MIKE ASHFORTH
VOLUNTEERING
My vision
MICK TOWNSEND
GARY COX
Avocets: a North
Cave Wetlands
success story
Red-necked phalarope
Stephen Martin, owner of Hull-based Arco, is local to North Cave and a keen
birder. Stephen was instrumental to the development of North Cave Wetlands
and still runs the volunteer group that looks after the nature reserve.
Describe a perfect day
at North Cave Wetlands
My favourite time of year is spring,
when we have the combination of
some lovely breeding birds arriving and
settling, and the chance of interesting
migrants passing through. On a fine spring
day, the place looks absolutely beautiful.
Back in the beginning could
you have imagined the site to
be as wonderful as it is now?
No. When I started, I had little idea
of what to do or how to create a
nature reserve. I was keen to listen to
everybody, including all at Yorkshire
How did it all come
about in the beginning?
It is a great story – a win-win for
everyone. In 1999, 96 acres that
comprised the first phase of the nature
reserve were a worked-out series of
flooded sand and gravel quarries, for which
the owners, Humberside Aggregates, had
obtained planning permission to convert
into Humberside’s next landfill site. As you
may imagine, this didn’t endear itself to
local residents, who raised £50,000 to fight
at appeal. Half way through this process, I
received a call from the joint owner of
Humberside Aggregates, Mike Juggins,
who said that if they lost the appeal, we
“We will recreate some 350 acres
of wetland lost 250 years ago.”
Wildlife Trust. We had a list of 60 bird
species that had been recorded at the
time. We have now had more than that
breed, with a total list of 213 seen on site.
I never imagined that when we started.
28 WILDLIFE YORKSHIRE AUTUMN 2014
local birders had better buy the site – as
you do! They did lose, and so I started
talking to Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, and on
1st November 2000 the Trust acquired the
site. From that day forward, Humberside
Stephen enjoying
North Cave Wetlands
Aggregates has been brilliant and have
given us an unbelievable amount of
support converting deep, bare quarries
Xxxxxxxx
into
shallow lakes with lovely edges,
suitable for waterbirds. Together with
Roger Mitchell in the early days and latterly
Middlemarch Environmental who assisted
the Trust with wetland design, we have
developed a really strong partnership.
Why did you decide to
work with the Trust?
Being local, I have been a member of
Yorkshire Wildlife Trust for over 50
Wild Bird Café
Black-tailed skimmer:
often seen at North
Cave Wetlands
What is your regular order at
the Wild Bird Café?
Angela does a magnificent job seven
days a week, greeting visitors and
explaining what to see. She is our eyes and
ears as to what is happening on site.
When I say “lunch please” – I receive a
very welcome bacon butty!
What is your vision for the
wildlife of North Cave
Wetlands over the next decade?
Eventually, we will recreate some
350 acres of wetland lost 250 years
ago when Wallingfen, part of the great
wetland known as the Humberhead Levels,
was drained. We hope that this will attract
back to the area those interesting, scarce
marshland birds and other wildlife that we
don’t see so much of today. I dream that
we can create breeding habitat for
common cranes in the future western
extension and that my retirement job will
be ‘Crane Master’! My other dream
breeding species would be the black-tailed
godwit, which clings on as a breeding
species at only a couple of sites in England.
What is the biggest
management challenge?
Volunteers help pull willow saplings,
which constantly threaten to take
over the wetlands. Crack willow is very
invasive and wading birds and wildfowl
need clear sight lines to watch for
approaching predators; we are taking out
the larger willows that are the culprits
behind the saplings. To help reduce the
impact of ground predators, such as foxes,
on the nesting birds, we put up temporary
electric fencing. Sadly, many of the eggs
and chicks are still taken.
What are your most memorable
site experiences of wildlife?
Visiting rarities such as a spotted
sandpiper and a recent red-necked
phalarope are a treat. But we all get so
much pleasure from the wonderful views
from our hides of the scarcer British
ducks, wading birds, grebes and gulls that
visit us regularly.
North Cave Wetlands
Stephen Martin became a Patron of
Yorkshire Wildlife Trust in 2013.
AUTUMN 2014 WILDLIFE YORKSHIRE 29
JONO LEADL EY
What role have volunteers
played in the development
of the nature reserve?
There are two groups really. One
group is the serious birders, who
helped us think through and develop the
nature reserve, monitor the birds and
other wildlife, and have done so much
work over the years. Gary Dayes has given
a huge personal commitment and has
been our bird recorder since day one.
Barry Jones developed a website and does
lots of bird counts, and county bird
recorder Geoff Dobbs does breeding bird
surveys. They are part of the local
management group that formally meets
once a year, although in constant touch
meeting in bird hides, chatting over a
cuppa at the Wild Bird Café or just
exchanging views by email.
The other group comprises of lots of
volunteer work parties including many
local pensioners, that have done an
incredible job. They have planted the
2,000 shrubs along the eastern path and
over 10,000 reed plugs to create reedbed
habitat for reed and sedge warblers and
reed buntings. I know that their efforts are
valued by the Trust. Also, Angela’s Wild
Bird Café provides a fabulous service to
our visitors and passers-by.
JESS CHARLTON
My vision
years (membership number 219) and I felt
xx
that North Cave Wetlands ought to be aXxxxxx
site looked after by a Yorkshire-based
conservation organisation. Once I started
talking to the Trust, I was happy that
involving them was the right thing to do.