Our reporter tries a day in the life of a warden at WWT Washington
Sunderland Echo reporter Neil Fatkin tries out a day in the life of an employee of a wetlands centre.
WWT is a charity for wetlands and wildlife.
WWT is a charity for wetlands and wildlife.
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NewsTranscript
00:00As a child growing up in Washington, I would regularly come to the Washington Wetland Center,
00:03also then known as the Wildfowl Park.
00:06I've come along here this morning to follow around one of the reserve wards to see what
00:09their daily job entails, and when we get involved in fence checking to protect from predators
00:14coming in, we're going to be filling up the bird feeders, we're going to be doing population
00:17counts and monitoring the species, and I'm also going to be getting into one of the wetland
00:21areas to trim back some of the reeds so that some of the birds in the wildlife can get
00:25better access.
00:26So we start at 8.30 and the grounds team come in then and we start on morning tasks, so
00:30preparing the site for opening to the public.
00:32So we sweep poo off the paths, change the bins, check the play area, make sure it's
00:36safe, and then the main one we've done today, as you've seen, is the fence check.
00:40So we walk the perimeter fence, it's a two-hour job, and we check that the fence is intact,
00:44there's no storm damage.
00:46The fence itself protects the collection birds, which are obviously our treasure collection
00:51and tropical birds that we want to keep safe, they're a massive asset, and it also protects
00:55Weyder Lake, which is a massive breeding habitat for the likes of Armaset and Lapwing, and
00:59so we can't have predators in there, but we do want predators on site, we just want foxes
01:03and otters on the wilder parts of the site outside the fence, so we've divided it up
01:08that way so we can have the best of both worlds really.
01:11Is that basically if any predators get too close, it will deter them and move them from
01:14the fence?
01:15Yeah it will, it'll be like, I mean a little tickle I guess is how I like to describe it,
01:19and it's just to deter them from burrowing underneath the fence and coming onto the site.
01:23I've been given this device here called a fence doctor, which we're going to be using
01:26for our fence check, so yeah Kate, what do we use this for and how do we use it?
01:30So what we do is we hang that onto the upper wire and the lower wire of the fence, and
01:34then you press the little button that says press, and it tells you what the electric
01:38fence is reading today.
01:39Our fence is 5000 volts, and we ideally want it to be 4-5, so it's just a good way to check
01:45really that our fence is actually working and keeping the anti-predator devices that
01:50we've got on site in good condition.
01:51Yeah, just hook it straight on with the little metal thing.
01:53This here?
01:54Yeah.
01:55Am I going to get electrocuted?
01:56No, you're not going to get electrocuted.
01:57Hang it on and then just press?
01:58Yeah.
01:59What, 5000 volts you said?
02:004-5, it'll give it as a decimal.
02:03Just keep, hold on, press.
02:04Keep your finger on it?
02:05Yeah.
02:06So, what is that reading?
02:07I can't see it.
02:082.2.
02:09Okay, so that's a bit low, so as we go round, we'll be looking to see if there's anything
02:13wrong with the fence.
02:14So we've got in total four hides, and we've just got a brand new one called the Vic Robbins
02:19Hide, and that's a lovely almost like upturned boat hide that gives you good views of the
02:25Sand Mountain Bank.
02:26We're not too far from the coast, I'm guessing you get a mix of woodland and coastal birds
02:31here, don't you?
02:32Yeah, so for example, we've got the common terns and the gulls, and then when we go up
02:35to Hawthorne Wood, you'll see we've got a massive range of woodland birds as well, so
02:38it's a lovely like 50-50 split between a bit of both, and then occasionally we'll get sort
02:44of more rarer things coming, so we had a spoonbill coming in recently when we had some heavy
02:48rain and that was quite nice.
02:50And then yeah, other unusual things fly over as well, so sometimes it's not just the coastal
02:55and the woodland that can be some rarities too.
02:57We're going to do a sightings list, so I've got a sightings list here for you to fill in.
03:03Right.
03:04So I'll pass you over that, and I've got some documents if you'd like to borrow some.
03:09So I'll just ask, so in terms of these population counts, I mean it probably sounds obvious,
03:13but what is the purpose?
03:14Is it just to monitor the numbers now that have changed?
03:18Are you also looking out for birds with young and that sort of thing?
03:21Yeah, so we're keeping track of all of our species, how they're doing, how many broods
03:25they've got, which ones are nests and how many nests.
