Who keeps digging up my woodchip paths? Well suspicions confirmed, see below!

Bit more badger action, getting really stuck in to my path!!

First came the frogs:-

Then the toads:-

Then the rats:-

Then the Mallards:-

Then the Moorhens:-

I hope we’ll have a healthy crop of youngsters this season.

I thought I would make good use of some of the tree stumps, so we have a picnic table and chairs for the little ones and an elevated observation bench for the adults. They will look onto our wildflower meadow which we plan to seed at the back end of the month.

Thanks to Libby for my birthday presents, some lovely birdie silhouettes, located now on the classroom roof.

Yesterday I took delivery of 7 rotting old tree stumps, great for the wildlife. Many thanks to Andy for supplying them and Keith for delivering them with his digger.

I eventually found time to do a bit of dry stone walling around Bobs bench, to give it a little wind break. A little raised bed behind should hopefully grow a nice little living screen.

We welcomed Ponteland Boys Brigade to the reserve today, where representatives presented 8 bird boxes that the boys had made. They kindly helped put up the bird boxes then helped move about 60 barrow loads of mud onto Love island.

Thanks to the guys and the two leaders Les and Darren who pitched in as well.

To try and use a Willow tree that was blown down earlier in the year I have constructed a Willow tit nest box from the stump.

Let’s hope our little feathered friends take up residence in the spring!

As part of the Dunces Corner pond project we have started on the island that will be in the middle of the pond.

We cleared the area:-

laid some flood barrier material :-

Laid some board :-

Added a paving surround and log edging:-

Watch this space as I have to fill the middle with the concrete blocks and then add the soil cleared from my wildflower meadow site:-

Well Love Island is just about finished, now we just need a pond to go around it!

It was a busy Sunday on the reserve, we had the bird ringing group in doing the monthly ringing and also 4th Morpeth scouts were in helping me out.

The scouts helped finish off 20 bird boxes which will be going up soon, they also continued to renew the boardwalk down to wiggle water pond. Then finally they helped with some path maintenance. There help was much appreciated.

The bird ringers had a good day too with over a hundred birds ringed in about 5 hours, we had 12 different species of bird, so quite a nice variety. 8 ringers arrived on site, the most we have had for a single session, just as well as its the biggest haul of birds we have had.