1972-1921

When I look back after almost 50 years of recording at this special wetland site, I am very conscious of the changes to bird sightings and populations. This wetland site, part of the Grosvenor Estate, was created primarily on the fields of a former dairy farm, with a newly planted stand of poplar trees, planted to eventually be a source of matchsticks, at the edge. The ancient highway from Chester to London across a causeway and three medieval packhorse bridges over the River Gowy ran through the reserve. In the early years cuckoo were almost ever present and bred on the site together with curlew, common and jack snipe, skylark and yellow wagtail. Wheatear, winchat and stonechat were regular visitors, and breeding birds included good numbers of willow, sedge, garden, grasshopper warblers, common and lesser whitethroat. Willow warblers largely disappeared from the site by 1997, their territories being taken over by chiff chaff and black cap, and now excitingly in the later 2020’s by cettis and reed warblers. Reed buntings have always been common at Hockenhull with up to 10pairs recorded in the 1987 BTO Census. The hedgerows were always full of tree sparrows, greenfinch, bullfinch, linnets and yellowhammer, and the wet meadow was a regular haunt of tawny and barn owls, with little owls found in the boundary oaks between the reserve and Christleton. Surrounding meadows also hosted hundreds of lapwing with good number of golden plover in the autumn. How things have changed!

The most significant change was that of farming practices, from dairy to arable with the coming of the Common Agricultural Policy, and the building of a reservoir to service those new farm crops. Much later the digging of a huge lake on the Tarvin side of the reserve alongside the Gowy has completely changed the nature of the site. Although several attempts have been made to graze the reserve by horses, cattle and sheep, the vegetation has continued to grow and even the big “drier” meadow is now head high with reeds, rushes and grasses in summer months. Gone are the stands of common spotted, early purple and northern marsh orchids and even many of the smaller flowering plants such as ragged robin, lady smock and burr reed, have been taken over by this enormous growth. Water levels have fluctuated but the last five years of excessive rainfall has seen water under all three bridges many times, and the whole reserve under water for weeks on end. There has been a great increase in the number of species of damsel and dragonflies, with a similar increase in butterfly species until 2019. Otters now regularly breed on the site, and the new lake has attracted a wide variety of wildfowl. Little grebe, great crested grebe, wigeon, teal, pintail, shoveler, tufted duck, mandarin and the occasional goldeneye are present, and we have even had Bewick and whooper swans joining a small local mute population. Birds of prey, relatively rare in the 1970’s, are now common with daily sightings of buzzard, kestrel, sparrowhawk, with occasional sightings of hobby, red kite, marsh harrier and peregrine falcon. One of the most rewarding experiences of late has been the return of good numbers of lapwing, often seen in hundreds, roosting on the island and displaying over the lake and surrounding fields. They have been accompanied by up to four pair of oystercatchers, and lots of geese. Greylag and Canada geese are regular visitors, but the most exciting change has been the daily visits by up to 3,000 pink footed geese, which fly over in V shaped skeins, with skein after skein following with excited calling from group to group. Grey Heron, Little egret, cormorant and a variety of gulls are almost ever present on the Gowy or near the lake.

The reserve has always had lots of breeding pairs of blue, great and long tailed tits, and the poplars are home to several pair of greater spotted woodpecker, treecreepers and goldcrests. Spotted flycatchers once a common sight are sadly now quite rare, but numbers of thrushes are increasing, with song and mistle thrush breeding on the reserve, and good numbers of wintering fieldfare and redwing seen. Kingfisher and mandarin duck have made attempts to breed in the plantation, but stoats, and grey squirrels probably deter these. A kingfisher did build a nest in the bank of the Gowy, and successfully bred young in 2016, despite the nest collapsing, but sightings in the last two years have been rare.


Thanks to Joe O Hanlon, John Ball, David Hiley and the late Vincent Tonge for their sightings on the reserve.