Over the last couple of weeks Adam and I have been clearing willows in an area of reedbed on the approach to Lapwing Hide. This morning we were joined by the Thursday volunteers, and we had two bonfires to get rid of the willows. The plan is to create much larger reedbeds, and hopefully attract birds like reed warblers, water rails and bitterns. The dream bird would be bearded tits as there are very few in the Avon valley, there has previously only been one record on the reserve in December 2010 of just two individuals.
Before any willow clearance was started
Bonfire 1
Bonfire 2
The areas with trees removed will grow into a dense reedbed next year.
The finished result
Yesterday a Roe deer was hit by a car on the A338, before staggering into the reserve and dying, so I decided to try an experiment of putting it on the lake shore to see if would attract any scavenging birds of prey. Buzzards or ravens would be class and red kite would be fantastic. I put it out on the grassy area to the right of the Goosander hide. Disappointingly today it only had a magpie feeding on it.
Dead roe deer, Ibsley Water shore
Yesterday we trapped a moth I had been hoping to see for ages, a mervilile de jour, a lichen imitating species. The name means marvel of the day in French, definitely a fitting name for such a fantastic moth.
Merveille de jour
Merveille de jour
Blashford Lakes Nature Reserve 
Don’t you mean Bearded Parrotbill?