WADDLE ON THE wild side
Rutland Water is the largest reservoir in England and its surface area covers over 10km². It is man-made and provides drinking water, via Anglian Water, to the East Midlands. The reservoir has a very wide appeal. As well as being popular for many types of recreation, such as fishing and sailing, it’s very important for an amazing array of wildlife – in particular, wintering wildfowl. The number of birds that Rutland Water attracts means it’s protected by law. In winter the site can hold over 30,000 wildfowl and an internationally important number of ducks – including six per cent of the UK’s overwintering population of gadwall and 4.9 per cent of shovelers.
Banking on success
On the western end of the reservoir is a nature reserve managed by the Leicestershire & Rutland Wildlife Trust. It’s wonderfully diverse, with lagoons, meadows, woodland, reed beds and scrub. This attracts a superb array of species and is a great place to see ospreys, hear nightingales and enjoy wildflowers. Migrating birds up high can see the reservoir from the east coast and this has led to a fantastic list of bird species, totalling 270. From its inception there were three outer lagoons bunded off (separated by a retaining wall) from the main water. This meant that as water was abstracted from the reservoir through the summer, the lagoons would remain filled with water for the wildlife.
As the reservoir as a whole matured, it became increasingly important for wildlife,
but water abstraction was still an issue. As water levels dropped, feeding areas for dabbling ducks were reduced. Since these had become species for which the site is so important, compensatory habitats were created to enable Anglian Water to continue to take water without detrimentally affecting the ducks. Natural England calculated the area required and the creation of new wetlands came in the form of five new lagoons and three bays bunded off in the reservoir.
Funded by Anglian Water, this project created 98 hectares of new habitat. It began in 2008 when Sir David Attenborough dug the first turf and was finished three years later. The lagoons were created by moving large amounts of local earth and clay on site with machinery. Each lagoon has its own independent water input and control to provide the optimum conditions for wildlife. The water is raised through the winter to remove the vegetation and dropped through the spring to benefit breeding and migrating birds. One great design feature is where the islands are interconnected by shallow causeways. This provides shallow water and makes it easier to maintain them as you can take machinery from one island to the next. Wind and water erosion has been combatted by putting matting around each lagoon.
They just keep coming
From a bird-breeding perspective there has been successes with redshank, oystercatcher, lapwing and common tern. This year has recorded over 520 black-headed gull nests, a bird on the UK amber list of conservation concern. The lagoons are great for migrating birds to stop off to feed and rest, with good numbers of dunlin and ringed plover as well as rarer species such as wood and curlew sandpipers. We are also seeing an increase in great white egrets – going from a total of three recorded in 2015 to 16 birds in one day in 2017. This species could breed in future years.
It’s not all about birds though. Wildflower meadows have been created and species such as wild strawberry and knapweed have been plug-planted for butterflies.
The lagoons are still young but maturing and have provided extensive habitat to add to this fantastic man-made wonder.
Each year thousands of birds (and birders) flock to Rutland Water, the host of Birdfair. Since their creation a decade ago, lagoons and sandbanks around the reservoir have made it the ‘ Minsmere of the Midlands’.