It's that time of year again when the volunteers are down on the reserve, come rain or shine, hard at work carrying out the annual willow coppice. Coppicing is a traditional technique which helps extend the life of the tree, providing more firewood and of providing long thin branches which can be used for a variety of purposes. The main reason we carry it out however is because it has the additional benefit of producing thicker denser willows which are better for wildlife as they providing more cover and shelter. Additionally, managing the willows stops them getting too tall, and so stops them becoming perches used by crows to look out over the fields for tasty wading bird chicks to eat. The willows are coppicied during the winter so we don't disturb nesting birds. In previous years we have coppiced one in three willows but now that we have got most of the willows on the reserve under control we are extending some of the cutting regimes to one in every five willows. A few smaller branches are left on the trees so they aren't left completely bald and log piles are created with the larger btis of timber, providing excellent places for insects, small mammals and amphibians to hide, live and feed. The rest of the material from the willows is burnt.