Sunshine then Showers

Tuesday, October 18th 2016

The day started fairly bright with the odd shower, making it hard to put on or take off the waterproofs. With the walk yesterday we were more able to focus on the jobs to be done today.

A lot of the volunteer day was spent tidying up from the weekend Winter Worky Day. It was ideal to have about 15 folk doing the various jobs that needed ticking off. The first job was to finish off carrying/carting post and rail fencing from the conifer plantation to the Bullet Catcher store.

The next job was to remove all the debris from the Vole Pond banks which had be dredged up on the Saturday. Most of the little critters that had been on the weed should of made their way back to the water.

While we were doing all this Ken and Eddie were busy strimming a new net ride for the netting of the numerous Redwings around the reserve. But, most of the day was spent on the Lake Orchard burning the last of the weekend brushwood,

 and removing the Birch and Willow in what ended up being a very wet afternoon.

 The afternoon team enjoying the warmth of the fire at the end of the day.

Insects are not so prevalent now with the dip in temperature, but the walk in the woods yesterday had plenty flying in the beams of sunlight . This Stonefly, possibly a Needle or Willow Stonefly (Leuctridae), was found inside the Field Centre, probably carried there on our clothes from working near the ponds and Willow. The name Needle Stonefly is due to it wrapping its wings tightly to its body.

 

There are 34 species of stonefly in Britain, which are common around fast-flowing streams and rivers, where the larvae spend their lives hiding amongst the gravels and feeding on algae and plants. The adults hatch out, and do not travel very far from the stream as they are poor fliers usually being found on riverside rocks and trees.

Thank you again for all the hard work, and excellent company.

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