Nagshead Reserve










Barry Embling and David Feltham


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Image produced from the Ordnance Survey Get-a-map service
Image reproduced with kind permission of Ordnance Survey
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RSPB Images
K Garner
pied flycatcher
RJC Blewitt    redstart


VISITOR CENTRE
After many years of waiting  a new visitor and education centre was opened in June 2003. It is generally open to the public at weekends from April to August from 11.00 am to 5.00 pm.

 



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The Royal Forest of Dean has been famous for centuries, first as a Royal hunting ground and later as a source of good English oak for building the ships of the Royal Navy. This importance was such that in 1802 it was visited by Admiral Lord Nelson who found only 250 acres of useable naval oak. As a result a major replanting programme was carried out between 1810 and 1860. 14,000 acres of oak were planted, but by the time they were mature they were redundant as warships were being made of iron and steel. The 2,000 acres that remain today are an important conservation resource.
One of the features of the reserve is it's nestboxes, which were first introduced by the Forestry Commission in an attempt to encourage more birds which they hoped would reduce the numbers of caterpillars which were damaging the trees by eating the foliage. What they didn't know was that it is the caterpillar numbers that control the numbers of birds


378 acres became a nature reserve in 1974 when the Commission asked the RSPB to manage the nestboxes. The boxes are used by many woodland species, in particular the pied flycatcher. Here it is at the extreme eastern edge of its British range and these birds have been the subject of a special study on the reserve, unbroken since 1948. If you want to see these attractive flycatchers you must visit the reserve between mid- April and the end of June as once they have fledged they disappear. Where they go before migrating to Africa remains a mystery!.
As we are well aware, the 2007 season has been dominated by the changeable and wet weather that started back in May. The effects of this weather were wide and far-reaching and through our nest box monitoring, we have witnessed a sometimes severe and detrimental effect on our breeding birds at both Nagshead and Highnam.

Nagshead had a very harsh time for birds depending on caterpillars for food. Tits and pied flycatchers that normally raise 50-80% of their eggs to fledging, only raised 20-35% this year! Nuthatches coped a lot better raising 74% of their young at Nagshead. Nest failures of some of the pied flycatchers caused some to re-lay a second brood, which is very unusual behaviour for this species. It was therefore possible to see a few late flycatchers on the reserve at the very end of July.

The Nagshead nightjars continue to thrive. Dave found the Forest an excellent place to watch them, even when compared it to one of their strongholds in Dorset, perhaps due to them being easier to view. There are two pairs using the Russell’s Enclosure clear fell on the reserve and other around the perimeter and at Boys Grave where we held our nightjar walks with the assisted by Ivan Proctor. In the bad weather they tended to fly early so it was possible to see them for a while in near daylight, which was a wonderful opportunity.

In June, we had an open day that went surprisingly well despite the rain. The Gloucestershire Naturalist Society came along to help with guided walks and demos. Quite a few visitors came along, due to it being widely advertised and some new invertebrate species for the reserve were discovered. GNS members provided expert knowledge, with lichenologists, dragonfly and reptile enthusiasts and many other impressive people. GNS kindly left us a display that can be viewed in the reception centre.

The wild boar phenomenon continues, with an occasional siting at Nagshead, and particularly, many signs of activity on the east side (Russel’s Enclosure) part of the reserve. Forestry Commission staff report that the boar have apparently ‘gone nocturnal’ presumably in response to persecution and disturbance.

The reception centre was spruced up this year thanks to the efforts of some of our volunteers and supporters. Frank Lander generously lent a TV and DVD player so that we could show visitor RSPB films and Frank’s own beautifully produced films of local wildlife. Rosemary Gowland kindly painted a wonderful watercolour of Nagshead migrants and both staff and local volunteers contributed to a colourful photomontage of Nagshead wildlife that went down well with the visitors.

The Nagshead management plan that is a joint effort with the Forestry Commission is now finalised. Main work within the plan is improving some of the facilities for the field teachers, new benches and the stiles being converted to kissing gates. Other work will include ride widening for butterflies and the plan to allow more accumulation of deadwood around the reserve.

These are some of the many highlights of this season, so finally we would like to say a thank you to the many people who have helped us o the reserves and Symonds Yat. Firstly, to those that worked in the visitor reception and at events. This really helped visitors enjoy the reserves, which is important to motivate people to support conservation, from where it will all start. Secondly, to the nestbox checkers who had a hard summer in the weather conditions and kept the accurate results coming in. Additionally to anyone who helped in any other way including maintenance, surveying and guided walks. Volunteers contribute to the success of the reserve and to the atmosphere within!