Ballachurry Reserve, Rushen, IOM.: Ballachurry Reserve, Work Party 10th November 2018.

Corporate MWR member, Corletts, kindly donated
the gravel for today's path work.

We had twelve volunteers for today's work party which meant we managed to finish two major tasks before the rain started around 12 o'clock. An especial welcome to new volunteer, Liz, who made a great contribution to our efforts.

Priority task was to fill the plastic grids along the paths with pea gravel, kindly donated by corporate MWT member Corletts. This gesture is really appreciated, as path maintenance is always tricky at a wetlands site and the gravel will help keep visitors to the reserve dry shod! The grids themselves are an excellent example of recycling, having started life many years ago as the car park at the Sound Cafe!

Excellent teamwork saw some volunteers loading barrows, while others pushed them to the grids where those with rakes were waiting to complete the job. Swapping jobs from time to time, this task was completed by 11 o'clock and we opted for an early tea break before starting on task number two of the day.

A veritable feast had been provided today by our "baking sub-committee" ( thank you, ladies!) and we were soon tucking in and enjoying both cake and hot drinks. Then someone pointed out an advancing, very black cloud and we hurried to return the benches and chairs to the hide as the first drops began to fall. Fortunately the rain did not amount to much at this stage and we set about our second task of the morning.

We took out a few tall Phragmites reeds which had more or less reached the boundary of the reed bed and were even starting to spread up the bank in places towards the path (can't turn your back for a minute!) Once these were disposed of in our "homes for wildlife" area, their hollow stems being great for invertebrates, we raked out vegetation to a width of about a metre to improve the flow of water across the front of the reeds. There was already a good flow through and round the back of the reeds, especially after the heavy rain of the last few days, and today's work completes our efforts to keep a steady flow of water through the reserve to the main pond, from whence it drains out into the stream, under the road, and onwards on its journey to the sea. Left to its own devices, the area we cleared today could become dry land quite quickly as grass and rushes move in from the bank, eventually allowing gorse and brambles to colonise the area too. Next up, tree seedlings like willow and alder get a hold...........! So this is almost certainly an annual task.

While all this activity was going on, volunteer Carrie was, single handed, quietly beavering away on the boardwalk getting out the grass which is showing no sign of giving up for the winter. With today's temperature in double figures it's no surprise that the grass on the reserve is still growing strongly.

Although our work parties normally finish about 1 p.m, at midday today the work was pretty much done. And in the nick of time too, as suddenly those odd little raindrops became a heavy shower.
"Stop! Go Home!" I shouted and there was a quick sorting out of which tools belonged to whom and which barrows lived where before we scattered through the rain. I hope they all heard me yelling "thank you" too! All the volunteers had done a great job in record time and Ballachurry Reserve is lucky to have such a great team looking after it.

Wildlife seen today:

SC209694 I put up a Snipe while taking out the First Aid Box and tools from the Hide. Two sightings of Grey Heron flying over;
SC209693 Blackbird
SC208694 Robin very interested in what we were adding to the compost heap.
SC210694 Robin

A few photos to end this report - click to enlarge. Click them again to move to the next one.