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Tuesday, 18th January 2011 Despite all the recent rain the work party went well. In fact the ground is so waterlogged that there are large pools of groundwater throughout the woodland areas, and at one point the pond-dipping platform at Puckles Pond was completely under water. Even Prewer's Pond looks healthy, and the ditch running along the east side of Plotlands Way (behind the bushes) is as full as we could remember. It was a lovely winter afternoon, and the five (?) volunteers did some good work cutting back overhanging shrubbery along the paths, and clearing invading shrubbery from Lupin Grove. Meanwhile Rangers Mark and Gary did some renovation work on the Spanish Steps (probably regritting). Tuesday, 15th February 2011 It was a grey slightly rainy day, and only three volunteers arrived for Ranger Mark to look after. Off we went to the coppiced area just north of Puckles Pond, and started 'laying a hedge'. This entails almost chopping through small trees and then bending them over horizonally, so that later in the year all the new shoots grow upwards at right angles to the trunk forming an inpenetrable barrier. Apparently there are twelve styles of hedge laying found in the UK, and it's possible that ours is unlikely to be recognised as any of them! Nevertheless it was great fun, and the hard work kept us from getting cold. Tuesday 15th March 2011 Another grey day, and very damp, almost like fine mist. Nevertheless six volunteers turned out, which was good, considering one of our regulars was away on holiday. Ranger Gary was already there when we arrived. He and two assistants disappeared West and did some mega-clearing of the sid-egrowth along the milk-crate path. A couple of us went off with clippers clearing overhanging growth from the Woodland path, another did a litter-pick, and Ranger Mark and the remaining three continued with the hedge-laying started last month. Good progress was made, with some vertical stakes being used to give some structure to the new hedge. Hopefully we'll be able to finish it off next month. All the ponds are very full, especially Willow and Puckles, and the ground is waterlogged in places. There was little wildlife seen apart from a wren and a few long-tailed tits. The spring flowers are starting to come out, including some lovely purple patches of sweet violets along Plotlands Way. The plum trees (thought to have been planted in plotland days) are now covered in white blossom, and there's a wonderful display of yellow catkins on the goat (pussy) willows. Tuesday 19th April 2001 It's been the hottest April in the UK for many years, and this was probably the hottest day, with the sun shining down fiercely out of a clear blue sky. Just three volunteers turned up for the work party this month, led as usual by Ranger Mark. The Reserve looks stunning with lots of growth, lots of greenery, lots of flowers and lots of butterflies (especially orange tips and whites, and we also saw a brimstone). There are newts in the pond, blossom on the fruit trees, and plenty of bird song (including what may have been a cetti's warbler!). Parts of the less dense woodland areas are carpeted with violets. The coppiced area where we'd been constructing the layered hedge was tidied up, and the overhanging growth along the path near the Spanish Steps was cleared. We also did some cutting back of the brambles and blackthorn along the Woodlands Path. Tuesday 17th May 2011 We had one of the busiest days yet, with eight volunteers turning up to help Rangers Mark and Gary and their two assistants in cutting back the new growth along the sides of the Woodland Path, the Milkcrate Path and the High Ridge. The blackthorn has nearly finishing flowering and now it's the turn of the hawthorn. The summer flowers are starting to appear including vetch, buttercups, fleabane, trefoils, campions and stitchworts. There were some interesting sightings, including a colymbetes beetle, a harlequin ladybird, a roesel's bush cricket and a burnet moth caterpillar. Adult azure damselflies are on the wing, and grass snakes have been seen swimming in Puckles Ponds. However the most exciting find was a couple of buffalo tree hoppers (identification to be confirmed) on the goat's rue along the edge of Willow Pond. Tuesday 22nd June 2011 There were four volunteers at this month's work party to help Rangers Mark and Gary and their assistant do a major cut back along the path leading from the end of Plotlands Way up to the High Ridge. So we were kept busy keeping up with the trimmers, and trying to find places to dispose of all the cuttings. It looked a bit grey when we started, but turned out warm and sunny and this brought out lots of butterflies including a fritillary (most likely a high brown or a dark green) and a (large?) skipper. The meadows were buzzing with life, especially crickets. Ranger Mark estimated approx 100 Roesel's bush crickets in one of the grassy areas, while flying overhead was an emperor dragonfly, swooping and skimming, patrolling its domain. The