We are now around half way into the restoration and things appear to be going to plan, with some wonderful results, such as this lovely looking ditch.
Many of the new ditches were awash with dragonflies this morning, several dozen in sight at any one time, many egg laying, either singly or in pairs, whilst others were still involved in the chase!
Wherever we can we try, not only to enhance the site for our wildlife, but also for our visitors, and, opposite the Buddleia Loop view point we have already opened up one ditch mouth so people can see into it and, today, we opened up a second, which will give views in toward one of the key bittern roosting sites on the reserve and, over a few hours today, this….
Became this…
Work has also started on upgrading our paths. Our aim to get them all up to a standard so that they are passable across all seasons and in all weathers. Some parts of our paths are a bit difficult in wet weather, or if you are pushing a pram or in a wheelchair, so, as a first step, we are re-surfacing the paths running from the visitor centre around the Buddleia Loop, nearly 1.5 km in total, putting in a smooth, flat surface, that does not get filled with mud and rain. This does mean that parts of the path, especially around the Buddleia Loop, will need to be closed for a few days, just to make sure that people and diggers don’t get too close to each other. The work, in total, shouldn’t last for more than around three weeks (weather permitting) so please bear with us whilst we make these important changes but, if you have any questions, please do give our visitor centre a call (01305 778313). To whet your appetite here is a picture of the work in progress, you can see the start of removing the old path surface and, within a week or so, we should be installing the new surface.