Work-party season draws to a close

Shaun and Lee clearing the new ride next to the beck

Today was the last of our formal work-parties before the breeding season gets going - any work done during the summer has to be risk-assessed to avoid disturbance to breeding birds. In fact, we didn't really intend having a work-party this morning at all, but a few volunteers had gather to unload a timber delivery which, in the end, was a much easier job than we'd expected. Several of us stayed on and achieve some real progress in opening up the ride adjacent to the beck. During our 'down time' we managed to locate our first clump of frog-spawn on the Winter (now Spring!) scrape and find several groups of Early Purple Orchid - more evidence that Spring has sprung.

More signs of Spring...