Work on the Heathland

Today was spent clearing the Gorse from the area of heathland on the reserve. It is necessary to do this to prevent it from becoming dominant within the heather.

It is done on a fairly regular basis and I think I am right when i say it is one of the least popular jobs amongst our volunteer team. Nevertheless, we set to it in the sunshine and made good progress, apparently it 'wasn't as bad as last time!'

With a few aching backs by lunchtime we had a short afternoon to complete the work and can see a definite improvement of the area.

Hiding at the bottom of a rock our eagle-eyed volunteer Ann spotted this Great Crested Newt hiding itself away; there were also lots of ladybirds to see and we made sure the Gorse was checked thoroughly for any signs of life before being burnt on the bonfire.

Our work was being supervised by this very friendly Robin, eager to see what improvements were being made to its potential breeding ground.

Thank you everyone for your help today, we hope there aren't too many aching backs and legs in the morning! Thanks also to John for the photos.