Photo: Peter Roworth
Saltfleetby-Theddlethorpe Dunes NNR
January 2013
Friends of Saltfleetby-Theddlethorpe Dunes NNR Newsletter
Welcome
Welcome to our long overdue latest edition of the Friends of Saltfleetby-Theddlethorpe Dunes
National Nature Reserve newsletter. Since our last newsletter we have a new member of staff.
Steve Hall has replaced Richard Ablitt. Steve comes to Saltfleetby having previously spent two
years with Natural England at Humberhead Peatlands National Nature Reserve and twelve
years with Norfolk Wildlife Trust including Hickling Broad National Nature Reserve on the
Norfolk Broards (Steve can be seen extreme right on the photo with the green exercise group
elsewhere in this issue. He wanted to leave his helmet and visor on but we said NO!!).
Roger Briggs
NNR Contacts
Peter Roworth
Senior Reserve Manager
Steve Hall
Reserve Warden
Roger Briggs
Access & Engagement
NNR Office: 01507 338611
NNR Wildlife Review 2012
Climate The weather during the year was extremely variable and sometimes very unpredictable which now seems to be the
norm. February was a unique month when 130mm of undisturbed snowfall was measured on the 5 th; it proved to be the coldest
month with a ground frost of -15.75°C and air frost of -14.75°C both on the 11th and also the driest month with only 15.5mm of
precipitation recorded. The highest air maximum was 30.25°C on 18th August. June was the wettest month with a total of
109.2mm of rainfall of which 30.7mm fell in 36 minutes during a torrential storm on the 28 th. Winds were very variable with
many days of strong breezes of force 5/6 but on the 28th and 29th April and 25th November a near gale force 7/8 north-easterly
and west-south-westerly were recorded respectively. The total rainfall was 728mm, being the second wettest year during the
past twenty years. The wettest year was 2000 when 752mm was recorded.
Flowers The wet, cold spring/early summer affected much of the wildlife particularly numbers of breeding birds but ironically
the high rainfall helped to give a fine display of flowers on the sand dunes and marshes. The count for flowering marsh
helleborines of over 7,500 was the highest ever recorded on the reserve and flowering spikes of great water parsnip were over
300, another record.
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Natterjack Toads were first heard and seen on 5 April. The total number of spawn strings
was 51 which is high. However, successful development into adult toads was low but the
population is still holding its own.
Marsh Moth The annual monitoring of the larval populations of Marsh Moth took place on
13th September at its main British breeding site here on the NNR. This year produced an
extremely low count of only 15 caterpillars. This can be compared with 55 caterpillars on 16 th
September 2010 and 76 on 6th September 2011. The result for 2012 was not unexpected in
view of the poor weather since April, which would have adversely affected both the adults
and the larvae. Let us hope for more favourable conditions in 2013.
Natterjack toad photo: Peter Roworth
Butterflies and dragonflies had a poor year particularly in the first few months but there were some good sightings of second
brood butterflies later in the year. Peacocks and small tortoiseshells had a good autumn. A marbled white butterfly seen flying
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over the dunes on 24 July was only the second record for the NNR.
Birklands Bird-ringing Group were here in October for their annual visit. This proved to be a mixed month for birds on the
reserve. The weather was settled during the first half of the month which produced good numbers of finches moving south with
the highest total of goldfinches (112) and lesser redpoll (94) trapped by the group. The locally bred bullfinches were also
in evidence with 13 birds ringed - the highest annual total caught since 1990, which is particularly pleasing as this species has
declined significantly over recent years here and in Nottinghamshire. It would appear that there has been a beech mast crop
failure in northern Europe, this has led to larger than usual movements of brambling etc south into the UK. This probably
explains why another bird was noted in higher than ever numbers with over 300 jays being seen during the group’s fortnight on
the dunes, all heading south or west inland.
Winter thrushes did not begin arriving in any significant numbers until the last week of the month, when many thousands of
blackbirds arrived, with good numbers of robins and goldcrests blown over on the strong easterly winds. During this period the
group trapped over 300 blackbirds and 50 robins one of which was already ringed with a Belgian ring. Also trapped was a
waxwing the first of this striking species to have been ringed on the reserve.
Elsewhere on the reserve during the second half of October large flocks of redwing, fieldfare and woodpigeon were observed
flying over the NNR. Typically on Monday 22nd October birds counted were fieldfare 1000+, redwing 3500+, blackbird 350+, song
thrush 160+, robin 200+, brambling 80+ and goldcrest 400+. On the Tuesday birds were still passing through but in smaller
numbers and there was movement along the reserve, birds feeding on elder and hawthorn, and on the ground on the adjoining
LWT meadows. By Friday the numbers of winter thrushes are down to a few hundred. Other birds observed with this passage
included firecrest 1, mistle thrush 6, ring ouzel 20+, black redstart 1, redstart 2, chiffchaff 9+, stonechat 2, bullfinch 2, twite 3,
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redpoll 2, jay 2 and swallow 7+. On the 25 several large flocks of starlings totalling 900+ birds were seen flying over Rimac and
the saltmarsh.
Fungi Ann Ward, our fungi expert, recorded 45 species this autumn on the dunes, in both the Crook Bank area and Rimac where a public foray/talk was held in mid October. Ann says ‘If over 50 species are recorded in a woodland habitat it is
considered a very productive site, so 45 on and around sand dunes was an excellent result’.
Highlights included the fantastic earthstars of the mature hawthorn scrub at Crook Bank. This year the sessile earthstar has been
listed - this has been overlooked for a number of years as it is similar to the
crowned earthstar, until you get right down on your hands and knees - the crowned
