markgrubb
Leading a life of quiet desperation
I've only been birding for 2 or so years but the bulk of it has been at Musselburgh. It's a great site with scrapes, ash lagoons for roosting birds, rivermouth, seawall for looking out to sea and some woodland. Over 250 species have been recorded here. In the last week I have had cracking views of a Jack Snipe, a Great Northern Diver(close in to the sea wall), chasing Arctic Skua, Little Gulls, Med gulls in various stages and first LTD of the autumn along with the usual suspects
Sadly the scrapes which were created at great expense are falling into a state of disrepair. Vegetation is encroaching onto the bulk of the scrapes and it is noticeable how many of the waders now choose to roost on the ash lagoons. On a personal note I have written to the council who own the scrapes and to SNH who have an interest as it is a SSRI. The responses seem fairly bland. At present the main treatment seems to be to spray the vegetation twice a year but this seems to have a limited effect.The council have a management plan but it seems vague and lacking in detail. A few ideas are being mooted including irrigating the scrapes with saline and trying to pump away the silt that is building up and causing many of the problems. Progress is frustratingly slow.
Some of the criticism however seems to have provoked action. The warden,albeit with limited publicity, has sought volunteers on 2 days to clear some of the vegetation. The first day about 4 weeks ago was backbreaking work clearing 2 small islands from the scrape that most birds use. The scrapes have a clay lining and the vegetation was rooted in it. Clearing the vegetation took a long time. Removing the roots from the tenacious clay was hard,physical work for the 14 volunteers. Today with less publicity 8 people turned up. Work was much easier on the second scrape. Most of the vegetation was rooted in the 3 or 4 inch of silt rather than the clay and we made good progress with dozens of barrowloads removed.
There will be a final session for volunteers on Sum 29/10 at 11am before the water gets too cold to work in. If there are any Lothian birders who can help then the warden, Nick would be grateful for your help-bring wellies. waterproofs and maybe even gloves in case the water is too cold.
Also the more pressure we can exert on the council in terms of expressing our disquiet the better. So emails/letters written from local birders would be welcome.
It's one of Lothian's premier birding sites and a real jewel. Let's keep it that way!
Sadly the scrapes which were created at great expense are falling into a state of disrepair. Vegetation is encroaching onto the bulk of the scrapes and it is noticeable how many of the waders now choose to roost on the ash lagoons. On a personal note I have written to the council who own the scrapes and to SNH who have an interest as it is a SSRI. The responses seem fairly bland. At present the main treatment seems to be to spray the vegetation twice a year but this seems to have a limited effect.The council have a management plan but it seems vague and lacking in detail. A few ideas are being mooted including irrigating the scrapes with saline and trying to pump away the silt that is building up and causing many of the problems. Progress is frustratingly slow.
Some of the criticism however seems to have provoked action. The warden,albeit with limited publicity, has sought volunteers on 2 days to clear some of the vegetation. The first day about 4 weeks ago was backbreaking work clearing 2 small islands from the scrape that most birds use. The scrapes have a clay lining and the vegetation was rooted in it. Clearing the vegetation took a long time. Removing the roots from the tenacious clay was hard,physical work for the 14 volunteers. Today with less publicity 8 people turned up. Work was much easier on the second scrape. Most of the vegetation was rooted in the 3 or 4 inch of silt rather than the clay and we made good progress with dozens of barrowloads removed.
There will be a final session for volunteers on Sum 29/10 at 11am before the water gets too cold to work in. If there are any Lothian birders who can help then the warden, Nick would be grateful for your help-bring wellies. waterproofs and maybe even gloves in case the water is too cold.
Also the more pressure we can exert on the council in terms of expressing our disquiet the better. So emails/letters written from local birders would be welcome.
It's one of Lothian's premier birding sites and a real jewel. Let's keep it that way!
