Sunglasses and Spring Sunshine.

Thursday, March 9th 2017

It was a glorious sunny day today – a day to enjoy being outdoors, which we did with enthusiasm! With help from the Thursday team of dedicated volunteers we got things done across the reserve. Even the sunglasses came out!

Continuing the clear up of logs after the tree works by the beck was one of the major jobs of the day. The sun poured onto the bank where the tree cover had been thinned as if to invite new growth. Thankfully the timber is away and we can leave the cleared areas to flourish again.

While I drove the ATV and trailer laden with logs to the store to off load them, some of the team patched up damage to the paths and tracks caused by all this intense activity.

John did various jobs today, such as tending to the hide camera batteries, but his main job was digging a drainage channel on the picnic area in front of the Field Centre.

The heavy clay sub-soil, which was the cause of our pour drainage in this area, did not make the job easy, but by the end of the day the pipe was in and connected with just a tweak for us to do tomorrow.

Tony and Mike did their usual water checks but this time with the added job of doing a frog spawn survey around all the ponds/ditches to find out the surface area of spawn and any frog activity.

Frogs are normally the first to spawn and to move to the ponds, and a couple of weeks after that there is the movement of Common Toads to all areas. Today the first toad was seen moving around the ponds near Risedale Beck. The sign warning of ‘Toads on the Road’ went on the main gate, a sure indicator that Spring is here!

One of the jobs unforeseen was a window breakage at the port-a-cabin. Again this does not phase our volunteers and the job is now near to being completed.

One of the last jobs to be done today was the clearing of the Gabions Dam on our perimeter. This needs constant attention over winter and Spring as the pipes get clogged with debris and can compromise the surrounding banks.

Again, a varied and busy day spurred on by the continued Spring like air. Thank you to the volunteers who attended and for their hard work and smiles!
 

---

(0) Comments:

There are no comments for this blog post yet. Why not start the discussion? - use the form below:

---

Leave a Comment:

There are some errors in your form.

* Name: Please complete this field, it's required. * Email: Your email address will not be displayed but it's required. URL: * Leave a Comment:

Your email address will not be displayed but it's required.

Remember my personal information

Notify me of follow-up comments?

---

Back to Top