Recently I've been bloggin on quite a bit about our ultra exciting work on biofuels and how we manage the reedbeds for other wildlife using our new and totally amazing low ground pressure Softrak all terrain vehicle.
Well today was just fantastic as the team went into full on harvest mode with the new state of the art reed bundler and bailer system! This neat little bit of kit should enable us to cut and bail reed so that we can then use it for biofuel briquettes, thatching, making insulation, biochar or just about anything we want to!
The reed is bundled and then can be put into a bigger bale that makes it much easier for handling when it comes to moving it off site. It took an amazing 6 minutes to create a bale with the machine harvesting an area of about 2m by 80m in that time.
The best thing is though that we can help manage the Humbers reedbeds so that they stay in tip top condition for all our fantastic birds such as bearded tit, marsh harrier, bitterns, reedbuntings and migrant warblers! Not to mention oudles of other biodiversity.
This is all part of our 'Back to the Future' vision which is funded by WREN Environmental and at the moment delivering so much more than we could have ever imagined thanks to their generous support.
Here's some pictures of the Softrak and team in action!
Below Machine turning at the end of a row
Harvesting
Small ditches - no problem
The finished bundles! With one being tipped out of the bailer.