A Productive Day!

While it was a slightly damp start to the day, we've been busy with odd jobs around the reserve. Our regular visitors from The Dales School and an additional group from Mowbray School also joined in with practical tasks.

The first one was a good challenge; the duck raft on the lake is going to be replaced, and needed bringing in before the ducks nested on it. After trying to haul it in yesterday, it was decided that a winch was required to pull it up the bank. The old timber was very rotten which didn't make the job any easier.

However, once it was finally up the bank, the volunteers set to work dismantling it (which didn't take much doing!).

It is rather strange seeing the view from the lake hide without the duck raft which had been in place for several years. Some blog readers may remember the day when the raft was first launched back in March 2013.

It was then down to the 'bullet catcher' store to clear a lot of the brash which had accumulated after various winter habitat work, as well as have a general tidy up.

The fire ended up being taller than Ian which just goes to show how much work has been carried out over the past few months!

With the wet conditions, a good coat and hood was essential!

The afternoon was just as busy with two teams spread across the reserve. One was busy repairing some boards on one the bridges in the woodland, the other was re-setting a bench and doing some maintenance work on the boardwalk through the scrapes.

Meanwhile out on the moorland, the ponies seemed to have found a good spot to shelter behind the dumper truck!

A great deal was achieved, thank you to everyone who helped today. Fingers crossed that tonight's storm doesn't cause any damage to the reserve.