03:28And it's not just birds, it's plants, it's fungi, it's invertebrates, and it all goes
03:32into our recording system, which all then goes back to inform how our management plan
03:36is doing, because the reserve has a management plan, and all of our habitat management kind
03:42of gets reviewed in light of how we're actually doing with those species, so it all kind of
03:46comes back to inform how our work's going and if we need to do anything differently.
03:50So it's really important for us to know how well it's going.
03:53And this then gets displayed in the admissions area, so visitors can see what they're coming
03:57for, and the social media and the training team put it online as well, so you can see
04:00what you're coming for before you visit.
04:02So I've brought our Scruffy Collins Reserve copy guide, which it just has all the birds
04:09in that you might see across the whole of the UK, and it's a really good one with lots
04:14of detail on where you'll find them, IDs, hints and differences between closely related
04:21species, and yeah, this is our kind of bible for how you identify birds.
04:25Do you get the public involved in doing surveys of birds and that sort of thing?
04:28Well, since you've mentioned it, this is a good time to whip out, I've got these.
04:34So one of the things we'll do on the fence check is we'll top up all of the spotter guides
04:38so that people can go along and tick off what they've seen.
04:40And this is our San Martin Citizen Science card.
04:43So as you'll see in front of us, we have got the San Martin Bank out there, and this is a map.
04:48Oh, is that all at the far side there?
04:49Yeah, so we've got all of the holes labelled for you, so that you can mark off what you
04:53see, and which birds are breeding in which nest chambers, and right on the back, and
04:57then we can collect those and collate it into information again to see how our San Martin
05:02Bank's doing.
05:02There's six of them, where are the adult birds, and which ones are the adults?
05:05If you look at the islands, there's two large white birds with bands of kind of rusty orange,
05:10black, and blackheads and redbills, and those are the adult birds.
05:13So they'll be hanging out there to look over there, you want to just make sure there's
05:17no predators around.
05:18So there's two there?
05:19Yeah, there's two there.
05:20So two adults.
05:21Obviously it's been quite a wet spring and a fairly wet summer, has that affected breeding
05:26populations, or some of the birds you've got in?
05:29Yeah, I think it has had some impact, so it's obviously been quite difficult for birds to
05:35be out hunting, finding food reliably when we're dealing with such torrential rain, and
05:39then we've obviously got vulnerable young to keep warm as well, so we have seen some
05:44birds struggling with that.
05:47But I think the biggest challenge as well has been with managing the site in all of
05:52this rain.
05:53We've had flooding, a lot of the management we do at this time of year, it's been quite
05:58difficult to do because all of our meadows have been boggy and we can't get our machines
06:01So it's been a challenge for wildlife as well as for us trying to help that wildlife.
06:04What eats these and what eats the peanuts?
06:06All of the different birds kind of love the peanuts, but in particular things like the
06:10Nuthatch love the peanuts, so it'll be again all of the finches as well enjoying them.
06:16And how many of these stations have you got around the woods where you have to put the
06:19bird feeders out?
06:20We've got two stations.
06:21Just go in here then in?
06:22Yeah.
06:23I'm not standing under it, no I'm not.
06:26That goes over here, just this bit here.
06:29I don't know, it's locked in isn't it?
06:31That's it, yeah.
06:32Is that in here?
06:33Just the posts at the top.
06:34You're just hooking onto this bit here, yeah?
06:35Yeah.
06:36So here we've got two feeding stations, so this one and Hawthorne Wood.
06:42And then in the winter when we do bird ringing for the Willow Tip project we have extra feeding
06:47feeders out around the site so we can put up a ride to help catch those birds and ring
06:51them.
06:52So two and a bit more in the winter.
06:54Is this somewhere the public can get access to and come and wander around and look what
06:58birds they can see?
07:00This is the main access at the front here and it was developed in Covid so that people
07:03could come and watch birds without being in a hide where they were at risk of being exposed
07:08to disease.
07:09So it's a nice outdoor viewing station.
07:11These are squirrel proof so if they land on it the cage moves down and blocks the access
07:16and again the purpose of this cage is to stop them from gaining access.
07:19It's a bit sticky so if I get it on your hands I've got some wipes.
07:22What's in this?
07:24It'll be a mix of fats, seeds, giving them lots of high energy.
07:29So you can pop it on the ash tree or any of these posts have little holes in or any crevices
07:34and literally just scrape it.
07:36And the woodpecker goes crazy for it.
