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Wednesday 20th January 2010 [cancelled - possibly because a ranger wasn't available] [In early January the little stream which flows through the Reserve was seriously polluted. Some commercial heating oil had accidently entered the water further up, before the stream enters the Reserve. A member of the public (many thanks to whoever you are) notified someone or other (Basildon Council?), and the Environment Agency (who take resposibility for the stream) came along and cleaned up. Many thanks to them for coming out, especially as the weather was so fierce at the time. It's hard to know what damage has been done, but the Environment Agency seemed satisified that they'd done a good job in removing the diesel. The stream enters the Reserve from the West, and runs underground quite a long way before emerging on the east side of the bridge. From there it flows into quite a deep channel, with overhanging trees blocking out the sunlight. It doesn't seem to have much life in it, but fish (thought to be sticklebacks) have been seen in it at least a couple of times since 2006.] Tuesday 9th February 2010 The usual work party (held on the the third Wednesday of the month was cancelled and instead it was to be combined with a visit from Groundwork South Essex Green Grid Task Force who plan to spend all day coppicing in the Reserve. "Groundwork South Essex Green Grid Task Force will be undertaking coppicing on the Reserve on Tuesday the 9th of February from 10am till 3pm. Anyone can join in and all are welcome to visit the team on the day to find out more. The group is made up of volunteers that... undertake tasks to improve the environment of local communities. Their work regularly involves practical conservation projects similar to those we undertake at Noak Bridge." - Ranger Mark Williams Wednesday 16th March 2010 At last, another work party - the first that's taken place since November! Let's hope we're now back on a regular schedule and there'll be no more last minute changes or cancellations. Rangers Mark and Gary and an assistant were there early to greet the three volunteers who turned up. Most of us scoured the Reserve for rubbish, of which there was plenty. We made good use of the the long-handled litter-picker which Mark had remembered to bring along, and used it to penetrate deeper into the blackthorn scrub to extract bottles and cans and plastic bottles. Why, oh why do people have to throw their rubbish (including plastic bags full of dog mess) so far into the undergrowth where it is difficult to get to? Meanwhile Gary and his assistant were busy erecting a new post for the bird table and concreting it in. The old one had been uprooted by local children, who i was told had been suitably reprimanded. Hopefully they'll leave this one alone. Les turned up and arranged to rebuild the bird table itself, but this time he'll give the platform some drainage holes which will stop the seeds etc getting water-logged in the wet weather. We're all grateful for his help. Now is an excellent time to visit the ponds in the Reserve. They're possibly the fullest they've been for at least five years, and even Willow Pond is looking healthy, after being reduced to a couple of large puddles for much of last year. There are still no spring flowers emerging -- as in other parts of the country, blossoming looks like being significantly later than usual. One noticeable change is the result of the work done last month by Groundwork South Essex Green Grid Task Force. A sizeable area near Puckles Pond has been efficiently coppiced. It will be interesting to see which new woodland plants appear there during the next couple of years now that it's been opened up to the light. Wednesday 21st April 2100 Seven volunteers turned up on a very pleasant spring day (including one new face!). Ranger Mark was on hand to supervise the setting up of dormouse tubes (part of a Suffolk-Essex scheme to try and determine the whereabouts of dormice, which are quite rare now). We had a few tubes in place last year in the Western half of the Reserve (the part nearest Coppice Lane), but there was no evidence they'd been used as shelters, so this year we're putting them in the Eastern half. The ponds are still full, and the Reserve has finally full of blossomed following the recent good weather. The abundant white flowers of the blackthorn dominate the view with plenty of smaller flowers adding to the colour, and there are many insects to be seen, including butterflies and bumblebees. Our new bird table is still standing (set in its concrete base), and the new warning sign to dog owners by the Eastfield Road entrance is still there (about the recently introduced penalties for not clearing up dog mess - a £75 fine). For some reason we don't have one at the other entrance yet (near the footbridge over the A127). Wednesday 19th May 2010 Six volunteers turned up this month. The weather was fine, and led by Ranger Mark we completed last month's work of putting up the dormouse shelters (i think 15 in total). As far as is known no dormice have been seen in the Reserve in recent years, but it's part of an Essex-Suffolk scheme to try and determine where they are, and where they are not. A couple of us did some litter-picking, and helped Mark's assistant who was using the strimmer to good effect, cutting the long grass along the sides of the paths. At the end, Mark handed out leaflets on the Lestidia (Emerald damselflies), a bit of homework, preparing for next month's work party which will include a survey of all the ponds looking for the scarce emerald damselfly. Wednesday 16th June 2010 Six volunteers again this month, including one new face - not bad considering a couple of our regulars are away on holiday. It was a beautiful sunny day and the Reserve looked wonderful. There were no orange tip butterflies this month, but several holly blues were spotted, also a red admiral and a speckled wood. High in the hedgrows the dog roses and brambles are now flowering, and lower down herb Robert and woody nightshade. In the main pond the yellow flag is out and makes a wonderful sight, and the water lilies are flourishing (but no flowers yet). The sight of the day was a grass snake swimming in Willow Pond. A couple of us did some trimming of the side vegetation along the paths while Ranger Mark handed out binnoculars, nets, waders and identification sheets to the rest of the volunteers, before leading a search in and around Willow Pond looking for damselflies. We saw many blue-tailed damselflies (the males easily identified by a big blue spot at the end of the abdomen) and also some scarce emeralds (which are more difficult to identify) as well some common blue and azure damselflies. However we didn't identify any ordinary emerald damselflies - maybe next month! Wednesday 21st July 2010 This month we had an excellent turn out of eight volunteers - maybe it was the lovely weather! The more adventurous donned waders and prepared to continue last month's damselfly survey. The others were happy enough to stick to the usual litter-picking and trimming back of side-growth