Tree safety surveys, giant willow aphids, volunteer BBQ’s and more! The new look Shapwick Heath NNR newsletter is full of images and reserve news from the Natural England team, keeping you up to date with the hard work completed and future events.
To download your free PDF copy of Issue 23 click here
Westhay Moor National Nature Reserve has continued to evolve and grow since Somerset Wildlife Trust first acquired land here in the 1970s. The reserve now has a very impressive improvement, the new North Hide.
For those of you that have visited Westhay Moor over the decades, you may have visited the original North Hide. Sitting out in the reedbeds it had a unique outlook across open water and reedbeds, with the Mendip Hills as a backdrop. After 25 years of service this hide was life-expired and sadly had to be closed. The Trust was keen to replace the hide but the money had to be found. After much hard work funding was pulled together with Viridor Credits and a private individual making significant contributions, a contractor appointed, and a fantastic design developed! The name of the contractor is a bit of a giveaway, “Roundwood Design”. The next challenge was to build the hide – out in a marsh!
The hard work was well worth it; the new, two storey, North Hide is in place and open to the public. It is accessed via a causeway coming off London Drove. Over the next few months a reed fringe will develop along its edges creating a natural screen and in the summer a stone track will be installed to improve access.
The hide itself is made from locally sourced European Larch that will weather and grey, blending with its surroundings. Inside you will find the use of round timber that gives the structure its integrity and longevity, with opening panels providing great views across the reserve. As you climb the stairs to the turret you are suddenly above the tops of the reeds and the view is impressive. Already there are regular sightings of otter, marsh harrier and bittern.
Don’t forget to have a peak under the secret floor panel and see if you can spot the fish in the shallows or an otter darting underneath. This hide will not only give visitors a unique glimpse into this diverse reserve but also provide a great vantage point to help survey and monitor the species that thrive here.
Another great addition to the network of hides in Somerset’s Avalon Marshes! A special thank you to those who have made them possible.
Those of you who have visited The Hawk & Owl Trust reserve on Shapwick Moor recently will have seen a new building looming out of the fog, or more recently the sunshine! This new building will house the work tools and machinery needed to manage the reserve more effectively. It will contain a room for volunteers to shelter from the rain and cold on days when working outside proves challenging! The construction of this workbase represents a major step forward for The Hawk & Owl Trust in the area and it will help to offer further opportunities for volunteer work on the newest nature reserve in the Avalon Marshes.
The final improvements at RSPB’s Ham Wall funded by the Heritage Lottery through the Avalon Marshes Landscape Partnership scheme have been completed in the mini marshes area.
Anyone visiting in the last couple of months will have seen the new pond dipping platform and may have been puzzled by the giant wooden head cordoned off with hazard tape. Well, for those of you who haven’t found out already, you should soon discover our willow eel (with anatomically correct fins) which children can play in by climbing through its mouth. The pond dipping platform has greatly improved our schools offer, with those that have been able to use it raving about how great it is. And, last but not least, the wooden sculpture food chain of tadpole, dragonfly nymph, eel and heron has also been installed along one of the trails. Children and adults alike can now discover what eats what in this bird eat fish eat bug world.
All of these items will be opened to the public once they have been thoroughly inspected by a play inspector (what a job!). Thank you to everyone who has helped with the installation.
Excavations at Beckery near Glastonbury in the Avalon Marshes have produced the earliest known evidence for monasticism in the British Isles. Radiocarbon dating of bodies in the monastic cemetery has shown that the monastery began in the 5th or early 6th centuries AD, before Somerset was conquered by the Saxon kings of Wessex in the 7th century.
Run as a community training dig by the South West Heritage Trust, the excavation was part of the Avalon Marshes Landscape Partnership scheme made possible by National Lottery players thanks to a £1.8m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). It re-investigated the site of a medieval chapel that was first excavated in the 1880s by John Morland and again in the 1960s by Philip Rahtz.
The 1960s excavation uncovered an extensive cemetery of at least 50 people. Almost all were adult males, leaving little doubt that this was a monastic graveyard. The only exceptions were two juveniles who may have been novices and a woman who may have been a patron or a visiting nun. The new excavation uncovered some of those skeletons to allow scientific dating. Seven individuals were dated, six from graves and one from human bone found in the backfill of the 1960s dig. The earliest monks died in the 5th or early 6th centuries AD, with burials continuing in the 7th to early 9th centuries. These dates provide the earliest archaeological evidence for monasticism in the British Isles. The monastic use of the site may have ended in the later 9th century when Somerset was attacked by Viking armies.
Site director Richard Brunning from the South West Heritage Trust said: “It is great to show that a community excavation can produce results that revolutionise our view of the origins of monasticism in Britain and Ireland. Archaeology is providing evidence that can get us beyond the uncertainty of the historical sources. The ancient origins of the Beckery site may explain why later medieval writers linked it to figures such as King Arthur and Saint Brigit.”
Nerys Watts, Head of HLF South West, said: “This discovery just goes to show the incredible hidden heritage and untold stories still to be discovered within our landscapes. Thanks to National Lottery players, we’re delighted to support the Avalon Marshes Landscape Partnership which is bringing organisations together and putting communities at the heart of the landscape’s future.”
Beckery is a small island of hard geology in the Avalon Marshes, a short distance from Glastonbury. The place name either means ‘bee-keeper’s island’ in Old English or is Irish for ‘Little Ireland’. Small islands were often chosen as sites for hermitages and monasteries in this early period. That was partly so they could be separated from the ordinary world to aid spiritual seclusion.
