Wokingham

The sand martin population is declining across the world – but at Wokingham District Council run Dinton Pastures Country Park in Hurst, steps are being taken to protect these summer visitors from extinction, with more than 40 breeding pairs now making the park their home.

In Africa, where the birds live in winter, they face severe droughts that have decimated their numbers. When the surviving birds arrive in the UK in spring, the sand martins like to burrow into banks, quarries and cliffs, usually near water. In the Loddon Valley, sand martins have been nesting in gravel workings for many years. However, the Summerleaze-owned Lea Farm gravel pit in Hurst was filled in and the land on top restored last year. With the gravel extraction finished, ground water at the site has returned to natural levels, making it no longer attractive to the birds. There is now a shortage of suitable nesting sites, and sand martins are on the RSPB’s amber “Birds at Risk” list.

To avoid a sand martin accommodation crisis in the Loddon Valley, two artificial walls were built in time for the nesting season. The special walls, containing around 90 nest tunnels, have a “green turf” roof and coloured rendering to ensure they blend in to the surroundings. One of the walls is at the council-owned Lavell’s Lake Nature Reserve - part of Dinton Pastures Country Park. The second wall is at the new nature reserve at Lea Farm. ‘Friends of Lavell’s Lake’ are monitoring the breeding success of both walls and will clean out the tunnels in the winter.

Since the walls were built in February this year, the project has proved successful and there are now 40 breeding pairs of sand martins living in each wall.

The project is being funded by English Nature (through Defra's Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund), Summerleaze, The Environment Agency and Wokingham District Council.

Mike Lowe of Summerleaze Ltd said: “The quarry faces were homes for hundreds of sand martins during the nesting season. Now that the quarry has been exhausted and the site restored, we are delighted to help perpetuate this habitation and keep the birds local to Dinton Pastures.”

Wokingham District Council’s executive member for the environment Cllr Simon Weeks said: “I was very pleased to see this innovative scheme to support the sand martins in the Loddon Valley. It demonstrates real commitment on the part of Wokingham to protect wild life. I am glad it is proving successful.”

Hurst ward councillor Annette Drake said: “I am delighted that this project is proving such a success. We are indeed fortunate to have such biodiversity in the area.”

Wokingham council’s biodiversity officer Andy Glencross is co-ordinating the project. “This area has ample feeding opportunities and good habitat, but until now it had very few suitable nesting sites for sand martins,” he said. “This project has secured their future in the Loddon Valley

Wokingham District Council