The first day of meteorological spring couldn't be further from reality today as I look out of the window (at home!) onto nearly a foot of snow, with a howling easterly accompanying the flurries! We were lucky then to get the remainder of our winter woodland and scrub management programme finished last week before the weather hit.
Since January we have been thinning sycamore in our woodland and you will see some of this work as you walk along the footpath from the car park to the reserve. Here we aim to gradually reduce the abundance of sycamore over a period of 10 years and to plant and encourage natural regeneration of a wide range of native tree, shrub and herbaceous species. We would like to see our existing oak and elm trees given more space to thrive (important for our scarce purple and white-letter hairstreak butterflies), as well as planting species such as hawthorn, blackthorn, hazel and holly into the understorey and encouraging woodland floor species such as wild garlic and wood anemone. This work will gradually create a much more biodiverse woodland, benefiting everything that call the woodland it's home.
Earlier on in the winter, we focused on thinning our western scrub block to benefit grasshopper warblers. Here we are aiming to create a scattered low scrub, with a tall herbaceous understorey, perfect for these skulking and secretive birds. Other warbler species will benefit from this too, as well as a plethora of invertebrates.
Over the next few years we will concentrate on different areas of the main woodland and move into the other woodland and scrub blocks on site too. Thinning to create more glades and rides, combined with planting and natural regeneration in all these areas, with some meadow restoration in others should make for much better habitats for our wildlife.
Wildlife-wise, it almost did seem like spring before the snow fell, with loads of bird species singing away. I heard my first reed bunting singing on Tuesday, water rails were squealing away, skylarks in full song flights and several very vocal Cetti's warblers. It was -2C, but the birds didn't seem to mind too much!
Listen out for the squealing calls of water rails coming from the reeds and wet edges on the reserve.