Once again a mixed bag of jobs to attend to. The Membership Secretary will be arriving fresh from the Scottish trip to personally oversee the (possibly challenging) ground preparation and subsequent planting of a line of young willows near the Hide Pond. Once established these will be coppiced to maintain a regular supply of withies for new and renovated fedges at both Ogston and at the Jim Mart reserve. This is also your opportunity to hear at first hand what really went on during that fabled outing to the north, before there has been much time for decoration, embellishment and almost unbelievable exaggeration to creep in.

Ancillary works will involve attending to any necessary weeding of the North hedge and to the bank below the partly finished fedge near the hide, trimming back brambles at the Middle Pond, and repositioning the bolt and keep of the access gate between the Hide and the Hide Pond. Time should be available to check out the spring wildlife whilst all this is going on.

To help at the work party, meet at the reserve on Saturday, 21st May 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. Most tools are available on-site but bring along anything you think might help with the above tasks.

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 about the reserve visit the Jim Mart NR pages on the Ogston Bird Club website, or contact Peter Faulkner by email ([email protected]) or on 0784 214 8888 nearer the date.

A cold start turned into a pleasant sunny morning, although it was still best to keep working to remain warm. The planned water-based activities were completed (removing overhanging branches, and repairing the mooring of the raft) along with removal of moss from the concrete block which forms the ‘basking’ area.
The remaining task, to do some more raking, was dropped in favour of studying mosses and lichens, which is rapidly becoming the favoured recording theme for 2016.
Two members participated in this month’s work party, and apologies were received from two others suffering from injury/illness/early kick-off.

Just for a change, this month’s tasks are of a light nature. In the rough-grass areas there will be some gentle raking out of dead vegetation, in a manner so as not to unduly disturb the emerging wildlife; on the concrete plinths a bit of scraping to clear moss from the basking areas; and in the brook some delicate footwork is required to make adjustments to the hazels in order to re-establish the perfect balance of light and shade over the water (wellies advised). The nautical-minded can attend to the moorings of the monitoring raft, which have been damaged by the winter swells.

To help at the work party, meet at the reserve on Saturday, 16th April 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. Bring a rake or a pitch-fork if you can.

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 about the reserve visit the Jim Mart NR pages on the Ogston Bird Club website, or contact Peter Faulkner by email ([email protected]) or on 0784 214 8888 nearer the date.