Staff and volunteers have been carrying out a lot of scrub coppicing over the winter and plan to do some more before the arrival of our summer visitors.  This should improve conditions for breeding warblers and other small woodland birds.  We were dismayed to find that further incidents of fly-tipping had taken place over the christmas period when we inspected the reserve on January 14th but were able to clear a lot of the rubbish (until the next time) away.  It was nice to see a little egret on the island during this visit and we counted over 900 teal on the lagoon following the thaw.

Norman Holton, senior site manager.