earthstar has a small stalk where as the sessile earthstar has no stalk supporting it's
globe.
At Rimac the waxcaps in yellows, reds and whites gave us a count of 4 different
species - a bit like giving the site 4 gold stars. The fungi highlight for Ann was an
earth tongue poking out of the grass like a bit of black liquorice measuring about
5cm high.
Each year is different and the climatic forces create different temperature and
humidity factors, this simply means that each year different fungi find the
conditions suitable for them to fruit (the visible part of the fungi) but the rest of the
organism though hidden from view is still there waiting for its turn to show off
another time.
Sessile earthstar
photo: Ann Ward
Contributions by Andrew Lowe, Ann Ward, Paul Waring and Peter Roworth.
Why Rimac?
Did you know the Rimac area of the reserve gets its name from a South American river?
Rimac (pronounced RyeMack) is named after a ship which was wrecked in the area when it ran aground in stormy weather on
the 11th December 1874.
The Rimac was a brig built by T & J Brocklebank at Whitehaven and
launched on 26th March 1834. It was built especially for the company’s
trading routes to South America and named after the River Rimac which
runs through Lima in Peru. It weighed 214 tons and measured 111feet
(33.5 metres) in length. A brig is a sailing vessel with two square-rigged
masts. These ships were fast and manoeuverable and ideal for the long
voyages carrying bird guano back to the UK. They fell out of use with the
arrival of steam ships. The Rimac spent many years sailing to ports on the
western coast of South America and sailed around Cape Horn on no less
than 56 times.
The Rimac changed ownership a number of times, the final owner being
Captain William Heron of Blyth, Northumberland. On 11th December
1874, whilst bound with a cargo for Hull, the Rimac was wrecked in stormy weather with Captain Heron at the helm. A Board of
Trade Inquiry held at South Shields found the Rimac was lost due to the gross negligence of the master, Captain Heron.
Guano, a natural fertilizer made from bird droppings, was a prized commodity during the 19th century in both Europe and
America. The Rimac was one of many ships transporting guano from the Chincha Islands off the Peruvian coast south of Lima to
the UK. Guano from these islands was a particularly effective fertilizer as its contents originated from fish-eating birds. When
guano was first harvested on the Chincha Islands estimates put the depth of the droppings at greater than 50 metres.
By 1850 almost a hundred thousand tons of guano from Peru had been shipped into England.
So a ship carrying droppings produced by sea birds in Peru gave its name to part of a nature reserve and home to sea birds in
England.
The picture is of the painting ‘The Merchant brig Rimac in two positions off Cape Horn, with another of Brocklebank’s brigs in
view’. Artist Joseph Heard 1854 oil on canvas.
www.naturalengland.org.uk
Working in Partnership
Steve has had a busy time since arriving at Saltfleetby NNR so was pleased
when Antony Bull and Gareth Trewick from the Humberhead Peatlands
National Nature Reserve came to Saltfleetby for a day to assist with fen
restoration work at Rimac. We really appreciate help from another NNR.
Some readers will not know of our close working relationship with the
Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust. Rob Lidstone-Scott, Coastal Warden for the Trust
not only shares the workbase at Saltfleetby but Natural England and
Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust staff work together on numerous occasions, an
arrangement that benefits both organisations.
The NNR’s Green Exercise Group run in partnership with East Lindsey District
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Council starts its 11 work programme in February. The group continues to
make a valuable contribution on the NNR with each 12 week programme,
working on tasks such as beach and car park litter picking, footpath and easy
access trail maintenance. Off the reserve the group have helped maintain
Theddlethorpe All Saints churchyard for the Church Conservation Trust.
Some of the Green Exercise Group
photo: Tracey Richardson
Rimac Eco-classroom
After a three and a half month delay the new Eco-classroom at Rimac was
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finally in use on Thursday 26 July with an afternoon of activities for the
school holidays attended by 39 children and 20 adults. The Eco-classroom will
provide much needed indoor/wet weather facilities for schools and other
visitor groups to the NNR. It is also used as a base for the NNR’s Green
Exercise Group and from January 2013 will be the meeting place for the newly
formed Rimac Wildlife Watch Group. Wildlife Watch is the junior branch of
the county Wildlife Trusts.
The sustainable construction of the building provides an additional learning
experience as this is the first on the Lincolnshire coast to promote
sustainability to schools, the local community and the visitors who use it.
The classroom has been supported by the Rural Development Programme
England and is available for any local community group to use.
Contact: [email protected]
Inside the Eco-classroom
photo: Roger Briggs
All you need to know about... Sea Gooseberry Pleurobrachia pileus
One of the most fascinating things caught on our sea creature events is the Sea Gooseberry.

The sea gooseberry is a member of the phylum Ctenophora. They are sometimes known
as comb-jellies.

The name comb-jelly refers to the eight rows of hair-like cilia present on the body, which
are known as comb-rows. The rhythmic beating of these cilia enables the animal to swim.

Their bodies are virtually transparent and the rows of tiny cilia catch the light, producing
rainbow-like colours.

They are commonly mistaken for jellyfish, but are totally unrelated.

Sea gooseberries use their two long, trailing feathery tentacles to fish for prey such as
fish eggs, larvae, molluscs and even other sea-gooseberries. The long tentacles act as a
net and contain sticky cells known as colloblasts which secure the prey. When prey has
been caught, the tentacles are drawn back into special pouches and the prey is passed to
the mouth.

They are oval in shape and about the size of a gooseberry (20mm long).

Sea gooseberries have a life span of 4-6 months.

They are common in the waters around Britain.