I’m finally allowed back to work after breaking my thumb! It's not exactly post-apocalyptic here at Lakenheath but lots have things have changed since my last working day - what a difference a month makes. We've had 124mm of rain during the past four weeks and we've already had over 100% of the average rainfall for February! The reserve looks very different and the river and washland have just about merged into one wide watercourse. Brandon Fen grazing marsh is very wet indeed and the cattle had to be moved to higher and drier ground. Two little egrets had moved in this morning instead!
It's not just the weather that has changed things either - Dave, Katherine and the volunteers have been very busy and luckily, RSPB volunteer Tom stepped in to lend an extra practical hand. There were two work parties last week, both involving reed cutting, bundling and burning in Joist Fen South reedbed. Joist Fen South is an area of reedbed that we have been working on for a few years now. Water levels were lowered and each year a different compartment gets cut. When it is re-flooded, we’ll have new reedbed developing with different age structures to the rest of the reserve, which is beneficial to many different species.
Some of the cut reed was burned but as much as possible was bundled up and taken down to the hide. The screening between the boardwalk and the grazing marsh is developing nicely but we still need some more bundles to complete the screening.
Photo credit: Dave Rogers – Tom monitoring the burning reed in Joist Fen South
Our friendly contractor Paul returned this week to start work on the path alterations between the car park, the visitor centre and the washland. There will be signage in place to advise of any path closures or machinery crossing but pop into the visitor centre for more information about what is taking place. The direct route from the car park to the centre is unaffected.
Photo credit: Ali Blaney – path alterations underway
Not only are the paths developing nicely, we are utilising the digger and dumper for a couple of other tasks too. The raised plant beds are finally getting some attention again. We are using some of the spoil that has been dug up from the new path tracks to fill two of the beds that require peaty soil. The Brecks bed has been filled with sand, taken from our very own sandy, Breckland area down in Brandon Fen.
Photo credit: Ali Blaney – Plant beds progressing
The sand was taken out of two different areas which have been expertly shaped by Paul and his digger and once they have been lined we’ll have two great little shallow pools available down there. They will be temporary or seasonal ponds, which means that in drier times they will probably not have any water in them. That might sound strange for a pond but it’s beneficial for many invertebrate and plant species and also for any potential amphibians that may use them. This is because fish, the main predator, cannot get established in seasonal ponds due to the drought periods. They will also provide nice drinking stations for our birds and mammals down in Brandon Fen, hopefully visitors will get good views!
Photo credit: Ali Blaney – temporary ponds underway in Brandon Fen
So it’s all go here at Lakenheath Fen as usual and it's great to be back and involved again, even if not quite back to normal working order just yet. I was very happy to discover the Slavonian grebe had stuck around until my return - at least my reserve Bird List chances for our 2014 competition haven’t been hampered by my forced absence (although I am firmly in last place!)