To me, September always feels like the start of a new year, in a way that January really doesn’t. In a busy annual calendar, September is probably the most crucial month in terms of the work we do. For the birds, it’s the quiet period after the breeding season, but before the winter migrants arrive. Nene Wetlands, Summer Leys and Titchmarsh Nature Reserves are part of a Special Protection Area (SPA), a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and also a Ramsar Site. The area is nationally important for its assemblage of breeding birds associated with wetlands, wintering waterbirds, and a rare example of wet floodplain woodland.

September marks the start of ‘winter work’ – the time when we as a team have the biggest direct impact on the habitat around us. As staff, September is a month we look at with mixed emotions – and no one is more sharpened by the prospect of this high impact work than Nene Valley Reserves Officer, Laurence Kidd.

I met Laurence 8 years ago when we were bright eyed trainees, learning our trade together at the Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust. Laurence is as dedicated to wetland habitat and birding as he is funny, kind and generous with his knowledge and time. Laurence and I spend lots of time thinking about the work we do and discussing what’s next to make things even better. We’re ‘ever forward’ kinda guys, and at no time in the year do we move forward faster than in September.

Conscious of a busy schedule, I stole half an hour of Laurence’s time when we sat down and reflected on the month to come.

---------

Pete: Do you like September? 

Laurence: That's a good question. I do feel the pressure – there’s a lot to do. If we don't achieve all the work that we need to do in that month, it's going to negatively affect not only the rest of that year, but the future as well. So there is the pressure, but we've got a good team and a good plan. I'm not necessarily worried we won’t get it done - it's just a case of.. this has to happen. But, being out on the islands is probably one of the nicest things that we do. It's about the only time we're actually in the habitat that we only look at from afar for 11 months of the year. When we worked in woodlands, we were in the woodland all of the time. But if we were working on the islands and lake edges all year round, we'd be causing lots of disturbance.

That's really interesting. September's the only time when we actively go into some of the key parts of our reserves. The rest of the time we're just looking from afar. I'd never thought of it like that. 

No, neither did I until just now! 

And this is why I like these conversations. 

Lunch time on the days we’re out on the islands is probably the best time because we get some of the best bird encounters. Do you remember the Dunlin at Titchmarsh? 

Yes. They were really close to us, and quite unconcerned with our presence.

They were probably two metres away. That's unreal to see them so close. I've had similar experiences with other birds too. I was ferrying volunteers to and from the islands in our little boat, and we just went past the edge of one of the islands and there were 3 ringed plovers, again, a couple of metres away. And once Snipe - one flew in, landed a couple of metres away, looked at us a bit puzzled then flew off! That was pretty cool. These are birds we usually only see through a telescope. 

What does the work plan look like in September?

September is a quiet month on the reserves – the summer breeders are done, and the majority of the winter birds haven’t arrived yet. That makes September the best time for managing lake edges and islands as it causes the least disturbance to the birds. 

Lake edges and islands are key areas for some of our most important bird species – those that are specified in the SPA, SSSI and Ramsar citations. Over summer, the vegetation on the islands and lake edges grows – usually a mix of grasses, thistles, nettles, water mint and various other plants. At the end of the summer, there can be quite a substantial amount of vegetation – as tall as head height in the case of common reed. And if we didn't cut that vegetation once a year in September, the habitat would be unsuitable for over winter, and the following spring for the birds that like open, exposed areas of land right next to the water. 

Toward the end of the month and for the rest of winter, we also manage scrub and trees that are near to the water’s edge – preventing the water’s edge from ‘succeeding’ into woodland is crucial for the waterbirds that use these islands and lake edges.

Talk me through some of the key species that use the Nene Valley nature reserves, why they come here, and when they are with us.

In winter, birds like wigeon, lapwing and golden plover spend their time here. They like it nice and open, they like to be able to sit on the islands and be able to sit, have a panoramic view around them so they can see predators coming from a long way away. Open areas of water and grassland are where they feel safe. If they've got tall vegetation surrounding them, then they don't have that panoramic view- they can't see that marsh harrier sneaking up over the horizon. They can't see an otter coming across the lake. If they don’t feel safe here, they won’t come here. 

Cutting the vegetation provides those open conditions over winter. When spring comes around, we’re already providing the right conditions for our ground nesting birds, such as oystercatchers, lapwing again, little ringed plovers, common terns, black-headed gulls. They all like quite sparse vegetation early in the season, so they can build their nests on the ground and again, have that panoramic view that they can see predators coming in. 

These birds have a different strategy to something like a wren that would put their nest right in the middle of some thorny vegetation and hide it away. Many of our waterbirds prefer to nest in plain sight, using their vision to see predators from afar, and to then chase those predators away. 

There's safety in numbers too – if your neighbour is looking out for predators one way, and you’re looking the other, you’re more likely to spot trouble. And when trouble comes, you’ve got a team mate to help defend your patch. Common terns and black-headed gulls are colonial breeders, and lapwing are semi colonial too.

