Footpath Work Begins

Work started this morning on moving stone over to the footpath that runs through the moorland. SIx volunteers worked with the Reserve Managers to load the stone from the pile delivered last week on to the trailer, which was then taken to the moorland using a route that minimised damage to surfaces that became increasingly softer as the weather got warmer during the day.

Once the load had arrived at the path it was unloaded and carefully raked out to cover the areas that had suffered damage previously.  Because of the wet areas around the path, some drainage had to be cleared, and the wet patches also meant that in some places double the quantity of material was needed to be able to get an effective surface.

The stone and dust was then compacted down using the vibrating plate to make a flat surface for people to walk on.  The work will take a few days to complete, and is likely to continue during the rest of this week.  

While work continued on the path this afternoon, two of the volunteers have been out gathering Willow ready for tomorrow morning's Willow Wreath Making Workshop, with fifteen people booked on to the event.  The rise in temperature over the next few days, as seen by the sun shining on the rapidly melting ice on Plovers Pool this morning, means that we can resume a number of activities.

Tonight the moth trap has been set out, and it will be interesting to see the results in the morning.  The ice is also disappearing from the pools in the wetland, with one of the ponies clearly enjoying a drink from a pool when they were checked this evening.  It will mean that there will be some chance to remove more vegetation from some of the pools if the weather continues to get milder.  Removing as much as we can by the end of January is an important target in managing the Reserve