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Wednesday 16th January 2008 What a lovely day, no wind and enough afternoon sun to take the sharpness out of the air. Seven volunteers turned up for the work party, who together with Ranger Gary and his assitant made for an excellent turnout for our first work party of the year. We'd been expecting to continue with the coppicing started in November, but Ranger Mark wasn't able to join us this month, so maybe that's something for February. Instead, the main activity was clearing up beneath the willow trees along the main paths, removing the the twigs and branches blown down by the recent winds, as Gary sawed off some of the overhanging branches which were in danger of splitting, one of the characteristics of willows as they get larger. There was also the usual litter pick, and a valiant job done on removing a large amount of dumped rubbish from near the Eastfield Road entrance, most of which had been there for years, including a car battery, a wooden palette, carpets, and a crate. We checked the condition of the ponds, and despite the recent rain the water levels are still very low. Let's hope that there'll be a few downpours in spring so that the newts still have somewhere to lay their eggs safely. Wednesday 20th February 2008 Three hardy volunteers braved the cold and slightly damp weather and a couple of others turned up to offer some welcome moral support. Ranger Mark was again away, this time on holiday, but Ranger Gary and an assistant were there to provide plastic bags and litter pickers and we did a good tidy up while they were busy putting up a 'No Cycling' sign by the A127 footbridge entrance. There wasn't too much rubbish apart from the area round Puckles Pond where, in addition to the usual abandoned food wrappers and bits of plastic wrapping, several empty bottles were recovered, a couple of which had been smashed. We also retrieved three cycle frames on the slope near the Spanish Steps, which had been dumped there sometime last year. Because much of the scrub is blackthorn it takes a certain amount of determination to retrieve stuff that has blown into the undergrowth. Of course, people should know better than to litter indiscriminately, but as with babies that soil their nappies, one hopes they'll eventually grow out if it. In the meantime someone has to clean up after them. The Reserve is just starting to emerge from winter. Catkins are appearing on the willows, there are patches of violets to be seen along the sides of the paths, some of the shrubs of the Prunus family (wild plums/cherries etc) are already covered in small white flowers, and the distinctive clumps of large bright green arrow-shaped leaves of lords and ladies (also known as cuckoo pint) can be seen in the glades. There had been plans for one of the work parties this winter to have a go at clearing the typha (bullrushes) from Willow Pond, but it has become such a big job that it will now be done by contractors using a JCB, hopefully next week. This should help to prevent the pond drying up during the summer, but a huge amount of water is sucked up by the large willow trees which surround the pond, so perhaps these might need to be pollarded. Wednesday 17th March 2008 Ranger Mark was back from his holiday to lead this month' work party. Six volunteers turned up. Some of us went round the ponds trimming back the willow shoots and roots on their banks, while others gave Lupin Glade a much needed tidying up, removing the new scrub which was theatening to take over. This year's lupins are already growing and hopefully when they flower it will be a better display than last year. The contractors came last month and scooped out the southern area of Willow Pond in a fightback attempt against the bullrushes. We'll have to wait to see how successful it is. Unfortunately access to Puckles Pond (the other one that needs clearing) isn't good enough for a JCB. There are a few more flowers to be seen this month along the sides of the paths including violets white dead nettles and dandelions. Look out for bullfinches and blue tits in the trees on the edges of the woodland areas, and below them bumble bees, which are searching the ground for burrows to start building their nests in. Wednesday 16th April 2008 There were five volunteers for this month's work party, led as usual by Ranger Mark, on another glorious day. We built a 'pyramid' of vertical wooden logs to encourage stag beetles (which are far less common than they used to be). We don't know whether they are present in the Reserve, but it will still be a useful habitat for other invertebrates and should help to build up the biodiversity. There are alreay many flowers in blossom. If you're walking through the Reserve keep a lookout for blackcaps, greenfinches and jays which have all been seen there in the last month. Wednesday 21st May 2008 We only had three volunteers this month. When we arrived, we were surprised to see rangers Mark and Gary all set up with work benches and tools. Apparently there was the possibility of it being a 'media day'. Anglia TV didn't turn up, but a reporter and photographer from the Yellow Advertiser duly arrived and reported and took photos of people looking industrious. But what was it all about? Well, we were busy constructing nesting chambers for solitary bees. These were of two types, one made using drinking straws and the other using bamboo canes cut into 5" pieces, housed in empty tin cans and little wooden boxes. Jean had already made a few and brought them along, and had even painted them a pleasingly drab shade of green - they looked splendid! Unfortunately the bamboo canes that Mark had brought along weren't very hollow so they had to be drilled out, and this is very time consuming. So we are now trying to source some old dried out canes which are already hollow. The Reserve itself is blossoming with lots of new growth everywhere, and fluttering about are orange tips, one species of butterfly we have which seems to be thriving. Wednesday 18th June 2008 It was grey and overcast and there were a few spots of rain to greet the five volunteers at he start, but one had to leave after a short while. Ranger Mark was on hand to guide us on our continuing quest to construct the perfect nesting box for solitary bees, though what we actually seemed to be producing was the bee equivalent of tenement flats, but apparently that's how they like it. We had time to briefly identify a few flowers around the central area of the Reserve, including trefoils, clovers, vetch, plantain, dock, ox-eye daisy, mallow, white campion, cinquefoil and sorrel. If you're walking through the Reserve it's worth taking a slight detour to look at Willow Pond where there's a lovely display of yellow flag, and in the southern end the white water lilies are just starting to flower. (The pond is temporarily divided into two, and will probably stay that way until the digger returns to complete its work. Wednesday 17th July 2008 What a lovely day! Lots of sun and enough breeze to keep the humidity at bay. There