That links to where we started, I guess. The more we make these islands and lake edges better, the greater the chance of an extra bird being happy to use the area. The more birds there are, the more resilient to predation they are. Small differences in how much work we get done can have a big impact on the quality of the habitat. 

What do you define as ‘quality habitat’? 

That's an interesting question. You could very simply say more biodiversity. The more individual species and the higher their abundance, the better. It’s a good rule, but I don't think that's necessarily always the case. In the Nene Valley, we're great for wetland birds. If we stuck an oak tree on one of the one of the lake islands and let it grow to be 250 years old, it would be great habitat for lots of things – the data would show more species and more individuals are using that island than before. But that would negatively impact the waterbirds – they would lose that open grassland waters edge. So it's not quite as simple as upping biodiversity indiscriminately.

What we do is look at a given area, and determine what it already has and what it’s got the most potential for. We've got all the ingredients for a biodiverse suite of wetlands in the Nene Valley – a river which creates a corridor, with a complex of lakes and islands which follow it.

We also need to understand the constraints – there are lots of them, like time, money, pairs of hands, equipment… but a very important constraint is an area’s environmental designations. The SPA and Ramsar designations mean we have a duty to protect the habitats of migratory waterbirds. The SSSI designation means we have a duty to protect the assemblage of breeding birds. Therefore, even if we really wanted the oak tree on the island, we’d be going against our duty to the designations.

So – we could say that quality habitat is habitat which provides as much biodiversity as possible when the natural setting and environmental constraints have been considered. What that actually looks like will vary a lot.

Devil’s Advocate - why do we care if we get, say, wigeon, or lapwing at all in Northamptonshire? 

The Nene Valley isn’t just a destination, it’s a flight path. Birds that travel along this flight path need access to suitable, high quality habitat at regular points in their journey which might be many hundreds of miles. Bad weather can happen at any moment, so they need to be within striking range of safety throughout their entire flight. Obviously, there are periods where they might need to travel long distances without food or shelter, like when they cross a sea or a desert, but birds are quite incredible. They know when they've got a long leg in the journey. Cuckoos, for example, stop to feed and rest before crossing the Sahara Desert. These big gaps in suitable habitat are the most dangerous part of their journey so they prepare as best as they can.

The Sahara Desert is obviously a hard place to survive. But most modern urban areas, or even farmland, are still effectively deserts for many of the birds that fly over them. The Nene Valley is a path through the desert that they can follow, with little oases all along it where they can feed and rest. 

But it’s not as simple as providing water and islands, is it?

That’s right – I said earlier that what quality habitat actually looks like will vary a lot depending on what we’re trying to achieve, what the natural setting is, and so on. For islands in the middle of lakes in the Nene Valley, a simple answer would be, gently sloping, with lots of ‘edge’ – the damp muddy bit between the water and the land, and short vegetation.

Let’s say we finally ‘finish’ Nene Wetlands, Summer Leys and Titchmarsh – they’re all providing as much high quality habitat as possible. Are we done at that point?

Ha! No. For lots of reasons. I actually think the work the Education Team and the Wider Countryside Team is more important than what we do in the Reserves Team, in a way. You describe a Nature Reserve as an ‘Intensive Care Unit for Nature’  - they’re not natural, and they’re not the long term solution. We’ll always want and need them – but they’re not enough. We keep wildlife alive – but for it to thrive, the wider environment needs to be much more suitable for a much wider range of wildlife. I think education is a key part of that too – for the wider countryside to be richer in wildlife, more people need to understand, care about and take action for nature.

The reserves are dynamic places, ever changing, so they will never be finished. As a consequence, our job is changing, too. More extreme weather means we’re having to change plans last minute – because it’s too hot to safely work, or our work area is flooded. This is tiring, time consuming and only getting worse. So, it’s getting harder to provide that high quality habitat. Even if we did have a perfect nature reserve though, for nature to weather the storm, it needs more options than a few hectares of really good habitat here and there.

What do you think is the most important skill for somebody who looks after nature reserves? 

I think we’ve touched on this throughout the conversation - good observational skills. Anyone could read a management plan, and go along with what’s always been done on a reserve, without actually observing what effect the work that you're doing is having on the wildlife that lives there. I think that's really key – good observation will tell us whether we’re doing a good thing or not. That’s both being aware of what the survey data is telling us, but also just slowing down and looking at the habitat. Why is it like that? Is the management working? How is the wildlife responding to the management? How could we improve things? This is what we’re always asking when we’re out on the reserves.

---------

Speaking to Laurence made me realise - that skill of observation is important for us all to have when it comes to natural spaces and wildlife – now more than ever we all need to protect them. By going out and observing nature, we benefit from it, but by being more present, more aware and more observant in nature, we’re better equipped to protect it. And by ‘it’, I mean ‘ourselves’ – we are of course, a part of nature too.

Read previous editions of Habitat Management in Northamptonshire here.