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| Raking and barrowing the main meadow area |
Eleven volunteers met up at the Reserve on Saturday morning equipped with barrows and rakes, determined to beat the rain forecast for lunchtime. Our timing was perfect! The job was completed just as the first drops began to fall.
The Reserves Officer and her own band of willing volunteers had cut the two meadow areas on Tuesday with the heavy duty mower. Our job on Saturday was to rake off the cut vegetation and barrow it off to the compost heaps. The purpose of this exercise is to reduce the fertility of these areas. This should benefit the wild flowers which at present have to compete with the vigorous grasses and rushes which thrive in the fertile soil ( this area was once arable land, regularly fertilised for improved crops).
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| work underway on the main meadow |
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| there's a whole lot of raking going on |
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| good team work |
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| just off to the compost heap |
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| it's this way |
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| not many more now |
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| positively the last one |
Once each area was cleared it was then strimmed again for good measure and raked off yet again. Second time round raking was much easier!
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| strimming underway |
But it was not all hard work! As usual we broke at half time for welcome refreshments kindly provided by Margaret and Janet. Tea breaks at Ballachurry are comfortable affairs as there are several garden chairs available and it is always good to socialise and catch up on news since the last work party. During the morning a few visitors dropped in and a fair bit of birding "skeet" was exchanged.
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| our hide has all mod cons! |
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| a very welcome sit down no doubt |
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| excellent cake |
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| Mmm, yes please! |
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| time to chat |
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| Another? Go on, you've deserved it! |
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| What the bird hide is really all about! |
It's always interesting to see what is living in these areas. The cut grass was full of spiders and other invertebrates and the compost heap was quickly spotted by an opportunist robin which swooped down between barrow loads ( SC208694) . Last year the area proved very popular with Goldcrests and Wrens throughout the winter. Once raked off, several young frogs appeared as well as a large Spanish Slug (SC208694) There was also a young longtail which vanished off into the ox-eye daisies when I tried to point a camera at it ( SC209694).
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Enlarged on screen I now can see
that this is a Common Hairy Snail |
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White legged Snake Millipede
with assorted grubs and caterpillars |
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The snail might be a new record for the Reserve
Take a closer look at what else is in there |
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The red one is some sort of tiny mite, I think.
Lots of other things hopping and jumping about
at the bottom of the barrow. |
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| The froglet headed off towards the stream |
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Hola!
(Sorry, it's a Spanish Slug, I think.) |
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| This froglet hitched a ride on the barrow |
So here are the before and after photos of our work
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| before, main meadow waiting to be raked off |
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| after, main meadow now finished |
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| meadow near Ginnie's bench waiting to be raked off |
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| raked, strimmed and raked again |
and a glance at the size of the compost heaps shows just how hard everyone worked!
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| a habitat in its own right |
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| duvet for hedgehogs perhaps |
Many thanks to all our volunteers for your hard work on Saturday and to Margaret and Janet for gingering us up with their cakes!
