Three Johns

Well, it's Tuesday again, so it must be volunteer day. There were plenty of helpers to do the various jobs around the reserve. A lot of work was completed in the scrapes.

Here are Richard and John repairing a dam which had fallen into disrepair.

Next we have John (no, not the same John!), making a path through the reed bed. The silt had filled up the channels which allow the water to filter through the ponds and this muddy job was done by cutting the reeds back and digging the mud out of the way.

Here's Colin digging out yet another area to allow the flow of water. A happy man at his work!

Elswhere Anthony was re-painting the marker posts on our Woodland Trail with a beautiful shade of blue paint and John (Yes, another different one!) and Ann were re-building a dam on the wetland.

Along with some clearing up in the plantation and spare wood taken to the storage area a huge amount was accomplished in the gorgeous sunny weather.

Whilst in the scrapes John (the first one) spotted this male Orage Tip butterfly.

We think it had newly emerged as it was very obliging when it came to having its photo taken! The underside of the wings are a fantastic shade of mottled, mossy green and the tips of his antennae were white.

The close up shows the black and white fringing to the head and how the eyes are green spotted with black.

The Blackthorn is now in flower along the beck and is joined by Ground Ivy through the scrapes.