Toads and Rocky Road

The toads are out in force around the reserve! Please do drive carefully along the access road as they seem to enjoy basking in the sun on the stones.

The moth trapping was a success overnight with several new species for the monthly observation board.

The most common species identified this morning was Hebrew Character and there was a lot of variation in colour as can be seen in the photograph below.

The team from Risedale Sports and community College (Risedale Rangers) assisted with various outdoor tasks including sieving chaff to fill some of the larger bird feeders. They also checked on the Exmoor ponies and fed the ducks on the lake.

Next, they removed some brash from a bluebell bank on Risedale Beck which involved carrying armfuls of branches up a steep hill; a great fitness workout! Their help has made a big difference to this habitat.

The dry weather over recent days has meant that work can once again continue on the creation of Spigot Mere, a new wetland scrape. Proceeds from today's book and cake sale will go directly towards this new feature. Our thanks go to Team Wednesday for all their hard work preparing for this event and for the delicious baking which included rocky road, coffee cake and chocolate brownies. If you couldn't make it today then the books will be left out in the classroom until Monday so you are welcome to come along and have a browse over the weekend!