Three blind mice

The forecasted rain did not show up and the day was warm enough to work in tee shirts and to eat lunch sat outside.

Volunteers working hard

The morning started with having to help offload a chest freezer from a wagon and put it into the back of the café.  Then followed a day with the volunteer’s scrub bashing with a strimmer and taking larger trees out with a chainsaw and smaller branches with bow saws to open up a path area to let in more light.  The management plan for the area sets out that each year 10% of tree growth is removed to keep the area open and a good butterfly habitat.  The felled timber and strimmed scrub was piled up down the side of the old railway embankment to root down.

Oak galls

As the light started to fail it was time to be taught how to set up the tractor to cut grass with the mower adapter for the back.   When the container where the mower is kept was opened up three field mice that had set up home in their gingerly made their way out after the door had been opened.

First of December and the first of the cold weather

he day started with the first frost of the year that meant the car needed to be deiced.  After a nice sunny drive to the reserve it was time for a cup of tea.  Being one of the two volunteer days of the week, the day got off to a slightly slow start with safety briefings and talking through the days planned targets.

Ice on the pond

The objective for the day was to open up a section of path to allow more sunlight in.  The area had become a bit scrubby and trees had grown up so the area was in shade most of the time.  The day was spent brush cutting back the grass and wild flower remains.  Loppers were used to remove the more scrubby growth and a chainsaw and bow saws to remove the tree growth. 

Before the day scrub bashing

At the end of the day, all clear and open

 All the removed biomass was then placed into heaps and “hedging “to rot down and provide a new habitat.  The newly exposed path margins will now be a good area for wild flowers.

At the end of the day some of the ponds surface was still covered in ice as the sun went down.

Sun down and there is still ice on the water

Slash but no burn

After a very windy night I woke expecting the worse and the heavens to spring a leak and a wet day ahead.  But no the sun was on its way up and little cloud in the sky.  The motorway was playing ball and the trip into the rising sun was a nice way to start the day.

The day’s main activity was to be removing reed (Phragmites australis) – if reed beds are not cut back and the old stems removed the pond margins will gradually fill in with biomass and turn from open water into a wet wood land through succession.

Luckily it was volunteer day so a small group of keen volunteer’s descended on Potteric to assist in clearing the site and reopen the view of open water from the hide. 

before the clearance

 

after the day of reed removal

The day was spent in leg waders in water often all most at the top of them raking out freshly brush cut reed, sedge and rush onto the bank.  From here the reed was then pitched onto the back of the tractor trailer to be then deposited into the undergrowth out of site to rot down and provide a site for inverts, reptiles and amphibians.

rabbit at the side of the path

The final task of the day for me was to wade into another pond and place a perching point for kingfishers in view of the hide to ensure the visitors get the opportunity to see and photograph the bird in action.

view from the hide before the kingfisher post was put in