Securing the boundary
There was a fair bit of maintenance with Stroud Valleys Project today to protect the boundary between the new wetland reserve and the rive Frome. The far end had a gap between the new fencing which enabled people and dogs to squeeze through. And at the boundary with the adjacent grazing field, a tree had destroyed the stock proof fence.
On top of that, the recent high river levels had brought down a tidal of plastic which was now entangled in the bank.
I worked mostly on the stock proof fencing. There was quite a bit of site clearance to remove the branch and old wood piles which had accumulated in that spot. And some of the bramble had to be cut back to allow connection with the good part of the fence.
It turned out though that we didn’t have enough material to secure the final design. The fencing screws had been forgotten to get packed, so we had to leave the rails and barb for another day.
We re-tensioned the barb wire on the remaining part of the fence after lunch. For some reason, this hadn’t been done on the original fence installation because it was just looped around the end post.
In the evening I went to a talk on Birds Of Gloucestershire by Richard Baatsen, the county bird recorder. There are lots of recorded species, some very rare, who return every year. There are also a number of vagrant species who somehow drift off their main migration paths and end up here.
One reason why birds choose to return here to breed here is the explosion of insects in the spring which provide ample food. Yet another reason why biodiversity needs to be increased across the county.
