Hello
Welcome to this week’s reserve team roundup which has felt incredibly busy.
On Saturday and Sunday Hayley, Lucy, Nic and myself spent some time at Snettisham monitoring visitor numbers, cars and hide capacity during another series of high tides. On Sunday the light was incredible and huge number of knot were just dazzling in the sun. It was truly special.
We welcomed Jim back from his two weeks holiday in the Scottish mountains seeing almost zero people; quite a contrast to Titchwell and the rest of the Norfolk coast which is incredibly busy this autumn.
Having been away for two weeks Jim spent his first couple of days working from home catching up on everything that had occurred whilst he was away.
Meanwhile Hayley and I headed to Titchwell on Monday focusing on the sluices and pipes that are located around the reserve facilitating water movement. We firstly went to Patsy’s reedbed to determine why water wasn’t coming off like it should. After wading around in the ditch we came to the conclusion that this ditch has probably silted up. One for machinery to fix. We then headed off to the East Bank to clear vegetation from infront of the tilting weir to help water exit the Freshmarsh. On our way around to the west bank path we spent some time roding a pipe that flows underneath the boardwalk; this one frequently gets blocked by vegetation. Finally we put a board back into one of the reedbed compartment sluices to stop water getting on to the Freshmarsh so that we could lower the water levels on here in readiness for some habitat management work we have planned.
On Tuesday, Hayley, Jim, Nic (administrator) and myself had a ‘Duty Manager’ meeting, this is an opportunity to reflect on our visitor operations, H&S, projects and any other issues that are occurring. Following this Hayley, Nic and myself spent the afternoon helping Clare (catering manager) reshape our indoor seating area in preparation for reopening. This involved removing the bar that runs along the window and the bin store that was under the TV. Although we don’t have an exact date of reopening this area, we are working through all the processes required to reopen which includes ensuring we have enough capacity top operate safely.
For most of Wednesday Jim and I spent the day cutting the reeds along the Parrinder back and infront of the hide which provides roosting areas for the wildfowl and feeding areas for waders such as snipe. This is also in preparation for reopening the hide. We were then joined by Hayley to make a start on laying bark on the now muddy path through the picnic area which has become quite slippery.
Thursday was my turn to Duty Manager, following the morning briefing to ensure everyone knows what their role is for the day and are aware of what is occurring it was time to catch up on some admin tasks. As we are still not quite operating at full capacity in teams of staff and volunteers I covered lunch in the café for our café assistant. In the afternoon Hayley, Jim and myself had a couple of meetings. The first was with Ken Hill Estate hearing more about a project they have planned. The second was a review meeting of the 2020 beach nesting bird season at Titchwell and Snettisham and identifying what was required for the 2021 season. I ended the day cleaning our visitor toilets as our cleaner called in sick.
Friday was a slightly earlier start for me so that I could strim some of the more vegetated path areas and cut the reed in front of fen hide. Hayley, Jim and myself then had a meeting with our Rural Surveyor to check our agri-environment agreements, cross compliance and risk register. This was interrupted with a blue tit flying into Jim’s office! In the afternoon the three of us completed the laying of bark on the path on through the picnic area, so we hope that makes it easier to walk through. In amongst all this I was also helping in the shop as were short staffed today.
As you can see another busy week which has only touched the surface of what we have been up to and had to deal with when managing one of the RSPB’s flagship reserves.