Birdsong kicking off

On a wonderful warm early Spring day the common was alive with birdsong, already well under way. Great tits, robins, song thrush and skylark were in fine voice. It took a little tracking down, but I found a blackbird skulking in a bush murmuring away to itself; perhaps getting itself in tune before giving it the full welly.

The were several dunnocks singing in the bright sunshine, and I managed to get some shots of one, the best of which is here.

Enjoying the warmth of the sun I took a seat on the Chadwick bench, and after a while I realised I could hear a reed bunting; this struck me as rather early. Looking across the reedbed I spotted the bird right away, typically perched at the top of a reed, gently swaying in the breeze. It was a long way off and difficult to get a good steady shot of it, but the picture does at least show it really was a reed bunting.

A little further on my walk, no longer on the common but near enough, I found this cluster of ladybirds warming themselves.

All in all, a lovely morning.

Fully loaded

Another working party today, with 10 volunteers putting in a solid shift. Once again we were lucky with the weather; the threatened rain holding off until the afternoon, by which time we were long gone.

As can be seen, a serious attempt was made to so load the cart that it would sink in the mud up to its axles. Since the dry reeds were light, it actually wasn't as over-loaded as it looks, as can be seen by the happy smiling faces of the doughty cart crew!

Off, then on

After a deceptively mild winter so far, the weather turned mean with a vengeance on the night of 4th February. The scheduled working party for the next day was called off, since it's hard to cut reeds when they're buried under snow. Such was the reasoning of our leader. However, nothing daunted, he re-convened the working party for the next Saturday, and although it remained pretty chilly and no mistake, the snow had thawed enough to make the work possible.

Your correspondent was not present this time, entertaining his visiting relatives instead. However, the evidence is there for all to see, with a lot more cut and mounds of reeds waiting to be removed by the BTCV stalwarts during the week - just in time for the next working party on the 18th.

Here's the Chairman's message:

Hello All

 

I am running out of ways to say thank you and congratulations on another successful morning's work.

This morning was another example of the splendid team work which is the hallmark of our group.  Well done.

 

Next Saturday, 18th. at 9:00am we resume where we left off today.  Hopefully, BTCV will have cleared all our heaps and a bit more besides. 

 

Thanks and regards

John