Volunteers celebrate WWT Steart Marshes’ first anniversary ahead of big tides
Local volunteers celebrated their first year of work at WWT Steart Marshes coastal flood defence and nature reserve this week, just ahead of the weekend’s big tides.
The volunteer team first came together a year ago to plant two community orchards and have since helped WWT warden Alys Laver prepare and tend the hundreds of hectares of wetlands, which are vital flood protection and habitat for wildlife.
As well as managing the marshes, the volunteers keep track of the wildlife which has been flocking to the area, and look after the public by taking guided walks and being on hand in the hides.
At the end of this week and over the weekend, the highest tides of the year so far will cover the marshes. Steart Marshes are designed to flood about 100 times a year, bringing new life into the dynamic environment, in the form of silt, seeds and fragments of vegetation that are starting to form the emerging salt marsh.
Volunteer Dick Best said:
“It’s wonderful that we, as the local community, are so involved with Steart Marshes. It feels like a real community effort, which I think is really important. We spent years discussing the plans on paper with WWT and the Environment Agency, and now we’re the ones putting plants in the ground and showing visitors round our marshes.”
Senior conservation warden Alys Laver said:
“Steart Marshes will look fantastic this weekend as the high tides spread out across the landscape. We absolutely couldn’t manage without the help of the amazing local volunteers. They’re a pleasure to work with, they’re so enthusiastic, and they should be really proud of everything they’ve achieved this year.”
Saturday and Sunday morning will be the best times to see the high tides at Steart Marshes over the weekend. High tide will be at approximately 9am on Saturday and 9.30am on Sunday.
The volunteers at Steart Marshes are of all age groups and abilities and carry out a wide range of activities. Anyone can register their interest in becoming a volunteer online at http://steart.wwt.org.uk/contact/
During Steart Marshes’ first year, the volunteers have:
- Planted two community orchards
- Planted hundreds of aquatic plants in ponds and lagoons around the marshes
- Looked after the new hides, signs, benches and pathways
- Advised hundreds of visitors with anything from identifying a bird to finding the toilets
- Led guided walks and given talks
- Monitored the local populations of birds, water voles and butterflies
- Mulched and maintained miles of new hedgerows
- Prepared hectares of ground for new meadows
- Put up lengths of fencing
Other highlights from Steart Marshes’ first year include:
- February 2014 – record numbers of wading birds, including thousands of knot, dunlin and lapwing, are counted at the site
- March – a camera trap photographs a rare merlin perching on the marsh
- April – the BBC Somerset bus spends the morning broadcasting from Steart Marshes
- May – local tourism businesses go on a fact finding visit to Steart Marshes
- June – two new hides made from recycled shipping containers are installed
- July – power lines that previously crossed the marshes on telegraph poles are buried underground, thanks to Western Power Distribution and Viridor Credits
- September – sea water is allowed onto the marshes for the first time in hundreds of years, creating the special conditions needed to recreate salt marsh.
- October – a super rare pallid harrier makes its home at Steart Marshes attracting hundreds of birdwatchers from across the country
- February 2015 – Steart Marshes is Birdwatch magazine’s site of the month
