Hello everyone, Mark here again to update you on what is happening in the Exe Estuary :-). This is my final blog post as I am finishing next Wednesday, and two new residential volunteers will take my place shortly afterwards.
This week at Exminster, we have undertaken a breeding bird survey on Exminster Marshes and on the Powderham side of the reserve, and have continued to monitor the Lapwing.
We have also continued work on the Discovery Area, at the end of Turf path. After cutting down the old willow trees, we have planted new stakes which we have bended into the correct shapes to make a new tunnel and house. Hopefully the new willow will take root and grow. The log sized waste material has been added to the habitat log piles nearby and Dennis and Andrew have cleared out the pond. The old and neglected grass pile has been revitalised by adding the equivalent of a whole hay bale’s worth of dried grass, so hopefully there will be reptiles taking advantage of that as the weather gets warmer J. We have done quite a bit on the Discovery area recently, so feel free to have a look around J. If you’d like to find reptiles, keep checking under the corrugated metal sheets dotted around the reserve, as I’m sure that they’ll start to use them soon. Helen (a regular Thursday work party volunteer) and I saw a couple of lizards along the side of Turf path yesterday, so keep an eye out ;-).
Slow Worm ("Anguis fragilis 20050721 002" by Jonas Bergsten - Wikipedia)
We also removed part of the predator fence yesterday, as it was acting as a shortcut to avoid flood water. The water is unlikely to come back, so we have removed it to increase the size of the protected area.
Today Andrew is monitoring the Lapwings on both sides of the reserve and I’ll be checking the water levels. In the afternoon I’ll be strimming grass around the gates along Turf path (for the first time this year J) and some of the waste material from the old Willow house will be burned.
And finally, I shall say goodbye to you all, thanks for reading my blog posts and I hope that they have been interesting and useful to you.
I hope you have a good weekend.
Mark