Busy, busy, busy for our volunteer team

 

Once the breeding season has finished and the risk of disturbing breeding birds across the reserve has subsided, then the role of the volunteer team here at Tophill comes into its own and will continue throughout the autumn and winter months.

One of the first jobs that is tackled is the cutting of the meadows, particularly in areas where large machinery is unable to access. We have contractors who manage the main cut, as visitors will have seen on Hempholme meadow. This has not been cut for several years as it has been too wet to allow machinery onto the ground. The grazing cattle and goats can now be seen, and their grazing will help keep the sward much lower.

Hempholme meadow viewed from Angus McBean hide after cutting 

On the other grassland areas our volunteer team has been helped this year by a local group of people from the Scythe Society who use traditional methods and scythes to cut the grass, making the task seem effortless. Once the grass has been cut visitors will notice that the grass is collected and made into mounds, scattered around the grassland. We have been using a relatively new piece of kit, a thermal image camera for some survey work and when you direct the camera on these grass mounds you can see how attractive they are for grass snakes, as they become very hot in the centre, very quickly. An ideal place for snakes to hibernate or to lay eggs.

Hay piles after cutting

Thermal image of hay piles showing the heat inside them after only a few days

The kingfishers were feeding regularly on north lagoon, delighting many visitors, often people who had never seen kingfishers before. But the reeds in front of the hide were obscuring the view so the volunteers donned waders and treacherously waded out into the deep mud to cut back the vegetation, as well as taking the opportunity to paint the front of the hide, keeping it protected from the elements. In addition to better views of the feeding kingfishers, water rails and grass snakes have been seen more clearly too.

North lagoon

Area in front of north lagoon hide

In D woods, the small pond has been engulfed by vegetation so again our volunteer team has been busy cutting back and clearing the pond. This will allow more light to reach the water and hopefully with a bit more rain there will be more water retained in the pond, encouraging water invertebrates to breed, in turn attracting moorhens and water rails.

D woods pond "before"

And "after"

Nearer to the reception hide the team have been cutting back brambles and “weeding” around the selection of fairly newly planted trees, making sure that they get more established in this part of the woodland.

Newly planted trees cleared of brambles at the bottom of the reception ramp

Bramble clearance in reception woods

In addition to these bigger jobs, our volunteer team also carry out the monthly WeBS wildfowl count, survey and record plant species around the reserve, maintain the cabling to enable video cameras on various nesting sites, monitor and maintain the hundreds of nest boxes and keep the paths clear of encroaching vegetation.

They are certainly kept busy. We can’t thank them enough for all their hard work and dedication and for all the working hours that they give to maintain the reserve for the wildlife and its visitors. Their efforts are hugely appreciated.