Some weeks ago we began bundling reeds with which to construct screens to enable disturbance free surveying of the new pools and ditches at the top of Radipole. An unavoidable consequence of the habitat improvements over the past couple of years is that marginal vegetation on the bunds around ditches has been knocked back which has severely limited our ability to monitor wildlife within the new water bodies.
Reed is laid into frames constructed from poplar (the arisings from rotational coppicing within the Secret Garden), which when secured to fence stakes, provide an effective barrier between birds and bins.