Report from Bishampton Nature Reserve

Many hours of work were done during autumn, winter and early spring. The weather I over the period was wet at times but did not significantly stop work.

A lot of bramble has been cleared where it was causing problems to young trees. Strong winds during the winter blew down many trees that were in poor health. Most of these have been cleared although many dead elms still remain. Where these pose no danger they have been left; dead wood is a part of the natural cycle and supports many forms of life. There is plenty of work for the next few years. It is slow progress because of lack of volunteers and we have only hand saws to do the job. The area around the pond has been cleared to prevent vegetation taking over. Some ditches have been partly cleared by hand, but these will have to be done more thoroughly next winter and some trees felled to make the work easier. Rainfall over the past year has not caused any flooding problems and the pond retained water during the summer.

Once again can we make a plea for volunteers to take an interest in the reserve? They should have an appreciation of nature and not just endeavour to make the area neat and tidy! Present volunteers are getting rather old and may one day be blown down by the autumnal winds.

We hope health and safety issues have been resolved. If anyone feels anything needs doing in this area, please let us know. However, there will always be some risk when entering a nature reserve, without it life would be dull!

There have been no problems with vandalism in the reserve over the past year, with the exception of woodpeckers widening the holes of bird boxes.

Grateful thanks to all who have helped or shown an interest in the work of nature conservation in the reserve.