Ticket to Ride

Much to our surprise and against the odds, the weather has remained dry today, making it much more pleasant for our Tuesday volunteers. This morning we ventured out just beyond the edge of the reserve on the middle moor and cut a ride in a large patch of Gorse, all the way down to the fence abutting the wetland area.

This is preparatory work, the ride will be large enough for a digger to get through (once the fence has been cut down and a gate put in) the digger, which will hopefully begin work soon, will be creating a new wetland habitat for the reserve – a scrape. This will be a shallow pool, only about a foot in depth at its deepest, with lots of muddy edges that we hope will attract wading bird species, such as, Redshank, Snipe, and Lapwing.

Today we were rewarded with several sightings of a Barn Owl quartering over the training ground in the distance. Also spotted growing on some Gorse stems was the early growth stage of the Yellow Brain fungus, pictured here. As it matures it turns a vivid orange colour.

With many hands that task was completed by lunch time and in the afternoon we turned our attention to the woodland, where we checked over the saplings growing in tree guards, replacing tubes or stakes as necessary.

We have accomplished a good deal today, thank you to all our volunteers for your hard work and enthusiasm.