Hello again from the Exe Estuary, Mark here :-)
This week we have been to various places doing various things. On Monday, we finished tidying up the area next to the path leading to the viewing platform at Bowling Green Marsh, where we have cleared scrub next to a ditch. The ditch will be slubbed in the autumn to remove a lot of sediment and other debris, and hopefully the ditch will look cleaner and be able to support more wildlife in the future. We have also undertaken maintenance of the path which runs around the rear of the field opposite the main path, so that it is ready to be re-opened in the summer. This maintenance has included hedge trimming and removal of some Sycamore trees, which will open up the path to sunlight and keep it drier, as it is currently fairly muddy. We are just waiting for our neighbours to rebuild their wall before re-opening the path, which will probably be in the late spring/summer.
On Tuesday, we finished the first section of hedgelaying at Powderham. We have finished the initial stretch of hedge, however there is a little more to do, where trees have been planted. It is looking very good at the moment, and hopefully better when it is fully completed.
On Wednesday, Andrew was here on his own, undertaking general maintenance around the reserve. Speaking of general maintenance, our new workshop is getting towards being fully completed. We now have a small shed for the generator which powers the sockets and lights inside, and the progress on the wooden cladding and roof for the other shipping container is going well.
The other days of this week have been spent at Labrador Bay, where our work to restore the grassland has come to a finish for this year. I have written a separate blog post for Labrador Bay this week ;-).
I hope you have a good weekend.
Mark