rarest sighting of the day was a water vole, seen in the ditch by the start of the Woodland Path. The population of water voles is declining though there are schemes set up to try and maintain their numbers and start new colonies. The summer flowers are now in full bloom, with the white flowers of the greater (hedge) bindweed and lesser (field) bindweed prominent everywhere. We had two 'first sightings' of the year, horse raddish and woundwort. Tuesday 19th July 2011 Only 3 volunteers came out this month to help out Rangers Mark and Gary and their assistant. It was another pleasant day, warm and sunny. The main work was clearing the paths of new side growth. We also cleared some of the overhead branches which were hanging down in Plotland Way. Fortunately they were crack willow trees, and the lower branches were easy to saw, and the smaller higher twigs easy to snap off using a long stick. Clearing the paths is almost a continual job, and there's been some discussion about making the paths a little wider so that machines can be used to do most of the work, especially the walk through the woodland area on the east of the Reserve. It was an excellent day for butterflies (ringlets, meadow browns, speckled woods, skippers and whites), and there were still damselflies and dragonflies around, including a brown hawker. We also saw a song thrush, which these days are not often seen, and the year's first sighting that's been reported of a fox (though i expect there'd be far more reports of them if we did some night time observations as there are lots in the area). [The tree hoppers found in May turned out not to be buffalo treehoppers, but horned treehopppers (Centrotus cornutus), not quite as exciiting, but still a first for the Reserve!] Tuesday 16th August 2011 We had a good turn out this month - seven volunteers, Rangers Mark and Gary and their two assistants, plus reporter/photographer Maxine from The Echo, who'd come along to take photos of us. Once that was out the way we set to work, most attending to the sidegrowth along the paths and raking up the debris created by the strimmers, with a couple doing the usual litterpick. The Reserve looks fine. All the berries and fruits are now starting to appear, with the sloes on the blackthorn particularly abundant. There were a couple of dragonfly sightings (a southern hawker and possibly a migrant hawker) and also a slow worm was spotted. They're quite common in the Noak Bridge area, but not often seen. Tuesday 20th September 2011 There were only three volunteers this time along with Ranger Mark, but we all set to work to rake up the meadow grass. It had been cut by contractors, but apparently they don't clear it up afterwards. It was quite tiring work, not helped by having to use pitchforks because we didn't have any long-handled rakes, whcih would have made it a lot easier. Again we found a slow worm, which was carefully moved from the meadow to one of the mounds of grass that we'd piled up, so we could get on with our work. Just as we were getting ready to leave a common lizard was spotted by the bridge at the end of Plotlands Way. The Reserve looks very colourful with all the hips and haws now ripening but the water in Willow Pond has once more almost gone. The reason why the level drops so suddenly remains a mystery! Tuesday 18th October 2011 It was a pleasant day but only three volunteers turned up to be joined by Rangers Mark and Gary and their two assistants. The tasks for the day were to replace the warning signs around the ponds, and to measure the depth of the water (which is very low at the moment). This led to problems and lots of laughter at Fox Pond. Having put on the waders, the volunteer with the measuring stick went into the water and got stuck in the mud which is quite deep there, and in the process of being 'rescued' everyone got pretty wet (and covered in mud!) Tuesday 16th November 2011 It was a lovely sunny day but with a cold wind blowing, though it becoming milder as the afternoon went on. There were four volunteers together with Rangers Mark and Gary and an assistant. While one of us went round the Reserve on the monthly litter pick, the remainder set to work cutting back the sides of the Woodland Path so that it will be wide enough to take a tractor and heavy cutting machinery. When the work is finished we should be able to gain access to the East Meadow (which is fast turning into shrubland) and restore it to its original state. The ponds in the Reserve continue to shrink. Rosebay Pond is now dry and if there's not substantial rain soon, the others will be little more than large puddles. The water level in Puckles Pond has dropped approx four feet since the end of the summer. We didn't see much wildlife apart from a solitary squirrel and a group of blue tits, though the noise comin from a large number of starlings in the nearby fields was very loud. We also checked out some fungi which Jim Bishop identified as poison pies, woolyfeet, blewits, funnel caps, common puffballs, buttercaps, and russet shanks - not bad for a 15 minute mini-foray! |