07:38About 10 to 10.30 our day properly starts and that's when we get our tools out, get
07:42our kit and come down to areas like this and start doing our work.
07:45And we work pretty much all the way through until the end of the day at about 4.30 where
07:49we stop and we do a clearance and we make sure that all the public are off the site
07:54so that's kind of a day in the life of a reserve warden.
07:57Yeah so what we're going to be doing Neil is we're going to be pulling out this, this
08:01is typha.
08:02As you can see it's just grown out and it's taken up all the view around this pond.
08:07So we're going to pull this out just to create an open view because it spreads quite well
08:11and it can just take over the area.
08:13We're also going to cut the reeds back at a bit of a 45 degree angle so that they can
08:17stay upright and not flop over into the pond so that we can create a nice open area and
08:22see the wildlife that's going on here and also create a nice area for the fish.
08:25So we're just going to restore this area, open it up and we've got a few perches, there's
08:30some wand here, there's a wand just in front of us that the kingfisher likes to use that
08:34have been lost because of this overgrown vegetation.
08:36We've cleared this pond behind us.
08:38This pond was getting a bit lost due to all the encroachment of the reed regrowth and
08:42also this plant here, this typha was taken over and stopping A. the public from being
08:48to see from the hide into this open area for views of the likes of kingfisher or other
08:52birds like heron, warblers and even occasionally otter.
08:56But secondarily, it makes this lovely open space which provides a bit of diversity amongst
09:00the reed beds.
09:01So we've got these lovely tall stands of reed for things to nest in but we've also got open
09:04pools for things to fish.
09:06So we've just recreated this open pool for all the birds to use for hunting and otter
09:11as well.
09:12So their diversity in the reed bed creates diversity for the wildlife too.
09:17How important is it that we preserve these areas for our wildlife?
09:20Massively important.
09:22So wetlands have so many different species and we're so threatened by so many different
09:26things, particularly climate change, being drained for agriculture and if we don't maintain
09:31them then we're putting those species at risk.
09:33So for example, the willow tit which is a red listed species and has declined by about
09:3894%.
09:39Washington is one of a few sites that actually has willow tits and that's because we've got
09:46wet woodland habitat.
09:47So that's, for example, willow with boggy ground that rots down and makes lovely dead
09:52wood posts for them to nest in.
09:54If we don't maintain wetland habitats like this, like that wet woodland or other areas
09:58like we're seeing right now, those species, those willow tits are just going to continue
10:02to decline and we're going to lose even more of the biodiversity that we currently have
10:06in future.
10:07My first experience here at Washington was feeding the birds and it's quite a cold memory
10:11and a lot of people have the same initial experience.
10:14That first initial chance that children get to connect with nature is often at the likes
10:19of places like this and it's really given them the bond with the natural environment
10:23that is setting up our future conservationists going forward, so it's essential.
10:28I tried a lot of academic work and research, I just really realised that being in the lab
10:33and doing research was not for me and I didn't feel very connected to the difference I was
10:37making to the world, in particular to the challenges that nature is facing with climate
10:41change.
10:42I started a year or two after graduating, just volunteering in parks and gardens and
10:46with outdoor education groups and eventually applied to do the placement here and that's
10:51kind of how I really got into this.
10:53It was all through volunteering and realising how much I enjoyed being outdoors and making
10:57a practical difference with my own hands essentially.
10:59I just love being outdoors, like today we've just slashed through this reed bed, I've got
11:04mud on my face, I feel very connected to this space, it's good for your wellbeing, we've
11:09got all the birds calling and I can see the difference I've made, like I can see that
11:13we've opened this pillar together and when I'm watching the hives tomorrow I'll be able
11:16to see the birds that are using this, so I feel so connected to the change that I'm making
11:20here and I know that I'm making a difference.
11:22And as well it's just fun to be in waders, to be out on your tractor, to be cutting grass
11:27in the middle of nowhere and it also is just really diverse, so every day is different,
11:33I come in, there's something new going on, there's different emergencies to respond to
11:37and I never really know what I'm going to get up to, so it keeps me on my toes as well.
11:40I've had a fantastic day here at the Wetlands Centre, really got stuck into some of the
11:44daily tasks which the reserve wardens here do, but in particular as well as being a great
11:49place for the public to visit, I've also learnt about just how important it is to protect
11:53these areas for the wildlife and to maintain these habitats for the creatures which live here.