Post 382 - Continuing Conservation for Nature at Nosterfield

The pile at the start - I'm in the green jumper by the fire

Hey everyone, Post 382 and just a little update on a fabulous morning at Nosterfield last Sunday. As you know I like to go there quite a lot as its a great local reserve and one of the nearest to me. I really like helping out there to by volunteering when I can. I got to help out with the open day last year and I also helped to take out a lot of Ash saplings in part of the reserve that were growing in place that they weren't needed.

A lot of other work has gone on over the reserve to make sure the best environments for the wildlife are kept that way. That had left a big pile of 'brash' on part of the reserve where all the stuff that had been cut down was collected. Our job on Sunday was to go through the huge pile and make sure there wasn't anything living in it and then have a bonfire!

And at the end just a little pile in the
pond left for the shrike to come back to - we hope!

Well it didn't take long for the fire to get going really well. That was great, especially as it was a really cold morning, the car had said it was between -3 and 0 C on the way over! Once I got moving and with the fire it was lovely and warm though.

It was nice working and chatting to everyone and watching the wildlife get one with its day around us. At one point around 300 geese  (greylags probably - I was watching my feet and trying not to step in rabbit holes!) came onto the far side of the lake, pretty awesome!

Water levels on the reserve are really high!

The pile was massive but there were about 10 volunteers so it only took until lunchtime to get it all on the fire. Even though some of it had been lying in water it all burnt really fast as the fire was so hot. I have a log fire at home and I know how hard that is to light sometimes so it was amazing to see this pile of branches, sticks and logs but so well.

I'm looking forward to going back for more volunteering but my next trip there I hope is for a ringing session so more on that soon I hope.

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.