Medway and Coastal Wetlands Volunteering Update - July 2022
Medway Wetland Team Update - Rosemary Holden
At the end of May, the Medway Wetland volunteers surveyed the northern fields at Holborough for water voles. When surveying for water voles, you are looking for signs of their activity – latrines, feeding signs and burrows. If you are lucky you may be able to hear the “plop” of one diving into the ditch or spot one before it sees you. The survey inevitably became a competition for who could find the most signs. We did manage to hear a couple “plops” and the signs show the Holborough has an average water vole population of 29 per water course.
The volunteers also have been cutting footpaths at Holborough as well as fixing post and rail fences. Whilst these jobs are less fun as a water vole survey, they still get stuck in.
The roaming Wednesday team also made a start in re-organising the work shop, focussing on clearing the lofts, in which signs for the Kent Trust for Nature Conservation, old radiators and a boat were found. Whilst during the tidy up, it looked like chaos with various piles taking up space in the yard, everything was re-organised and put back in a more efficient way. A big thank you to Dave Watson for tackling the buckets of miscellaneous staples/nails/screws/bits of metal wire and organising them into separate buckets.
The next job on the agenda for the Wednesday and Thursday teams are tackling ragwort and goat’s rue at Holborough. Goat’s rue is a large, invasive plant so the teams will trial different techniques to see what works best to reduce its dominance.
Swale Team - Apr – June - Nadia Ward
This spring saw the Swale volunteers start with dismantling what was left of the West Bird Hide at Oare. Having survived several decades of Oare’s ever changeable weather, and despite being carefully repaired by volunteers several times, three storms back-to-back in March effectively dismantled it. The volunteers took the time to make it safe and put aside materials to be reused in future. In the long term a new hide or screen is under discussion.
Late April and May was all about replacing and repairing sections of fencing at Oare Marshes including beside the Watch House, the lagoon at the site’s westernmost edge, and the viewing layby. With these repairs and replacements completed the site looks a lot smarter and the lagoon fence in particular is a lot safer. With special thanks to our neighbour Stephen Ledger for his time, equipment and advice. We’ve new interpretation to put in and ragwort compost bins this summer amongst other jobs.
The Wednesday Task Team, who roam the Medway reserves and wetland sites, have also been out repairing and replacing fencing at Oare Meadows and South Swale. They completed our spring water vole surveys at Oare Marshes and Holborough Marshes and also have patiently helped us sort out the yards at Tyland Barn.
Both groups have been out on their summer trips – the Swale team to Hothfield Heathlands and the Wednesday Task Team to Ham Fen. Led by one of our joint Hothfield/Swale volunteers Dennis the Swale team enjoyed a beautiful Monday morning, exploring the diverse landscapes, history, botany and wildlife of the reserve – including our own livestock! At Ham Fen the Trust’s very knowledgeable and passionate warden John Wilson gave an insightful tour of the fenland habitats, the history of beavers on the site and introduced us to its newest ecological engineers, the super friendly water buffalo. Thank you so much to Dennis and John for their time and sharing their passion for these reserves.
