I had been watching the weather forecast rather anxiously all week as showers and strong North Westerly winds were forecast for Saturday. This work party had been scheduled principally to build a new bridge across the stream, the old one having become rather rickety over the summer, but I also wanted to seize the opportunity to organise several other outstanding tasks on the reserve. Having consulted the three carpenters who were to rebuild the bridge, I decided to take a chance and go ahead with the work party. I'm so glad I did as the weather was really kind to us and we enjoyed sunshine for most of the morning despite a few black clouds on the horizon. There was a light sprinkling of raindrops at one point which then amounted to nothing and the rain proper held off until after we had all left the site.
The new bridge is double the width of the old one which will make transporting barrow loads of vegetation to the compost heap a whole lot easier and safer for our volunteers. It is also made from anti-slip decking planks which means we won't have to add chicken wire unlike the other wooden structures on the reserve. I am extremely grateful to the IOM Scouts Association for offering to sell us some planks, which were surplus to their own requirements, for half their usual retail price. Although Peter and Ian have done some excellent carpentry jobs for us in the past, we were also able to benefit on this occasion from the professional tools and expertise of Gerard, a recent volunteer, who is a joiner by trade. The three of them seemed to make light work of this major job and other volunteers assisted with the demolition of the old bridge and preparation of the ground for the new one. Unfortunately they were not able to quite finish the job as the handrail timber supplied was not up to scratch and has to go back, but once suitable replacements have been delivered they can be quickly put in place.
While the three carpenters were busy the rest of us attacked a variety of tasks. With a total of 17 volunteers on site it was no wonder we got so much done.The meadow and noticeboard areas were strimmed and raked off, self seeded willows removed from along the paths and replanted elsewhere, the ramp weeded, the reed bed trimmed back and a section of the ditch cleared of brambles and other vegetation. Brambles along the main path to the hide were also trimmed back. When excused from bridge duties Ian was again up his ladder putting the finishing touches to the hide roof, aided by Carrie who carefully sieved the necessary soil required.
When we broke for refreshments Ian invited me to climb the ladder to take a look for myself at the hide roof where I was delighted to see that the clover had started to germinate and that some of the other low growing wild flowers had quickly established too. We all enjoyed the break from our various tasks but were keen to finish them before the showers reached the south of the Island so we were soon back at work again. This included a grand tidy up as there was rotten timber to be added to our existing wood pile ( home to invertebrates and re-cycling fungi) brambles to be loaded into Ian's trailer, destined for the tip (for which we thank him), and a couple of large tote bags of hay to be taken over the new bridge to the compost heap.
Unfortunately I didn't manage to say goodbye and thank each volunteer individually - such a good turn-out always makes that difficult - but I very much appreciated everyone' efforts on Saturday. Thank you each and every one - you are a great team! Our next full work party will be in November all being well.
Here are a few photos recording the day.
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| volunteers demolish old bridge while Gerard prepares new timber |
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everyone very busy
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rapid progress
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preparing the site
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anti slip planks
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digging out the bank
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finished bar the hand rails
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a shower of rain required to wash down the planks
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Carrie cracks on with the weeding
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and does a perfect job
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meanwhile down in the ditch....
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it's also a hive of activity
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| what a transformation! |
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making a start on the reed bed
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and the work continues
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the finished job
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a one man job with the strimmer
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good team work raking it off afterwards
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despite the dark clouds it was warm work
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the area near the noticeboard, also raked off
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the finished job in the meadow
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Ian inspects the hide roof
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which is greening up nicely
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close up of the clover
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please form an orderly queue for hot drinks
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is it a bird? is it a plane? (it was a Sparrowhawk!)
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coffee and conversation
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always good to catch up
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still quite sunny at refreshment time
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can't believe it was raining in Douglas!
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| blue sky in the distance |
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| spotted near the gate also Inkcaps elsewhere |
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Apologies to those of you not shown in the photos ( one or two were a bit fuzzy this time & had to be deleted)
On Saturdeay we were delighted to welcome new volunteer, Phil, already a regular bird watcher/photographer at the reserve. If any other followers of this Blog would like to join our Saturday band of volunteers or the Mid-week Muckers who do similar work on the other Reserves, please contact the Volunteer Co-Ordinator ( Sarah Hickey ) at Manx Wildlife Trust on 01624 844432 or email enquiries@mwt.im
