Peak Experience

 

I have worked on a reserve with rare birds − thousands of waders and wildfowl − and lots of people too. Coombes Valley is an altogether different experience.

 

Coombes is the place of childhood adventures. It is a place of mystery, of ghosts in Spiritholes Wood. It is a place of peace and tranquillity. Here you can lose the sound of traffic and the sight of street lamps and travel back in time. Just a few decades ago George Lovenbury, the old naturalist, carried coal in down the steep path that is the public footpath (the good track that runs into the heart of the reserve did not exist back then). He gardened around his little cottage in the middle of the woods and watched badgers in dappled, fading sunlight. Spring, summer, autumn or winter – Coombes never fails to deliver magic. George wrote one November,

 

 

Indeed it is a place of many colours, sounds and moods.

 

Walk with me across the upper meadow, white with pignut in late May and June. Just two minutes from the visitor centre there is a little plateau where we’ll look southwestwards. Let’s stops, listen and breathe in the day. I never fail to be mesmerized by this amazing view over Coombes. This is what gives the reserve its character – the steep-sided valley formed by glacial melt water. It is also why it remains woodland today. Though it has been managed historically and clear-felled in parts, the steepness means that only a limited area is now used for agriculture. Once you reach the top of the valley the farming landscape returns – the woodland edge is the clear boundary to the reserve. I have seen peregrine and hobby from this spot, but much more likely you will see buzzard, sparrowhawk and kestrel displaying in the spring. Lucky observers have noted black kite and perhaps we will regularly see red kite in the coming years. There is the noise of the rookery off to the left and in the spring you can hear the song thrush song bursting out from below, the bisyllabic chiff-chaff, the cooing woodpigeons. Close by, in the tall, unkempt hedges one can hear the rippling song of the willow warbler and less frequently the scratchy songs of the whitethroat and lesser whitethroat.

 

Many birdwatchers will know Coombes for its suite of typical western oakwood bird species – pied flycatcher, redstart, wood warbler. Indeed, pied flycatcher flourishes here. The volunteer team manage around 500 nest boxes across the reserve (which includes the Churnet Valley and makes over 190 hectares in all). In 2008 42 pairs of pied flycatcher moved into the next boxes.

 

Another special place on the reserve is by the first bridge you come to over the Coombes Brook. Stand here in May and you will see and hear pied flycatcher, spotted flycatcher and redstart. The brook is just a trickle on this July morning, but with heavy rain it can rise rapidly. Have patience on the bridge and you could well see our dippers and grey wagtail. In April and May the ground is covered with lesser celandine and wood anemones – the anemones tell us that there has been woodland here for very many years.

 

Wood warbler and tree pipit were once common here, but we have seen a recent decline in numbers, though this year they were present as non-breeders. The story of declining woodland bird populations is rising up the RSPB agenda. Researchers are trying to untangle the complexity of the problem. What could it be? Pressures on migration? Climate change on the breeding grounds? The impact of land use on woodland edges? Changes in woodland structure and lack of appropriate management? Predation pressure? Whatever the causes, there have been some big declines – spotted flycatcher down by 85%, lesser-spotted woodpecker 81%, lesser whitethroat 79%, tree pipit 75%. Still, it is not a simple issue. Some species have increased – most of the tit species, blackcap, wren and great-spotted woodpecker among them. A lot of evidence is pointing to woodland structure and management being important. At Coombes we are opening up sections of woodland along old track ways. Cutting small areas of woodland year by year will create a mosaic of trees of different ages. The plants on the ground will change too. Such variety provides a wide variety of homes for insects and birds. In some places, we are removing trees to restore old field systems. Soon the open lands will be grazed by small Dexter cattle. We hope that these areas will make great homes for flowers and so attract more insects, including some interesting butterflies.

 

Coombes Valley bluebells  A picture of buttercup meadows at Coombes Valley

 

Coombes Valley is an RSPB reserve, so it’s unsurprising that many people first think of birds when they think of the valley. But the woodland story is about much more. There are times of year when it’s difficult to see the birds. The reserve offers an opportunity to explore your inner naturalist or simply attune your senses with nature. It is a system with considerable complexity. There are trees, flowers, grasses, fungi, beetles, flies. From the red elf-cap, pink wax-cap and adder’s tongue fern to the knopper oak gall and greater butterfly orchid. Only a few weeks ago Nick Mott and Andy Jukes from Staffordshire Wildlife Trust spent a day tramping along the Coombes Brook and discovered a number of scarce invertebrates – Xylota florum, a rare hoverly, and Lipsothrix errans, a rare cranefly, both associated with woody debris in streams. They were particularly impressed with our approach of not tidying away fallen woody debris in the brook, as this debris provides valuable living space for insects. They also discovered a black-headed cardinal beetle, Pyrochroa coccinea, associated with woodland edge habitats. The species diversity is great – there are over 1,100 beetles, 1,400 flies and 500 moths and butterflies.

 

Last night I took a walk as it was getting dark. It’s late in the season, the dusk chorus has faded – but it was lovely to hear numerous tawny owls hooting. Otherwise it was quiet, save for the wind in the trees and the sound of the gently running brook. A buzzard was a dark silhouette flapping lazily over Clough Meadow. The colour while it lasted was the purple of knapweed, the blue of the scabious and white of the meadow sweet.

 

This morning one of my assistants, Amy, said she was disappointed. She’s been checking our moth trap for months and is very disappointed she’s ‘not had a pink one’! Still, the trap was alive with yellow, red, grey, green and white things, all flitting around.

 

You don’t need to be an expert to enjoy the complexity and diversity that makes this place so naturally beautiful. Visit us, and encourage your local school or bring your children on one of our special fun events. For more information about children’s activities ring us on 07921 740679, or ring the reserve office at 01538 384017.