Shipwrecked at Shoalstone

Pupils from Brixhams Eden Park Primary School enjoyed good weather for visits to Shoalstone Beach. These were follow ups to visits in school where the pupils learnt about Shipwreck Survival and ways to live sustainably on a deserted island while they awaited rescue. Pupils learnt about ways to fish, what they could eat and where they could make a shelter.
All the students got really stuck into the visits at Shoalstone, they hunted for plants and animals they would potentially be able to eat if stranded on a shoreline. They found lots of edible crabs, prawns, some very large blennies and gobies and many types of seaweed. Students identified their finds and we showed them some other types of shellfish that would be suitable to eat. They also thought about where to build shelters and gather materials from. A great time was had by all and it was really good to see local children learning so much about the amazing marine life that surrounds us in Brixham. Thanks to their teacher Mr Maine for making it happen.
On a serious note if you want to gather your own shellfish or other food to eat from seashores, be very careful where you collect from, as shellfish accumulate pollution in the flesh you eat. Also make sure you can definitely identify plants and animals before you eat them, some may be rare and protected!

Whats That Bird?!

Photo: Black Redstart

Staff and volunteers greatly enjoyed a course on Bird Identification last week run by local bird 'guru' and all round wildlife expert Mike Langman. The course involved practical skills in aiding the huge subject of bird ID. Mike taught us simple methods of sketching birds to aid identification, we all found this a really interesting exercise - Mike asked us to draw a sketch of a Puffin from memory then we checked our drawings with an image. This was really effective in showing us the detail required to draw the bird, even though we all knew it well, there were many details in the markings that we were unaware of. Sketching is a great aid in the field to help you identify birds when you get back to a book, it also really makes you look very closely at the markings and colours of the plumage that you might otherwise miss. In the course we also learnt about bird calls, a great way to identify birds at this time of year when all you often see are birds passing overhead without landing, especially on Berry Head. We did plenty of practise out on Berry Head, and everyone went away feeling more confident in their identification skills, and fired up to get out there and enjoy the fantasic array of wild birds seen at this time of year.
Mike is also a very talented wildlife artist, producing artwork for many books and visitor centres please visit his website at www.mikelangman.co.uk

Work With Us!

We have recently secured funding to allow us to carry out the 'Berry Head On the Edge' project and we are looking for a Project Officer, Trainee Supervisor and Access Officer to work with us on the project.

Berry Head On the Edge is a broad-ranging programme that will conserve the site’s key heritage assets for the future, ensure that visitors have good access to the site and information about it, and involve the local community in its conservation and ongoing management. Under the project we will:

• Relocate the Visitor Centre to a central location and combine it with the Guardhouse Café to encourage more people to access information about the heritage.
• Convert another building into a Learning Centre for use as a base for school and other groups.
• Convert the former Visitor Centre to a Training Base for trainees and volunteers.
• Renew interpretation across the site, making it more accessible for all visitors.
• Remove landscape eyesores and modern paraphernalia.
• Extend the opportunities for people to engage with the site through volunteering, training and events.
• Make the site more accessible for people without a car and promote Berry Head more actively to the local community.
• Clear invasive scrub that is choking the rare plants and extend a conservation grazing scheme across the whole site, using a primitive breed of sheep.
• Repair the Forts and associated buildings, mainly by removing invasive vegetation and stabilising loose stonework.
• Install a bridge across the moat into the Southern Fort to demonstrate how it originally functioned.
• Install a traffic management system to prevent unauthorised vehicles accessing the site, which is one of the main causes of erosion and disturbs the tranquillity of the site.

The bulk of the capital works in this programme will be carried out over a one-year period from Spring 2009, whilst the community engagement and events will be ongoing.

For more information about each of the positions, and to apply, click here

Stoat! and Weasely Weasel

A few weeks ago now Mark Darlaston and Mike Langman were treated to some extra wildlife viewing while seawatching off the end of Berry Head. Seated in their usual area at the end of the quarry they were treated to a stoat around their feet - here are a few photos. The stoat has been seen a few times since by Ed Horsted the seasonal ranger and some volunteers, also in the quarry area so keep your eyes open when out on site! Photos courtesy of Mark Darlaston


To tell the difference between a Stoat and a Weasel look out for: Stoats have a long bushy tail with a black bushy tip (see photo!) Weasels have a short tail, uniform in colour with no bushy tip. Weasels also have an irregular margin between the dark back and pale belly area, whereas in Stoats the line is straight. Females of both species are smaller than males. Weasels are also generally alot smaller than Stoats, although there is alot of variation in both species size. They are both voracious hunters adapted to following their prey- small mammals in to their burrows. They also feed on larger prey such as rabbits.(Ref: Stoats and Weasels; Robbie McDonald and Stephen Harris)

Long Distance Travellers

Our LEMUR trainee ranger Jenny Gellatly has been busy with a project on the bird migration that draws many visitors to the headland at this time of year. Here is word from Jenny:
Wishing you were somewhere warmer? As you read this, many of the birds at Berry Head are departing on an inceredible journey to warmer African climates and this year we're counting them before they go! I've extended the display in the Artillery Store to include more information on our migratory birds and we've encouraged people that visit the Reserve to let us know what they've seen - to give us a greater understanding of bird migration at Berry Head. We regularly update the numbers of the birds seen on the boards in the Artillery Store and Visitor Centre.

