Today we were busy cutting and removing gorse from the main grassland at Hodbarrow. The idea is to create open areas with the odd Hawthorn left to provide perches and areas for birds such as White Throat to nest. It is also quite fun to try and get the gorse burnt as the leaves tend to burn faster than the stems meaning you have to get a really hot fire going first(I didn't have to bother about this when I was burning reed at Blacktoft). Luckily we have some tip top vols who really enjoy this and have got the technique perfected! It was great fun and I always enjoy working with the Thursday vols as not only do we get elevenses everyone is just really happy! It's great.
(Stephen Stokes the fire)If you ever fancy coming down to help with any of the work please drop me an email mhairi.maclauchlan@rspb.org.uk and I can keep you in the loop as to when the next work party is and any other volunteer opportunities.
(where we are working we will try to have signs telling you what we are up to but please feel free to come and have a chat!)
We are also getting further with our islands!The left hand spit has been built up using slag from below the hide. The excessive water that we have had this year has proven to be a bit of a challenge for the diggers. This is mainly due to the sheer amount of material that has been needed to build the islands up. On a more positive note we are able to take the current water level as the 'highest point' and hopefully this will mean we will always have island showing no matter how high the water gets. That's the theory anyway!
(The new island almost complete just needs to be cut of with a deep channel. Slag is being dug from the bank near the hide and dumped on the spit by tractor and trailer where it is then put into place )
And finally the birds! A female Goldeneye is on the main lagoon. Last week I got reports of a green winged teal and Salvonian Grebe back on the lagoon. There were snipe, lapwing and red-breasted mergansers either sitting on or around the new island before it was finished. Several Skeins of pink-footed geese have been flying over the reserve mostly heading South or west. Whilst we were gorse cutting there were a lot of bullfinch around where we were working. Finally there have been up to 8 Little Egrets in to roost and even some have been coming in earlier in the afternoon so you might not have to lurk around in the half light!
Anyway cheers for nowMhairi