July’s work party will be targeting the reserve’s flourishing vegetation. Some jobs have already been dealt with, for example Dick Johnson voluntarily devoted the whole of last Saturday morning to single-handedly clearing the base of the north hedge of grass and weeds, and then finished off by removing willowherb from the north and west ditches – a sterling effort. Also, despite the demise of the lawn mower, Jeff Davies has been busy with the endless task of cutting the reserve’s paths, so all that is left for work party participants this Saturday is pulling out cleavers (i.e. goose-grass or sticky-willy), raking up the grass cuttings from the paths, trimming back overhanging branches from the hedges, and removing green algae from the bottom pond. No doubt there will be other similar tasks spotted on the day to keep everyone occupied.
Meet at the reserve on Saturday, 19th July, at 9:30 am. We will finish around lunchtime.
All members are welcome and no previous experience is necessary. Please wear appropriate work clothes, stout shoes, boots or wellies, and gardening gloves or equivalent. Insect repellent is recommended at this time of year. Appropriate tools to bring, though some are available, would be hand clippers / shears, loppers, pitchfork, rake.
Organised work parties take place at the Jim Mart reserve on the morning of the third Saturday in every month, except in December. For further information visit the Jim Mart NR pages on the Ogston Bird Club website https://ogstonbirdclub.co.uk/ , or contact Peter Faulkner by email ([email protected]) or by telephone (0784 214 8888).