The vegetation along the paths by the wildlife pond had been enjoying the good summer weather a bit too much over the recent weeks, and was starting to make areas on both sides of the concrete bridge in the middle of the reserve a little bit narrow.
On Saturday July 13th a team of 16 fabulous volunteers set to work armed with shears, loppers & rakes, chopping it back and clearing up the cuttings to reveal the full extent of the crushed concrete path laid last summer, making this area of the reserve a bit more comfortable to traverse.
We also made sure to take plenty of breaks for drinks and biscuits, but more importantly to enjoy watching the abundant butterflies and dragonflies fluttering around us, and over the surface of the nearby Wildlife Pond.
Given the great turnout of volunteers we were also able to turn our attention to a few other task.
A small team cleared all of the Variegated Yellow Archangel which had emerged around the Seahorse Pond, dug earlier in the year to help drain water from the path through the Blackthorn Tunnel.
We were also able to clear further vegetation from around some of our tree saplings, and bash a few more bits of Himalayan Balsam which had appeared since of previous volunteer day.
A great session, which made a real improvement to the usability of the nature reserve. Thanks so much to all the volunteers who came along.
We really hope to see you all again at one of our session in the future.
