Today our monthly Wildlife Rangers group carried on removing the remaining willows from an area on the western shore of Ibsley Water, a task started by our Thursday volunteer group a couple of weeks ago. The willows have been removed to provide more grassland for wildfowl, in particular wigeon, to graze.
A before photo of the willows, as the group get stuck in
We only had a small section to cut, so combined our time on the western shore with some bird watching. Whilst there, we saw goosander, pochard, pintail, coot, heron, tufted duck, wigeon and a buzzard, along with over 50 cormorants on one of the islands which were counted by Poppy.
Jess and Talia looking for goosander
The group made quick work of cutting down the trees, adding them to the dead hedge and leaving the shoreline more open:
The final tree!
An after photo of our work
After finishing off, we decided to head over to Goosander hide, just in case the otter was about, but had to settle for coot and tufted duck, along with goosander and gulls which were already coming in to roost. Thanks everyone for your hard work today!
Blashford Lakes Nature Reserve 
A fantastic job! I was not sure if you would get it all done, but I need not have worried and you go the stumps nice and short too.
WOW!!! They did REALLY well!! Those trees were HUGE!! Glad they’ve done so much to help out….I’m sure I will hear about sore arms in the morning!! Tracy, what do you do with the willow after? We are looking for some tall stems to make a living den for our Pre-Schoolers!!???…
Hi Lynne, thank you, they did do a great job! The cut willow was added to the dead hedge which runs along the edge of the reserve, next to the A338, but we have plenty of withies here which would be perfect for a living den. If you can let me know how much you might need we can arrange some for you to collect, we would just ask for a donation in exchange! Many thanks, Tracy
First BT Diver for the lakes since 1978 on North Poulner Lake today.