seemed to be butterflies fluttering about everywhere, including lots of brown ones (probably meadow browns and ringlets). We also saw a solitary peacock butterfly resting on a bramble leaf. Talking of brambles, they're not only fruiting but some of the fruits are already black, which seems to have happened earlier than usual this year. As for the work party, four volunteers turned up, tho only 2 stayed to do any work. Because of the nationwide indutrial action taking place, Ranger Mark was off, but Ranger Gary was there so the work party could take place. He'd already been busy with his machine cutting grass along the paths, mainly the one leading to Fox Pond which had become very overgrown following the recent warm wet weather. So we raked it all up and tried to hide it in the brambles (in order to avoid it lying around and becoming a fire hazard as it dried out). We also did some rubbish collecting, including fishing out a couple of cans and a bottle from Fox Pond. Wednesday 20th August 2008 There was a much better turn out than for the previous work party, with six volunteers to greet Rangers Mark and Gary and an assistant. Some of us continued making bee chambers, filling tin cans with plastic straws (held in by melted wax at the bottom of the can), while others attached the completed chambers to suitable trees, which involved the usual ladder antics. The open side of the chambers need to face South, and the trunks also needed to be leaning slightly in that direction to prevent rain entering the chambers, but none of the ones we chose seemed to do this. As a temporary measure we used bits of dead wood to give the required slant, but we need to return with some shaped wooden wedges to make sure the chambers are firmly in place. We had a thorough litter-pick and rubbish removal, leaving the Reserve looking clean, and quite delightful with all the late summer flowers on display. The mass of purple and white vetch dominating the open areas is magnificent, while herb Robert, St John's wort, fleabane and purple loosestrife are all now blossoming. In the scrub to the north of the milkcrate path there are the garden escapees golden rod and Michaelmas daisies, a reminder of the Reserve's plotland heritage, though the lupins in Lupin Glade have now all gone to seed. There are fewer than there were, but somehow up to a dozen of them continue to survive amongst the encroaching shrubs and long grass. Amongst the butterflies we recorded were a gatekeeper, a green-veined white, small blues, speckled woods and a skipper. Apart from that we didn't see much of interest other than a glimpse of a frog and a dead shrew. The water levels in the ponds are still a cause for some concern, but they're not as bad as they were a couple of years ago. Puckles Pond is a bit low, but is in no danger of drying up. Fox Pond seems to shrink a little every month. Willow Pond South, despite all the recent rain, is very low, with the water-lilies now growing in the damp mud on the edge (which they don't seem to mind). Prewer's Pond has dried up. Only Rosebay Pond looks healthy, but it has become so overgrown around the edges that the actual water is hard to see, especially as it's almost completely covered with duckweed. Wednesday 17th September 2008 Four volunteers turned up for this month's work party, again led by Ranger Mark. It was a bit overcast at first, but by the end was quite warm and sunny. The weather was more like late summer than the start of autumn (no musty smell yet) and there were a few white butterflies still fluttering about. The Autumn berries - brambles, hips and haws - add splashes of colour to the hedgerows, though haws are less plentiful this year. Puckles Pond is now looking much better, but Willow Pond and Fox Pond seem to have shrunk even further over the last month despite all the rain. Two of us went off into the woods to put up more solitary bee chambers, and two of us went round snipping back the side-growth along the walks. There was also enough time to do some litter-picking and clearing up of dog mess on the paths. It's the one thing about the Reserve which makes it unsuitable for young children or people in hand-powered wheel chairs. The worst places for litter are the Eastfield Road entrance and Puckles Pond, but there's plenty thrown into the undergrowth elsewhere. There were some unexpected items of cast-off clothing found as well as the usual bottles, cartons, beer cans, cigarette packets and plastic bags. We didn't get to see the Meadow area at the Eastern end of the Reserve because the small trail that leads there has become too overgrown. We'll probably need to get the machines in to open it up again. Wednesday 15th October 2008 It was a grey damp day, but not cold, and the rain just about held off, with only a brief period of the lightest of drizzles near the end. The five volunteers were quickly issued with spades by Ranger Mark, and off we went to dig out any willow saplings that might be springing up round the edges of the ponds. These grow very fast and suck up large amounts of water, making our problem with the ponds drying up even worse. We trooped up to Fox Pond, which had shrunk a little since last month, but couldn't seee any willow shoots there. So then we along to Puckles Pond which again was quite low, but again not many willows needing to be uprooted. Willow Pond looks sad. It was very dry apart from a small amount of wet mud in the middle of the Nothern part. We found several small willows growing amongst the typha, so we removed those, and then continued on to Rosebay, the last of our 'permanent' ponds. Rosebay Pond, which is hidden away on the left of the Eastfield Road entrance is in some ways the best of our ponds, and up to a few weeks ago had plenty of water in it, but it is now reduced to a mass of damp duckweed trying to survive on the soggy ground. However this did give us the oppotunity to to dig out several willows which had rooted themselves in the centre of the pond area - a couple had already grown to a height of 10 feet! Walking throught the Reserve, the leaves are now falling, and those that are left are changing colour, especially those of the maple which are lovely shades of bright green and yellow. Even though we are now well into Autumn, there still wasn't that musty smell which normally accompanies the sudden spurt of fungal growth, though it's that time of the year. (There's a fungus foray at Mill Meadows on Sunday 2nd November.) We came across a dead common shrew on one of the paths, and a lovely little common frog by Rosebay Pond, which obligingly posed for a couple of photos before disappearing into the long grass. Wednesday 19th November 2008 Three volunteers turned up, and led by Rangers Mark and Gary we all did some more coppicing to the left of the approach to Puckles Pond. The weather was fine, in fact quite hot, and the work went well. Sighting of the afternoon was a kingfisher. They are so fast that usually all that is seen is a blur of blue, but they're one of our prettiest birds so we're lucky to have them in the area. |