Reserve Roundup
On Tuesday Bob, Anita, Joan, and Joanna joined the reserve team out on the Folly Pond islands raking up the cuttings from last week.
We cut the islands annually to keep on top of the vegetation levels, ready for when the hordes of wildfowl making their way back here for the winter. The task itself is a big one with a lot of raking and shifting the vegetation in tonne sacks on a make shift raft over the water. The guys did an amazing job clearing the first island completely and making a good start on the second island. On Thursday Joanna joined us to help finish the job! It was a very hot day but we managed to get the job done and finish the raking of the second island. In total seven trailer loads of vegetation were removed from the islands which helps keep the nutrient level in the pond under control!
On Wednesday Sophie joined Jake, JC and Isaac to make a start on painting one of our smaller hides, in this case the Back Pond hide. This is just to give the hides a fresh new look as they were in need of a lick of paint. And I know what you’re thinking, yes we did have to squeeze JC into that little number!
In the afternoon we did our weekly nest box and hide & building nest monitoring although records are certainly slowing down now. Along with this Malcolm came in to help us top a couple of the compartments and keep the rush in control. He made a great start near the Saltcot where we’ll look to continue next week!
Feature image by Jake Goodwin. Top: Isaac, JC and Sophie ready to paint. Bottom left: the wall before painting. Bottom right: Back Pond Hide prepped and ready to paint.
