Saturday, 1st September was rather a contrast in weather terms to the lovely sunshine of 24 hours earlier! Hill fog, sea mist, damp, drizzly - you name it! However, at 8 a.m.the Met. Office at Ronaldsway was forecasting only "patchy light rain and drizzle from time to time" so I decided to chance it and not cancel our work party. Despite the weather ( or perhaps because of it?) we nevertheless had 8 volunteers for our first Work Party of the Autumn.
The main task of the day was to clear the two streams of vegetation and also silt where necessary. This caused some hilarity as people inevitably sank in, got stuck and had to be dug out again! We left a small section between the boardwalk and the reed bed for another occasion, as there may still be some late nesting birds in that area.
At the same time Peter, our very proficient carpenter, was installing a weather board on the hide door to stop the rain coming in and replacing some of the shutters with spanking new ones which he had made at home the night before. A little more maintenance is required to stop the hide disappearing into the marsh, then we'll be re-weatherproofing it with a smart lick of new Cuprinol.
We also had a list of minor tasks but this will keep for another occasion when we'll be tying up a few loose ends. While at the Reserve the previous day I took some "before" photos so you can see what a difference our volunteers made to the overgrown streams.
A huge thank you to all concerned. As usual you made a terrific difference - well done everyone!
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| Stuck in the mud! The rest of the team hurry to the rescue..... |
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| .....they quickly assess the situation |
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| ....and take appropriate action |
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| crisis over, it's back to work |
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I started at the opposite end,
I'm heading for that tiny pale blue dot which is another volunteer! |
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| at last we met up in the middle |
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| making progress now |
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| water visible once more |
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| meanwhile, back at the hide |
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| Peter has installed a smart new weatherboard ( yet to be painted) |
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| one of 4 new shutters |
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| the other three |
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| the new shutters from the outside |
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| the hide definitely deserves a coat of paint |
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| time for cuppa, cake and catch -up. |
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Janet takes pity on Richard who has just been told by his
unsympathetic wife (me) to make his own coffee! |
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| then, revived, it's back to work |
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| loppers at the ready |
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out with the dead Hemlock Water Dropwort which
has collapsed into the water |
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| view from the bridge towards the hide the day before |
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| what a difference a day makes! |
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| Friday's view from the boardwalk |
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| same view on Saturday lunchtime |
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| and looking from the other direction |
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I saw no Water Crickets while working in the water
but once the stream was cleared about 40 appeared
near the inlet pipe. |
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| the misty weather showed up the spider webs beautifully |
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| raindrops caught in the spider webs on the reserve wall |
Unlike previous sunny work parties we saw very little wildlife, but just as I was leaving I heard a bird call I didn't recognise. I stopped to listen and watched the boundary hedge very carefully. Eventually a male Blackcap appeared - a lovely finale to our morning's work at the Reserve. ( SC210694)
