Well, hasn’t this year gone quickly?! Too quickly for my liking. The last few weeks have been exceptionally busy for us down the reserve, mainly because we’ve had a contractor in doing some reed cutting!
Our contractor uses a digger with a special bucket on it, called a Bradshaw bucket. This is one which cuts the reeds either underwater or at ground level using the reciprocating blades on the front of the bucket.
Cutting reed with a Bradshaw bucket is much easier than strimming it! Photo by Katherine Puttick
Emma stoking the fires. Photo by Dave Rogers
The cut reed is piled in heaps, and we then try to burn it, which is where the volunteers come in! If there’s nothing more our volunteers like, it’s to have a jolly good bonfire! Just as well really as there is rather a lot of reed material to get rid of! On various days between Monday and Friday, Nigel, Rob, Robert, Phil, Darren and Roger, all took charge of matches and pitchforks and reduced many piles of reed to ashes. There’s still quite a bit to get rid of though, so I suspect that’ll be the main job in the New Year!
Looking east along the cut compartment. Photo by Katherine Puttick
You may ask why we burn the reed instead of using it for thatch. The main reason is that we need to remove the reed somehow, and as the reed we are cutting is about 16 years old, it makes it very unsuitable for thatching. To use it for thatching, you’d need reed of one to two years old, as it has long straight stems and very little reed litter. Our reed is a mix of thick and thin stems, mostly fairly wonky (technical term!), and with quite a depth of litter that has built up over the years.
Over about three days, we cut about 2.5 hectares of reed (barely 2% of the total amount of reed we have on-site!). This will be the last time for a while that we cut the reed in that particular compartment. The aim now is to keep the levels low in the cut compartment, graze it until late next year, then bring the water levels back up and let the reed re-colonise. Cutting reed on rotation in this way allows us to keep the reed at different stages which attracts a wider range of wildlife. It also prevents too much leaf litter building up, which can eventually raise the level of the reed bed and dry it out, which makes it unsuitable for bitterns and other wildlife that rely on a reed bed being wet! Next year, we’ll start cutting the next oldest bit of reed!
View of Joist Fen north. Photo by Katherine Puttick
Well, that’s it from me, apart from to wish you all a very merry Christmas and happy New Year! Blog posts may be a bit few and far between until the New Year, as we’re all on our holidays! The reserve will be open dawn until dusk throughout the festive season, but the visitor centre will be closed from midday on 24 December until 1 January. The toilets will be open 9am to 5pm from 27 to 31 Dec.
Time for me to go and get my home fire going. It's cold out there!
Cheers to all!
Katherine.