It's always a pleasure to show a group round the Reserve and Saturday's visit by the Natural History & Antiquarian Society was no exception. We were blessed by a fine day and about 30 of us enjoyed a leisurely stroll round the Reserve in the sunshine to fulfill the "Natural History" aspect of the Society's title before crossing the road to Ballachurry Farm where Stan Clucas explained the "Antiquarian" history of his old farm buildings. We then returned to his orchard to view the old recesses in the wall where bee skeps used to be placed during the summer months, before heading back along the gorse boundary of the Reserve to where we had started our tour earlier in the afternoon.
On such tours I usually give a brief history of how the reserve came about and it occurs to me that this might be of interest on the Blog too. Here is what I planned to say but whether I remembered to say it all is quite another matter! I have cut out the obligatory Health & Safety pep talk content here!
Welcome to
Ballachurry Wetlands Wildlife Reserve which became the Manx Wildlife Trust’s 24th
Reserve in June 2016 on a 99 year lease from landowners Stan and Pam Clucas.
Ten years
earlier the 9 acre site we are standing on now was an arable field, part of
Ballachurry Farm. Ballachurry translates
from the Manx as "Place of the Marsh" and this was always a wettish field. Around that time the water table appeared to be changing
and the field became wetter still.
Coupled with this, Stan was and still is Captain of the Parish and for
many years also a Rushen Commissioner. He and wife, Pam, had a germ of an idea
to turn the area into a community space for Rushen to be enjoyed by everyone.
Stan is a
bird watcher himself and his first thought was to put in some ponds to
encourage wildfowl. They turned to the Manx Wildlife Trust for advice and with a grant from DEFA
had some heavy plant move in to dig the ponds. Work began on site around
2007. A thousand trees were planted by
volunteers during the winters of 2007/8 and 2008/9. Richard ( my husband) and myself were
among those volunteers on a couple of occasions, although I do remember we
wimped out on one particularly wet Saturday!
The Bird
Hide was designed and built by students from Castle Rushen High School in 2010
and kindly paid for by Mrs Anne Kaye in memory of her father and sister.
Culture Vannin likewise paid for the
information part of the notice board in recognition of its Manx language
content.
Stan and
Pam were keen for the Reserve to be taken over and managed by the Manx Wildlife Trust but with
over 20 other Reserves to look after and only a limited number of volunteers to
do it the Trust was understandably hesitant at first. They suggested that if a
dedicated Southern Group of volunteers could be established and show commitment, then they would go ahead with a long
lease. A Southern Group Committee was duly formed to try to achieve this and an
enthusiastic band of "muckers" built up
over the next few years. On 23rd June 2016 the great day finally
came and the Reserve was officially handed over to the Trust.
The
Southern Group volunteers hold regular monthly work parties, except for during
the bird nesting season, and we have watched the reserve develop and go from strength
to strength. About 75 species of bird
have been recorded, 17 out of a possible 19 butterflies, 7 out of a possible 12 Ladybirds, as well as
numerous other invertebrates. We have Garlic Snails which are relatively rare,
and the Reserve holds only the second breeding record on the Island for Reed Warblers. Only last
week-end a fly was caught at the Open Afternoon which
proved to be a new record not only for the Reserve but for the whole Island and
may turn out to be the most northerly record in the UK.
Stan and
Pam’s vision for both a wildlife reserve and a community facility has, I think, been realised. Schools, Brownies, and local families all regularly
come here and the Manx Wildlife Trust have recently applied for planning permission to put in
another small pond which can be used for pond dipping etc. by organised groups and which we hope will also attract more dragonfly species.
The plan today is
to stroll round to the bird hide where I have a few things to show you, then
continue past the meadow where hopefully there may be some butterflies, as well
as wild flowers. We eventually come to
the Clucas family’s private entrance where we’ll quit the reserve and visit the
old farm buildings before returning to the reserve later to continue along the
final boundary path and back to this spot.
It's always hard to see much wildlife when a large group visits the reserve. Birds in particular literally take flight! However we did see a Song Thrush near the entrance gate, a 7-spot Ladybird, and several butterflies, as well as a variety of wild flowers. Just as everyone was leaving, a large blue dragonfly flew into the reserve and circled right round us before heading off along the gorse boundary - too fast for identification unfortunately but possibly a Common Hawker. I always encourage members of large groups to come back as individuals to explore the reserve when I'm sure they won't be disappointed in what they see and find. It's all out there just waiting to be discovered!
SC209694 4 x Episyrphus balteatus hoverflies; Solitary Bee
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| Welcome! |
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| Ballachurry Farm House |
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| The group learns about the old bee house |
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| then enter a few at a time |
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| inside the bee house, with recesses for the skeps |
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| information about the bee house |
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| Stan's modern day bees |
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| the old horse mill - more questions than answers! |
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| summer residence for the bees |
My thanks to Patricia Newton of the Society for asking Richard and myself to lead this tour and to all those who attended and showed such an interest. Thanks too to Pam and Stan for agreeing to let us glimpse how life used to be on Ballachurry Farm.
Clicking on photos will enlarge them.
With thanks to Steve Crellin for fly identification
