A very big thank you goes out to Lila, Lara and Jake for their fabulous work done on our reedbed boardwalk. The three joined me at the reserve for a weeks work experience.

The project they were given was to rejuvenate the boardwalk across the reedbed which was looking a little neglected.

So Lila, Lara and Jake gave the boardwalk a makeover. An unexpected obstacle was our swan family that interrupted work on several occasions as they passed through the work area!

But despite the interruptions the project was completed. I do have to say that Lila, Lara and Jake went above and beyond expectations. The project was not quite completed after the 5 days but they insisted on coming back to finish the project. I applaud them for that attitude, it will see them well for their futures.

My little Roe Deer mum revealed that she had actually had twins.

Just a few pictures of our new arrivals.

We have welcomed 100’s of thousands of new arrivals on site in the last 2 weeks. There are now two honey bee hives on site courtesy of Ron Smith and Tom Patterson, two local bee keepers.

Our Roe Deer mum has produced for another year, her 11th fawn at Clarks Bog. She may even have more than the one, but so far she has only been seen with one. It was born last Saturday and they both appear to be doing well.

Over the last week we have been doing a little project to determine what happens with our tree sparrow population throughout the year.

To this end we have been ringing the young Tree Sparrows in the nest box.

This may look a bit disruptive to the new chicks but they are only out the nest for a couple of minutes and the parents are straight back looking after them once returned to the nest.

The pictures below show a newly fledged youngster showing their sparkly new ring.

We will now monitor over time and see if they remain at Clarks bog or spread out into the local area.

They produced 3 signets last year and this year they have gone 2 better and have 5 healthy looking youngsters.

The youngsters were hatching last week, Camilla was sitting on seven eggs of which 5 hatched.

Proud looking parents.

Bottoms up!

Feeding the youngsters with some tasty pondweed.

My first dragonfly of the season arrived today. A very fresh looking Broad Bodied Chaser (female) was sunning herself in the reed bed.

No males spotted yet but they shouldn’t be too long in appearing I hope.

Our royal couple have finally unveiled the youngsters.

Yes Charles and Camilla have shown what they have been working on for weeks.

It looks like there are at least a couple of unhatched eggs so maybe there will be new additions tomorrow!

Hopefully I will catch there maiden swim over the next few days.

Here are a few pictures of what has arrived/appeared on the reserve over the last couple of weeks:-

So plenty happening at the moment!