Reservoirs are wildlife havens

EAST Lancashire is very well off for reservoirs. Although they obviously have the same physical appearance our reservoirs have been designed to serve two functions.

Firstly, we have drinking water reservoirs and these are now owned by North West Water. All water companies these days have an open access policy and there are well marked circular walks around them. Good examples of these are around Barley, Hurstwood, Haslingden Grane, Roddlesworth and Rivington. Secondly, we have reservoirs which were designed to provide water for the canal locks. These waters are owned by British Waterways and they also welcome walkers around the margins.

The wildlife around all these reservoirs is impressive and this is not surprising since they have had one or two hundred years to "mature."

My circular stroll this week took me around Foulridge. Although it was August the reservoir is still full, which tells us a lot about the wet year of 1998. It also tells us that the first half of 1999 has also been wet.

Foulridge looked a picture as the warm sunlight highlighted the water, the trees and the surrounding buildings. The fact that the great crested grebe has had a successful breeding season was evident from the two adults and two young birds which were diving for food with great skill.

There were also families of coot, moorhen and mallard. The footpath around Foulridge is fringed in some areas by reeds. These provide nesting habitat for reed buntings and reed warblers.

The shallows are also attractive to frogs, toads, newts, dragonflies and other animals while the plant life is equally interesting. As summer gives way to winter, our reservoirs are different but just as interesting. If you made a list of our East Lancashire reservoirs you could have a stroll almost every day and discover something different each time.

The fact that North West Water and British Waterways are working hard to welcome visitors is a wonderful wildlife watchers' bonus!

Young flamingos' grey start

HAVE you ever seen a grey flamingo? Well here is your chance to see the fabulous five.

Five baby flamingos are exciting visitors to The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, Martin Mere, Burscough.

Throughout August, the parents of the fabulous five can be seen feeding their young grey chicks mouth-to-mouth. You can also see the enormous and bizarre nests made from mounds of cool sticky mud at really close range on a specially set up CCTV.

The five Greater Flamingo chicks are doing well and visitors are guaranteed a view of these unusual grey youngsters.

But why are they grey?

Flamingos achieve their stunning pink feathers from pigments known as carotenoids found in the algae and tiny creatures on which they feed. (Carotenoids are also responsible for the colour of carrots and tomatoes). These pigments are absorbed by the birds and converted to their pink coloration, but of course this takes time and can only begin once the chick, which is born with soft grey down, has been weaned off its parents 'crop milk' and onto the solid food. It is thought that the striking pink plumage is an important part of the mate selection process. A vibrant pink bird being indicative of a good strong feeder and so potentially a high quality mate. Being 'in the pink,' for a flamingo may be the ultimate turn-on!

These fabulous flamingos are extremely important creatures whose often hostile, yet awe-inspiring and vital, native habitats are under serious threat.

Nature Spy: Readers' observations

INSTEAD of a lot of sightings, I have devoted this section to three fascinating letters.

The first is from Mrs Noreen Bond, of Woone Lane, Clitheroe, who wrote:

"I thought you might be interested to know about the pair of Flycatchers that nested in a half a coconut on the side of my kitchen wall under the eaves. They raised four chicks but unfortunately I found one on the back steps. It looked like it had been dragged out of the nest which was very full. The three that were left fledged on the morning of July 26 two days ago. I looked out of my back bedroom first before 8am and they were still there, but later in the morning I looked again and they had gone.

I have got a lot of pleasure from watching them. A pair come every year to nest." RON'S REPLY: The bird in question is the Spotted Flycatcher which is a summer visitor normally seen in wooded areas often close to water. The choice of nest site is quite unusual. Flycatchers, however, will take to nest boxes providing they have open fronts rather than a hole.

The second letter comes from Denise Davidson, a visitor to Colne from the Isle of Man.

She had watched a heron catching an eel on Foulridge and noticed that in the struggle the bird became covered in slime. It then appeared to scratch itself. She wondered what the bird was doing. RON'S REPLY: The heron has a unique way of dealing with the problem of 'fish slime' which could destroy the waterproofing of its feathers. The bird has replaceable feathers on its flank. When these are hammered by the bird's bill, they break up into a powder. This power is then pushed onto the slime. The heron has a comb-like claw on its foot and it uses this to scrape away the mixture of slime and feather powder.

The third letter was from Angela Reid, of Sough, near Earby, and this was a bumper bundle indeed and was dated July 18, 1999:

"We saw two mink swimming near the banking at Foulridge. They were under the shelter of trees. There were no young ducks at all so we presume that they have fallen prey to the mink?

"One curlew was calling to its young no doubt to warn them of our presence and there were quite a few lapwings on the ground. There was also a young kestrel sitting on the bare branch of a tree and calling to be fed.

"Two meadow brown butterflies and a green veined white butterfly. Lastly, can you identify a strange fly we saw on the grass close to our garden pond? It has a blue iridescent body, large yellow 'eyes' with black dots in the middle. It had broadish wings which it held folded and it was only 5mm in size. It was a bit like a leaf hopper and flew quite quickly but we couldn't find it in our books." RON'S REPLY: I couldn't find it in my books either! If I can't do it then I know a man who can!

Small insects are notoriously difficult to identify but I have sent Angela's letter to a friend of mine who is an expert on insects. So it is a case of Watch this Space! In the meantime I wonder if any reader has a clue to the name of this 'mini-beast'.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.