The Reed beds around Stockers support a variety of mammals, young fish shelter in the submerged roots feasting on plants insects and larvae. These reed beds are great for breeding Reed and Sedge Warbler and we recently discovered that harvest mice nest here too!

This month our volunteers set about maintaining the reed beds by coppicing willow, which if left unchecked would overwhelm the reed beds.

It was a mild, bright and sunny day, absolutely perfect for the task in hand. Wellington boots were a must, although in our enthusiasm two of us got a little swamped!

Four of us started the morning by finishing off some coppicing on the opposite side of the lake, but later joined the main group.

A great morning's work, so many thanks to Josh Kalms, Ken Davies, Nilesh Dodhia, Tony & Sheila Lee, Philip & Julia Davies, Alison Marriott, Shaan Purohit, Cathy Green, Russell Ball and Nigel Daley.

Jack Westbrook