Heath and Hedges

Tuesday, May 2nd 2017

Today Foxglove was very busy. The Tuesday volunteers turned up as usual in big numbers to carry out a variety of tasks. We started with filling the feeders and continuing work replacing the cable running from the lake hide to the field centre that powers the webcam. The main task of the day was completing the dead hedge.

We have been working on this for a few Tuesdays now and today we got it finished. It looks much smarter.

Whilst in the area we also tackled some of the gorse on the edge of the heath. At this time of year it looks very pretty and seems a shame to cut it down, but we have an endless battle with gorse as it has a habit of trying to take over large swathes of the reserve. This prevents many other species from growing so any bits we can remove before the seeds ripen is a bonus.

The Dales School are back from their Easter Holidays and also came to help out. They also spent time cutting back gorse and small branches from one of the net rides.

Whilst on the heath we found this little toad.

We also found these lovely fungi, called Common Eyelash. They are tiny, about 4mm across, so very easy to miss. On close inspection you can see the tiny “eyelashes” around the edge of each cup.

After lunch Hunton and Arrathorne Primary School came to visit. They had been studying the topic of bees and enjoyed the chance to see our display honey bee hive before having a walk around the reserve.

We achieved a lot today. Thanks very much to everyone for their help today.

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