During the rare sunny patches that we've had, visitors have enjoyed flocks of up to 200 swallows darting and chattering in the sky above, excited about the journey ahead. Departing between September and the end of October, swallows fly at speeds of up to 35mph and cover a distance of 200 miles per day - that's from Berry Head to London every day! Six weeks later, having crossed France, Spain, Morocco, the Sahara Desert and the Congo Rainforest, the Swallows will arrive at their destination 6,000 miles away.

With your help we can do much more! To get involved in helping us to keep a log of migratory birds at Berry Head contact us on 01803 882619 / email: berryhead@countryside-trust.org.uk
If you visit the site regularly remember to add your sightings to the log book (VC or Bungalow).

Butterflies and Bats

Despite the wet August the events have been going well. We had a great morning for the childrens butterfly walk, an enthusiastic bunch of budding butterfly detectives set off for a walk around Berry Head looking for as many different butterflies as we could see. The keen eyes of the children spotted lots of Meadow Browns and Gatekeepers in the meadow, and were treated to a Dark Green Fritillary caught in the butterfly net - fantastic! The walk followed sheltered areas of the site, with some good buddleia bushes to help us they also enjoyed Peacocks, Small Tortoiseshells, Silver Washed Fritillaries and Coma's. They then constructed their own butterflies to take home, out of willow and tissue paper.

The Bat walks have been as popular as ever, with around 40 people on them. The groups have been treated to some great sightings of the Greater Horseshoe Bats as they emerge from their roost, with lots of Pipistrelles aswell, we even got to watch a group of Harbour Porpoise one evening while we were waiting for the bats to emerge!

Splosh! Marine Awareness Project

Students from Brixham Community College have been enjoying visits to Berry Head NNR and Shoalstone Beach to learn more about the Marine Environment and Climate Change.
90 students have taken part in the Splosh project, carrying out a survey at Shoalstone looking for 'Alien Invaders' and 'Climate Change Indicators' such as Slipper Limpets and Strawberry Anemones. The students then learned more about glocal warming, performing their own imaginary news story of the future representing different groups from businesses and tourism to fishermen and local people. The pupil worked really hard on the visits and showed a really good understanding of climate change and how they could help to minimise their impact on the planet.
A group of up to 15 students will then be chosen to work with local artist Kate Green to create a display from different photographic images for the Berry Head visitor centre and some art work to take home, all inspired by their visit.

Cetacean Watching!

Last weekend and this weekend coming are part of our National Cetacean Watching Week. So where were you all?!

For those who turned up to help - many thanks, it was great. Early Saturday morning, at 06.10, myself and Sally Lacey had 3 Harbour Porpoise swimming about feeding. They stayed for 1 hour and 5 minutes - we had brilliant views as they were just off the headland.

At 08.12 they returned for ½ an hour and then at 09.30 brought their mates with them too, 6 in all, staying for 15 minutes. Okay, so that was the last we saw of them all day until 17.00, but it was great to see them so close-up. (By they way, it was very wet and we did have some heavy mist, but do not let that put you off).

Sunday, again starting at 6am, was much better as we had helpers and my thanks go to Chris for sharing the dawn with me (and others who filled the morning and early afternoon slots). Harbour Porpoise appeared at 09.45 staying till 11.17. They reappeared at 12.20 till 12.43, closeby feeding and swimming about, but once again that was it. During our watching we had many seabirds, gannets, shearwaters, guillemots, and kittiwakes too.

Come and watch with us this weekend...do a 2hour slot...Saturday 28 6am – 6pm and Sunday 29 6am – 6pm. Give us a call on 01803 882619. See you on the headland!

Nigel Smallbones, NNR Manager

White Rock Rose, Birdsfoot Trefoil & Ox-Eye Daisies

Our team of dedicated volunteers cleared masses of Blackthorn and Gorse from this area of the headland during Winter - this fantastic display of Spring wildflowers is thanks to their hard work

Early Purple Orchid & Ox-Eye Daisies

White Rock Rose

Rare Small Rest Harrow

Harbour Porpoises

Despite the miserable wet weather this morning as i was struggling to do the daily guillemot count (with over 800 birds on the colony) there was a fantastic sight to be enjoyed at the end of the headland. As soon as i saw the five gannets feeding on the sea i knew it could be a day for a cetacean sighting, and after a few minutes of watching the sea - there it was- a Harbour Porpoise feeding just off the end of Berry Head. The porpoise was moving rapidly through the water and Gannets were diving around it all feeding off the same shoal of fish. So its always worth a look what ever the weather, we also see Bottlenose and Common Dolphin off the headland and this is also a good time of year to keep an eye out for the Basking Sharks.
Photo by Mark Darlaston

Welcome to the Berry Head National Nature Reserve weblog.

This first post is to welcome you to the weblog.
(... and to make sure it's all bedded down properly too).

Please come back over the next few days as we'll soon be regularly uploading stuff on the view from Berry Head, giving wildlife updates on what birds, animals and plants are around throughout the year, and publishing general information and updates from around the whole site.

Thanks for visiting our weblog.