What is a truxor I hear many of you asking. How many of you thought it was some exotic bird, come on hands up. It is, in fact, a piece of kit used to maintain reedbeds and other wetland habitats.
Redbeds and other wetland habitats have uneven ground and water levels. If we were to cut the reedbed using the tools we have on site, brushcutters and a pedestrian mower with reciprocating cutter bar (BCS), we would have to drain the water from the reedbed to allow us to gain access to the areas that need cutting. This is very bad for reedbed wildlife, especailly fish and invertebrates. But now we have access to an amazing machine called a Truxor! Its a truck. And its a saw! Get it! (this is Caroline's joke! Tee hee!) The Truxor can float on water and has caterpillar tracks like a tank so it can cope with the varied terrain in a reedbed. spread the load when working on wet or muddy sites. It has many different attachement ie buckets, rake, and reciprocationg cutter bar, to enable it to carry out a number of different tasks within a wetland sysytem. It is the first time we have used the truxor to maintain our reedbed so it is quite exciting. What is the saying boys and their toys, well even though I am not a boy I do like a bit of machinery. Below are some pictures that i took last year when the HMWT were using it on site and it was parked over night in the car park.
The truxor is run by a company called Aqua Clear who will be working on site from friday for 4 days cutting some of the reedbed in the Lee Marsh. By using the Truxor we can cut some areas of reed that are normally awkward for us to access ie surrounded by ditches and covered in water as it is able to cut underwater while floating, clever!
Once the Truxor is up and running i will post some pictures of its work on site and it will be working over the weekend giving ample oppertunity for any of you visiting to see this fascinating bit of kit in action.
cheers
vicky