs in ditches and damage themselves colliding with various objects and when jumping fences. Grazing is critical to the management of the reserve. If there continues to be issues with dogs, then the next step unfortunately is to issue exclusion orders!
Another poor August saw low numbers of butterflies and, for a second year running, no sightings of the rare White Letter Hairstreak. A combination of unfavourable weather and Dutch Elm disease will have contributed to this, but the Rangers remain hopeful that these insects are still with us, and have been overlooked due to low numbers and their habit of spending much of their time in the tree tops.
For the second year Spotted Flycatchers have been seen using the Claypits whilst on passage to and from other breeding areas. This species last bred here in the late 1980’s. Will 2018 be the year they breed here again ?
Posted on: 30th January 2018