Another pleasantly sunny morning greeted this month’s work party of three members.

The main task of gathering in and carting away this year’s ‘hay’ cut was completed with sufficient time to spare to go over the ground again, raking in a different direction to lift the thatch. The area cut in Cyril’s Patch last month was then given a rake through. Yet another bag was filled with Hogweed seed-heads for disposal, so by lunchtime we had tackled all of the tasks planned for this month’s work party.

If you are disappointed at not being available to attend the first of the autumn work parties at Ogston Reservoir, or perhaps are just nursing a ‘guilty’ conscience, this can be remedied by joining the next work party at the Jim Mart Nature Reserve. Saturday’s weather forecast is, at the time of writing, for light cloud and no rain. The priority will be to remove the recently cut hay, which will be either light or heavy work depending on the amount of rainfall in the preceding days. Either way, the cut area will need raking through to lift the underlying thatch so that the seeds can fall down to bare ground. Lighter tasks will be available, including the delicate job of capturing Hogweed and Thistle seeds.

To help out at the work party, meet at the reserve on Saturday, 19th September, 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. For the hay bring a sturdy garden rake or pitchfork, and a wheelbarrow if you can; for the seeds a pair of secateurs is all that is needed.

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).

Despite a very wet Friday, today’s pleasant morning encouraged five members to turn out for the work party.

Whilst two members set about the main task of finishing the cutting and carting away of the worst of the rough vegetation from Cyril’s Patch, the rest had the rather less energetic task of collecting seed heads from the Hogweed plants across the reserve. The seeds are being removed before they can ripen in order to slow down the spread of plants, whilst retaining sufficient of the latter to provide dead stems over the winter and flowering heads next summer for the large insect population.

Good progress meant we had time for a walk-around to see what wildlife there was (see separate post).