Volunteers excavating the site with Glastonbury Tor and Wearyall Hill (right) in background |
Aerial view of the site showing the remains of two phases of stone chapel, the larger, outer walls being from the later chapel. The graves were underneath and outside these chapels. Four of the excavated graves are visible as disturbed patches of soil and are marked 1-4 . |
Reconstruction of how the site may have appeared in the late Saxon period when the last burials were being made around AD 880. llustration credit: David Lawrence
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Excavation of adult male over 45 years old. The individual died between AD 425 and 579. |
The Avalon Marshes Landscape Partnership Scheme, grant aided by Heritage Lottery for the last 4 years to the tune of £1.7m, finally came to an end in November. More than 60 projects have been delivered to conserve the unique landscape, heritage and wildlife of the Avalon Marshes and to engage people in its conservation, understanding and enjoyment.
Conservation projects have included those to restore important wetland habitats, such as the mires at Westhay Moor and Shapwick Heath, and those to protect important archaeological sites, including Glastonbury Lake Village and the Sweet Track. Practical projects have included new hides and trails, including improved links to Shapwick Moor; a new car park and visitor facilities at Ham Wall; and two new historic reconstructions at the Avalon Marshes Centre.
Community engagement has been critical to the success of the overall scheme including: 500 volunteers, contributing more than 16,450 hours; 50 schools and colleges, providing nearly 5,000 educational experiences; 180 events, attracting more than 10,000 participants; and 49 courses, training 370 staff and volunteers. Work has also gone on to promote the wider area to visitors, 160,000 of whom already visit the main reserves, with a new website, leaflets and interpretation panels.
Although the scheme has now finished, and the Avalon Marshes Landscape Partnership team disbanded, the Avalon Marshes Partnership will continue. Many activities will carry on through joint working on conservation, education, volunteering and visitor management under the Avalon Marshes umbrella. Of the AMLP team, Kevin will be staying on until the spring to focus on visitor management and Mike to focus on the phase 1 works at the Avalon Marshes Centre.
Finally, a thank you to all who have been involved to make the scheme such a success, including Heritage Lottery and the other funders, the partner organisations, and the thousands of volunteers, school children, teachers, parents, local people and visitors who have participated.
Thanks to funding by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) Natural England is about to start some of the planned improvements at the Avalon Marshes Centre, significant refurbishment to hides at Shapwick Heath and construction of a biofuel storage barn. These works will replace and repair life-expired buildings and infrastructure, reduce running costs and carry out upgrades to meet modern standards. Kier Services are the managing contractors and have already appointed local architects and engineers. Natural England will be working with them to ensure that as far as possible other local contractors and suppliers are used.
The principal work is the construction of a new office building on the end of the existing workshops to replace the “temporary” offices which house staff from the partner organisations. All three existing offices are life-expired with leaking roofs, rotting woodwork and other significant issues.
Linked with the new office construction a modern self-contained sewerage system will be built. The current one is an old cesspit which requires pumping out on a regular and costly basis. The new system will use electricity for a small pump and natural treatment with reedbeds as the final part of the process. It is being designed to accommodate the future development of a permanent café and education building (both currently temporary buildings).
The third element is the external refurbishment of the craft gallery, replacing the existing wooden windows and cladding. Once again rot is a significant problem and the thermal efficiency is poor to say the least!
The centre will remain open throughout the period the work is being carried out. The aim will be to minimise disruption, although some will be inevitable.
The other works to be carried out are nearly all on Shapwick Heath NNR including:
The last project is the refurbishment and improvement of the (very tall!) tower hide at Bridgwater Bay NNR (at Steart point).
The Anglo-Saxon Hall at the Avalon Marshes Centre is really taking shape. Built by South West Heritage Trust and their hard working Hands on Heritage volunteers and funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. We love the finishing touches! More photos here . . . . . . .
The latest Friends of Shapwick Newsletter contains lots of news about what has been going on at Shapwick Heath National Nature Reserve: Osprey and Ibis, news on car parks and a new office, a big volunteer thank you, and details for our next Wild Day Out on Sunday November 6th.
To download your free PDF copy of the newsletter please click here.
A few months ago one of our volunteers approached me with an idea they had, to try and help raise funds to support the work we do here on Shapwick Heath NNR. They suggested that we should produce a calendar of the reserve. But this would be different. Why not launch a competition amongst volunteers to see if they’d like to donate photographs to help produce this, taken throughout the year to show a year in the life of Shapwick Heath National Nature Reserve. We thought it was a great idea. So this year we would like to try and produce a 2017 calendar which we will sell locally. All funds raised will be used to help support our work on Shapwick Heath.
Would you be interested in entering a digital photo into this competition with a chance of it being featured in the calendar?
Each photo would acknowledge the photographer and provide a snapshot of that month on the reserve. We are looking for all sorts of images of Shapwick throughout the season, wildlife, landscape, volunteers at work, anything that shows Shapwick Heath for the special place it is.
To enter please send an A4 print of your chosen digital image to myself at the Avalon Marshes Centre (address below) by Wednesday 12th October.
All successful images chosen for the calendar must be available in a high resolution digital format for calendar production. We unfortunately cannot accept any images previously used in publications or media productions.
We are very sorry that we won’t be able to return all the photos sent in but we’d very much like to run an exhibition of shots received later in 2017. Please add your contact details to the back of the photo and sign on the photo if you would be happy to have your image shown in this exhibition and in the calendar. The successful images will be chosen the week of the 17th October and all successful entrants will be informed.
We very much value the continued support of our many volunteers and supporters and look forward to hearing from you.
If you have any queries please don’t hesitate in contacting me at Shapwick Heath.
With best wishes
Simon
Simon Clarke
Senior Reserve Manager
Somerset National Nature Reserves
Natural England
The Avalon Marshes Centre
Shapwick Road
Westhay
Glastonbury
BA6 9TT
Email Simon.Clarke@naturalengland.org.uk Tel: 01458 860120
