I thought it was worth showing an update on our new path through to the extra land we took on. Thanks to the continuing help of SkillMill and from Morpeth scouts, plus my volunteering stalwarts Phil and Libby!

Still a lot more to do but it’s looking smart so far.

If anyone knows of someone with a heavy duty woodchipper we could use that would be useful. We still have a lot of path to cover!

Some pictures from the month of July on the reserve:-

A first for the nature reserve, our first batch of Clarks Bog honey!

Ron Smith one of our bee keepers kindly supplied me with the first few jars of honey produced by our bees on Clarks bog.

Here’s the finished product:-

Hopefully the first of many.

I received a call yesterday from a friend saying they had sighted a young swan near the reserve, I asked if it had a red leg tag and they said yes. So I knew there was a fair chance it was our young cygnet that left a few weeks ago. So I set off in my buggy to see if it was indeed our youngster. When I arrived at Dunces houses sure enough it was our little friend surrounded by workmen throwing bread to her, she did seem hungry, and a little bedraggled!

I decided it would be best to take her back to the reserve as she was very close to a busy road. The next problem was how to get her back, I tried to put her in the back of the buggy but she just hopped out as soon as I started moving. So I picked her up, got in the buggy and sat her on my knee. I was pleasantly surprised to find she seemed quite happy to sit there and be chauffeur driven back to the reserve. Thankfully there was no wing flapping or signs of stress, as you can see below:-

She knew her way home and once out the cab quickly waddled her way down to her pond. Let’s see how long she stays!

I thought it would be nice to give you a flavour of what has been out and about on the reserve in June. So here are a few pictures of what has been seen this month.

Our injured cygnet (Tiddles) left the reserve this week after just over a year with us. Her injured wing appears to be mended now. She will be a big miss as latterly she was following me around like a pet dog.

So if you do see a young swan on your travels with a red leg ring that reads JKI please let me know.

Maybe in years to come she may bring a partner back to the reserve.

Over the last couple of weeks we have been very busy on the reserve with a lot of help from a number of different volunteers.

We have been working on the path into the additional six acres of land.

The Northumberland Rivers Trust are funding a team from Skillmill (who built our leaky dams). We have had additional help from volunteers from Wave Utilities.

Ross Blackburn (my next door neighbour) loaned me a dumper truck. We have made good progress but it’s a big job as it’s a path of approximately 500 metres.

We also had a team from Merck. Sharp & Dohme who were in over a couple of days painting and clearing weeds around our new hedges.

We have also had Morpeth Rainbows, Girl Guides and Rangers as well as Morpeth Scouts, all helped out on the reserve.

Finally we had 60 pupils from Abbeyfields School who visited to learn about seed dispersal.

No pictures of the youngsters as it’s not allowed these days!

So very busy few weeks but I am very grateful for the help given.

Just an update on my frog rescue program, the frog spawn has developed into a fine collection of froglets.

These little chaps are the first batch about to be released back into their original pond.

Before I did this they treated me to a little frog gymnastic display:-

They were released into the pond and hopefully avoided the juvenile Heron that arrived not long after!

Big thanks to Andy Peaden for his kind donation of a lifebelt.

Helps me meet my health and safety obligations.

It no has pride of place at Dunces Corner Pond:-