along the paths. An impressive number of Odonata were identified and recorded - over two dozen scarce emerald, a few blue-tailed and an azure damselfly, and several ruddy darters, an emperor dragonfly, and a few brown hawkers -- not bad for ninety minutes spotting! Wednesday 18th August 2010 We had seven volunteers for this month's work party on a pleasant day, good for working (not too hot). We spent most of our time cutting back brambles, nettles and blackthorn by the Eastfield Road entrance and along Plotlands Way and the woodland paths. This was one of the jobs which Ranger Gary used to do, but now that he's no longer available for our Wednesday work parties the paths are getting overgrown in parts, so we'll probably be continuing with this next month. There was also the usual general tidy-up and litter-pick. Amongst the tools brought along by Ranger Mark was a boathook which was long enough to reach almost to the centre of Puckles Pond so that the planks and debris that had been thrown in by vandals could be hauled out. It's taken a few weeks, but Puckles Pond is now clear again. The three or four members of the Committee who were there had a chance to discuss the date of the Society's next Committeee Meeting, which has been called in order to discuss the possible ending of the Society, and how best this might be done. There were 14 people at the AGM last week. Much of the Meeting was taken up with what role, if any, the Society has, now that the Reserve is well established. However regardless of what's decided, the monthly work parties will no doubt continue, and information about the Reserve can still be published via local community magazines and online (on the web site and on the Facebook page). Wednesday 16th September 2010 It was a nice day, and we had eight volunteers again, equalling July's record turnout for the year. The Society might be having a problem finding people to join the Committee (it's currently looking for a new Chair, Treasurer, Secretary and Membership Secretary), but the number of people coming along to work parties recently has been higher than usual. Let's hope it continues, as there's no shortage of work to be done on the Reserve. The main activity was continuing where we left off last month, cutting back the vegetation along the paths. Fortunately Ranger Mark had brought along a long-handled power cutter and was able to chop back the tall overhanging brambles, blackthorn and dog roses along both sides of Plotlands Way. All the main paths are now safe for people to walk along without having to worry about getting themselves snagged on thorns and spikes, but the narrow access passage through to the eastern edge of the Reserve and Meadow Pond still needs to be cleared. There was also the usual litter pick, but the Reserve was fairly tidy (apart from the ever-present dog mess along the sides of the walks), perhaps because it's been raining on and off over the last couple of weeks so there have been less people out and about. Despite the wet weather there hasn't been enough rain to prevent the water level in all the ponds going down noticeably, with Puckles Pond being at least three feet lower than it was in July. Wednesday 20th October 2010 There were five volunteers this month, for what looks like being the last of our work parties to be held on a Wednesday. From November it is changing to the third Tuesday of the month. Let's hope everyone remembers! It was bright and sunny, though there was a bit of wind later in the afternoon which was very cold, a reminder that winter is not far away. Ranger Mark assigned three of us to rake up grass in the central meadow areas, one to clean up duties (again we had the long litter-picker to help get the cans and bags out from the depths of the spikey scrub), and one to clear back the over-hanging blackthorn, briars and brambles along the woodland path towards Fox Pond. All of us ended up helping out with the rest of the raking, working past our usual finishing time. The purpose of raking up the grass (which had been cut several days earlier by Ranger Gary) is to remove excess nutrient so that the rarer meadow plants, which are able to grow in a poorer soil environment, have more chance of flourishing. The heavy rain over the previous couple of days has resulted in the ponds being reasonably full, though still lower than might be expected at this time of the year. For some reason everything seemed very quiet in the Reserve, with no one handing in reports of new bird or animal species spotted during the afternoon. However the berries were huge, especially the hips, and there are still fungi, though fewer than last month. Tuesday 16th November 2010 This was the first of our work parties to be held on a Tuesday. The new day has been chosen so that Ranger Gary, who drives the truck, can also attend and bring along heavy duty equipment when needed. Unfortuately the vehicle was being serviced today, so there was just Ranger Mark to organise the six volunteers who turned up. However Gary had been along earlier to concrete in a new rustic bench at the end of Plotlands Way, which had been donated in memory of a regular user of the Reserve. It was a pleasant enough day, sunny and not too cold (despite the overnight frost). One of us volunteered to do the litter-pick, and after that a couple went off and did some gritting on the Spanish Steps (the ones closest to the entrance by the A127 footbridge), filling in the gaps that have developed. (Ranger Mark had done a similar job on the Noak Steps a few days earlier). As Ranger Gary wasn't able to come, we had carry the grit to the steps using a bucket. (An old wheelbarrow was found, but it's tyre was too flat for it to be of much use.) The rest of us headed off to the East Meadow to collect and examine the dormouse shelters that had been put up in April. It wasn't until we reached the 'meadow' that it was apparent just how much rain there has been recently. It was more like a bog, and we were ankle deep in water much of the time. We were further hampered by the amount of growth there has been in the area since it was last cut. There are now trees and shrubs up to 15 feet high scattered about and the rushes and grass and nettles and thistles are waste high in parts. The shelters had been put up round the edges of the meadow. Some were easy to retrieve, but others required forcing one's way in amongst head high masses of brambles. Somewhat surprisingly we recovered most of the boxes. Sadly, on examination there was no evidence that they'd been used as shelters by dormice, but the droppings and half-eaten food found in a couple of the boxes strongly indicated the presence of wood mice. (Dormice build three types of nest: a nest for breeding, a shelter for resting and eating, and a winter nest for hibernation. Their main food is hazel nuts but they also eat brambles, acorns, sweet chestnuts, wild cherries and raspberries.) Not many smaller birds could be heard and very few insects were still about, but there were the usual jays, magpies and wood pigeons, and also a fox and a grey squirrel were spotted in the Western side of the Reserve. |