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The Noak Bridge |
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http://www.nbnrs.org.uk |
Nature Reserve Society |
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Newsletter - Winter 2021 |
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Around the Reserve this yearHope you are all keeping safe and well despite the continuing and changeable times.The COVID restrictions delayed being able to gather indoors in the Village Hall for our Annual General Meeting until August instead of July as planned. In the Reserve, due to Social Distancing rules we were not able to hold our usual monthly Work Parties until April. Since then they have been held every month until November as usual. The Reserve is still looking good with plenty of growth and with all the rain that we have had the ponds have been filling up again, some quicker than others, and a wide range of wildlife has been seen.   On the Work Party with the Treasurer - last half of 2021New volunteers have joined us on the Work Parties in the last half of the year and have been very welcome. Tasks have included cutting back the long growth on bushes and trees all around the Reserve as a result of the mixture of the prolonged rain and sun. Luckily it ended just before very heavy rain and hail fell in the area one afternoon.A small tree on the High Ridge that had fallen and was removed. There was a report of a terrapin in Puckles Pond, but was not seen when the pond was visited. Terrapins, fish, etc are not welcome in the ponds of a nature reserve because they are not natural in the area and they eat the frogs, newts and many insects which provide food for the natural native species that we want to encourage. Our Ranger Mark has been re-designated as a Warden as part of Basildon Council's restructuring. He and I used pedestrian controlled motor mowers (a category that my driving licence has always allowed me to "drive" but I never had an opportunity before) to cut the grass and brush each side of the main paths that needed attention. At the latest Work Party there were two additional Council workers to join the volunteers in the East Meadow to clear away the grass and scrub that Mark was cutting with a powered scythe. The aim is to cut a different section of the East Meadow each year in rotation to ensure that it is cut short to allow native smaller wild plants to grow where the cut grass has been removed to prevent the ground being nourished by the cut material, which would happen if it was not removed and piled up at one side. Litter has been picked up on Work Parties as usual. Tony Garner
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